Letters to the Editor | Feb. 21, 2024

I appreciated Trudy Rubin’s column on the death of Alexei Navalny. The Russian dissident is a hero for democracy. His strength and courage gave hope to so many, including me. His story will continue because human beings do not want to be controlled. The ideals of freedom and democracy are what most aspire to. The times we are living in are frightening. The power of social media and television in warping truths and encouraging lies is right out of Vladimir Putin’s playbook. Wake up, America! See this murder for what it is. Don’t disregard the warning. Let us not allow our country to go in this direction. Fight for democracy — vote.

Theresa Seymour, Elkins Park

It’s now official: Joe Biden is too old because a prosecutor, not a doctor, says so. Will the experience, decency, and gaffe-prone honesty evident over the decades take a back seat to his declining skills in the stand-up routines we expect from presidents since John F. Kennedy? Donald Trump (all of four years younger than Biden) misnames people and places, butchers the language, and covers his gray and his wrinkles with almost comic makeup. Worse, he does and says — with full intent — more horrible things than any public figure should get away with. Let’s hope the American people can see through the daily sideshow and choose a president based on the real record rather than the bloopers.

Joe Jones, Mount Holly

When reporters and media commentators seize on President Joe Biden’s verbal gaffes and relentlessly seek to make his age or his memory the key issues in the upcoming elections, they do a disservice to the serious political conversations our nation should be having. Yes, it is the media’s job to report when politicians misspeak or distort the facts, but producing “gotcha moments” is not enough. When we elect a president, we are, in fact, choosing an entire governing team. We trust that a president will bring the best and brightest into his or her administration.

A president meets continually with his staff, policy advisers, and cabinet members to talk through the issues and options at hand. It is never a one-man show. Of course, the buck stops with the president, but to assume that a leader’s occasional garbled speech or lapse of memory are more important considerations than the kind of governing team that leader can assemble around him or her is to contribute to the dumbing down of our political discourse. Can’t we encourage our media friends to help their audiences foreground questions of policy rather than public performance? Our citizens deserve better from their reporters and pundits.

Lee Cassanelli, Havertown, lcassanel@gmail.com

Donald Trump, the presidential candidate is now Trump: Sneaker Con man. It just goes to show you can take the man out of the carnival, but you can’t take the carny out of the man. Yours for only $399! Limited time! Especially comfy for those with bone spurs! Serving your country (and Trump’s bottom line) one pair at a time. So, where are these sneaks manufactured? Maybe Ivanka Trump can lend a hand. Remember, her shoes were manufactured in China thanks to a sweet exemption for Chinese garments and footwear during Trump’s tariff disputes.

Trump’s garish godasses come to you under the aegis of CIC Ventures LLC, based in West Palm Beach, Fla., which, interestingly, seems to be the same address as the Trump International Golf Club. Hmm. Yet, the company insists that Trump doesn’t have his fingers (or toes) in this podiatric pie. Right. Sneakerheads, beware. This is a Trump Trojan horseshoe, bearing dubious gifts, a soleless endeavor, for a limited time! Hoping to lace up your vote. Don’t be taken in by a down-at-heel candidate who has already announced the many ways he will tread on our freedoms, drop-kick our allies, grind our Constitution under his bootheel, all for a personal presidential pardon. It’s time to just say no. It’s time to send Trump and his limited-edition kicks to the curb.

Deborah DiMicco, Newtown

I agree with the letter writer who said we shouldn’t blame President Joe Biden for inflation. But I part ways with him in suggesting that the global nature of high inflation proves that it was caused not by bad administrative decisions, but by disrupted supply chains from the pandemic. According to U.S. Commerce Department data, 53% of inflation during the second and third quarters of 2023 was caused by massively increasing corporate profits. We’re talking about greed and lying here, and overwhelming disregard for the public good. Leaders of these corporations used fears around inflation to jack up prices and rake in profits, betting that the rest of us would remain in the dark. Those of us who didn’t buy political explanations that blamed the president would buy economic ones that blamed some obscure and unchangeable market forces. They would get richer, ordinary people who were trying to buy groceries would be squeezed tighter, and no one would be the wiser. Let’s make sure this plan doesn’t work. Corporations get their charters from the public. Let’s get smarter about holding them accountable.

Pamela Haines, Philadelphia, pamelahaines1@gmail.com

I am a great fan of context. I appreciate The Inquirer’s careful contextualization of the Israeli bombardment of Gazans with references to the brutal Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israeli armed forces and civilians. However, the conflict did not begin on Oct 7. It, too, needs context. Israel (with Egypt’s help) blockaded Gaza by air, land, and sea, making it an outdoor prison for almost two decades. Food and medicine shortages were already alarming before the war. Gazans relied heavily on aid organizations and tunnels to import the many goods blocked by Israel, including building materials, certain foods, livestock, medicines, cars, as well as weaponry. Thousands of students were refused exit from Gaza to pursue higher education. Tunnels were import-export systems, not smuggling devices. Good fences might make good neighbors, but concrete walls and hunger do not. If we condemn Hamas’ attack, we must also condemn the horrors that preceded it.

Janet Kestenberg Amighi, West Chester

I suspect that the case before the U.S. Supreme Court reviewing the Colorado ruling removing Donald Trump from the ballot may be the most far-reaching decision they will make this term. On the one hand is the right of voters to support the candidate of their choice. On the other is the government’s interest in protecting the nation from those who would use elected office to subvert the Constitution. The facts in the case are without question: Trump has spoken often about his disdain for the Constitution, ordered White House staff to illegally ignore court-issued subpoenas, and incited what was arguably an insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.

I am not a legal scholar, but in support of the Constitution, I refer to the establishment of antitrust legislation. This legislation arose from a recognition that giant monopolies were killing competition and free enterprise in the open market. It was found that the government had to regulate business so that business itself could thrive in the long run. It can then be argued that the government must intervene in the electoral process when democracy itself is threatened. If the court were to abdicate this determination out of fear of public backlash, it could be a first step toward succumbing to a new dictatorship. Would upholding Colorado’s decision be a dangerous move? Absolutely. Is it necessary for the sake of democracy? I hope the court will determine this correctly.

Joseph G. Pugh, Phoenixville

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