Letters to the Editor | May 1, 2025

I have been a season-ticket holder since the Linc opened. Whether to accept the president’s invitation to the White House or play golf is an individual choice. I’m jubilant as a supporter that the Eagles won the Super Bowl. Why must the left politicize everything? I’m all for keeping politics out of sports. Let’s all get behind our Eagles and cheer for them, whether they went to the White House or not. Go Birds!

Tom Elsasser, Philadelphia

Saquon Barkley posted on his social media, “leave politics out of it,” referencing, presumably, his decision to fly with Donald Trump to the White House, and then play golf and dine with him. OK, put politics aside. Let’s examine Trump, the man. He’s a convicted criminal, found guilty of falsifying business documents to cover up an extramarital affair. He has been found financially liable for sexual abuse of women, not to mention he is a documented habitual liar, mean-spirited, and a bigot. Why on earth would anyone associate with the man if not for his political power? Certainly, Barkley wouldn’t have his children or his fiancée dining with a man recorded bragging about grabbing women by their genitals. Do better, Mr. Barkley.

Kenneth McDowell, Philadelphia

Whether it’s Jalen Hurts, 60 Minutes producer Bill Owens, major law firms and universities, and so many other organizations, those in charge are having to stand up or bow down to the current administration. There is no easy choice. Go with what is meaningful for democracy, and you lose business, grant funding, and potentially subject yourself to harm. The fact that the first two paragraphs are now serious considerations in America should be downright scary to us all. It would seem even firmer spines are required in the short term as President Donald Trump envisions running the “country and the world.” His first 100 days in office resulted in the lowest ratings for a sitting president in decades. To export that level of success would be a crime against humanity.

Mary Kay Owen, Downingtown

Kudos to Trudy Rubin for her recent column on Donald Trump’s “kowtow to Putin,” revealing a perhaps impeachable lack of courage on the part of the president. Trump got some good education at Fordham and the University of Pennsylvania, but apparently learned only the lessons that can apply to the acquisition of personal wealth. His bowing to Vladimir Putin, as brilliantly described in Rubin’s column, reveals he learned nothing from the sad history of Neville Chamberlain’s initial failure to stand up to Adolf Hitler. Trump’s false narratives about Ukraine having started the present war, or of being on its last legs, are revealed as such in Rubin’s fine work. Trump simply lacks impulse control. He desires to see the war in Ukraine end, our economy prosper as it did in the 1950s, and our deficit paid off without going through the difficult and time-consuming processes needed to get there.

John Baxter, Toano, Va.

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