Letters to the Editor | Sept. 22, 2025

Jimmy Kimmel’s remarks regarding Charlie Kirk were a despicable lie; unacceptable, wrongheaded, shortsighted, and reprehensible. I applaud ABC for suspending Kimmel from his late-night show.

I pray Kimmel will use his free time to undergo serious self-reflection and come to a new self-awareness and truth.

His crass commentary failed to be funny and failed to serve the public interest.

Kimmel is unhinged to himself, to his profession as a comedian, and to the current climate of the country. Anyone who celebrates the assassination of another human being has lost touch with his own humanity.

The Rev. Tom Heron, Norristown

Many Americans who aren’t in the MAGA camp often ask why our 47th president is attracted to despots, has contempt for our allies, and withdraws government resources from our fellow citizens in times of crisis and need.

I believe that addressing the “why” can be effectively answered by viewing Donald Trump’s childhood through a psychosocial lens — how someone’s psychological state is shaped by their environment and experiences — which is an area I’ve worked in for nearly six decades.

We have enough information about the Trump family’s history to know that unaddressed trauma dominated our president’s youth, dramatically impacting his leadership capacities today.

From his earliest years, Trump watched his older brother, Fred Jr., eight years his senior, assailed with shame and humiliation from his father and namesake, a ruthless real estate developer who demeaned his son’s ideas relentlessly. To buffer the pain of a sadistic father, Fred turned to alcohol, destroying himself, dying at age 42.

Engrained in the future president was a written-in-stone awareness: If he ever dared to question his father’s mindset, he, too, would be destroyed. To survive, he became his father’s bullying, corrupt clone, believing that only those with the capacity for cruelty, disregard for ethical behavior, and contempt for law were real men.

Withheld respect for individual ideas and direction, a vital confidence-building aspect of our formative years, sheds light on our president’s continuous attempts to prove his strength and virility through what is, in essence, denied self-hate displaced on others — “acting out” by ridiculing those seen as weak, demonizing those with opposing views, tasteless references to his virility, compulsive womanizing, outlandish “endless gold” materialism, and incessant demands for praise and stroking.

And importantly, Trump — in an echo of his relationship with his father — reveres Vladimir Putin and other dictators, longs to emulate them, and is deathly afraid to oppose them.

As he continues trying to prove to himself, his country, and the world that he is not a coward, our president’s “acting out” could lead to disaster.

SaraKay Smullens, Philadelphia

It is unclear to me why it seems that some people — starting at the top with the current president who is a master at this craft — can say mean, false, horrible, destructive, and blatantly incendiary things whenever and wherever they feel the need to do so, and yet have immunity from repercussions, while others are censored, fired, condemned, ridiculed, and put in danger when they, in turn, voice their feelings. We see this in other countries and condemn it loudly. Why is it acceptable when it happens here?

I think we all know that the right to free speech is a gift, but it doesn’t seem the Founding Fathers ever imagined that the definition would be stretched to these limits, and that it would apply to some and not others.

It is obvious that everyone needs to cease and desist, but it doesn’t seem people are willing to do so. The sooner we all realize the damage is becoming irreparable and that things will not be able to be set right, the sooner we can get on a path of civility, community, and healing. We don’t have time to waste.

Barbara Kotzin, Cheltenham

I very much appreciated Gov. Josh Shapiro’s thoughtful and compassionate remarks about the tragic shooting of law enforcement officers in York County, Pa. However, I was surprised and disappointed that many of the solutions he referenced were about doing a better job to address the mental health issues of the people who carry out violent acts, and he did not talk enough about the danger posed by guns and the proliferation of guns and gun culture in our society.

How can one lament a death from a shooting without focusing intensely on the issue of guns? Would you lament the lung cancer death of a chronic smoker and not highlight the dangers posed by cigarettes? Would you simply say we need to do a better job of administering healthcare services to identify lung cancer earlier?

I expect my governor to take steps to protect all of us from the danger of gun violence. To do so, he might need to say something more about guns.

James Goodman, Glenside

I totally agree with the recent op-ed by our former health commissioner, Cheryl Bettigole. The gutting of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a travesty we cannot ignore. As a physician trained in public health, I can attest to the fact that the policies of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will make Americans much less healthy and are likely to lead to preventable deaths. As a former member and chair of a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services advisory committee on childhood lead poisoning prevention, I am astounded and aggrieved by the cavalier disbandment of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and replacement with people of questionable qualifications. Dr. Bettigole’s comments are right on target. We must push for Kennedy to resign.

Carla Campbell, Glenside

Nebraska recently confirmed its first case of bird flu in dairy cattle, joining a growing list of states facing this crisis (17 and counting). Officials will talk about “biosecurity,” but the real problem is the system itself. When we force animals into confinement, strip them of their natural lives, and exploit them for milk, meat, or eggs, we create the perfect conditions for viruses to spread and mutate.

This is not just an animal issue — it’s a public health threat. Instead of asking how to better manage industrialized animal use, we should be asking why we are still doing it at all.

We don’t need to consume animals to thrive. Shifting toward plant-based food systems is the only real way to protect animals, the environment, and ourselves.

Pavel Anistadt, Philadelphia

I am well to the left of center in my political beliefs, and cringe at the daily racist acts and policies being carried out and implemented by the Donald Trump regime and his gang of MAGAs. That said, I found myself with very mixed feelings when reading Rann Miller’s recent op-ed concerning the disrespect shown to the Black national anthem at the Eagles’ home opener. The disrespect was unacceptable, for sure. In a country where separating and marginalizing Black Americans and other people of color is becoming more, rather than less, common, however, a separate “national” anthem enhances the belief that Black Americans want to be looked at as a separate entity. In much the same vein, I have wondered why there continues to be a Miss Black America pageant, since Black women enter (and win) the Miss America pageant. Methinks there would be a (justifiable) outcry if there were a Miss White America pageant. Granted, until Vanessa Williams in 1984, it might as well have been called that, but no more. I’d suggest that “Lift Every Voice and Sing” be called a “Black anthem” … and leave “national” out of it. Pride in the song would be preserved, and racists would have to find something else to complain about.

Scott Chelemer, Mount Laurel

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