Letters to the Editor | Aug. 18, 2023

I loved the Aug. 15 editorial cartoon of a wanted poster of Hunter Biden with the tagline, “For being President Biden’s son.” What I haven’t seen is a similar wanted poster for Donald Trump’s children. Or a congressional investigation into international business dealings by members of the Trump family. For example, Ivanka Trump’s fashion business and ties to the Chinese government and manufacturing products overseas, or Jared Kushner selling the Chinese overpriced real estate and condos. Kushner, who oversaw the Trump administration’s policy in the Middle East, received a $2 billion investment from the Saudis six months after leaving the White House. How about the LIV/PGA golf tournaments? Trump will benefit through his golf courses hosting future multimillion-dollar tournaments.

Some of my favorite sayings are: “the illusion of collusion,” “plausible deniability,” and “don’t let facts get in the way of a good story.” Perhaps one or all apply to this cartoon and this chapter in history. I see bias in the news media on how much it focuses on Democrats vs. Republicans. The focus on Hunter Biden has been going on since 2014. It ebbs and flows with the election cycle. If there was a real smoking gun, you would think it would have been exposed by now. But by believing there is something, somewhere, the illusion of wrongdoing stays in the news. Which party benefits? If you’re going to endlessly persecute Biden, how about the same attention and reporting on Trump’s family? Both played off their name. Both pushed the legal and ethical limits. Both should get equal treatment.

Patrick Thompson, Media

The suggestions made in a recent letter to the editor as potential punishment for an “unprecedented” conviction of a former president are excellent. While the consequences would indeed be unprecedented, so were Donald Trump’s alleged words, behavior, and actions, yet they were ignored by those who now decry the indictments. While changing the rules to codify the penalties suggested by the letter writer (removal of lifetime Secret Service protection and any other postpresidential benefit) would probably require congressional approval, these consequences could be used as leverage to allow the former president to stay out of jail if convicted. Incarcerating a past president would definitely be unprecedented and undesirable, even if warranted, but there has to be punishment if he is found guilty. It should also be noted that the only reason our country has been put through the last two and half years and will go through what is yet to come is that many of the same senators who correctly assigned blame after the events on Jan. 6, 2021, didn’t have the courage to put democracy first and vote to impeach when it mattered.

Nancy Case, Havertown

A heart-wrenching recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lays to rest the “debate” that gun lobbyists, the NRA, cowardly politicians, and misleading news outlets have more rights than those who suffer from mental illness, a short-lived setback, innocent children, places of worship, and schools. These “gun rights” organizations have all contributed to the 433 million guns in civilian hands across the country. The CDC report revealed that 49,500 people took their own lives last year in the U.S., the most ever and with the majority of incidents involving a gun. Study after study has shown that in states with more guns, there are more suicides, more homicides, and accidental gun deaths. This American obsession with guns has stifled the voices of far too many, whose rights and lives have been taken too soon in the most violent of ways.

Daniel R. Taylor, director of community pediatrics and child advocacy, St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children

Americans regularly express their disapproval of Congress with the phrase, “We want Washington to get something done.” This does not mean they want legislation flying out of the House and Senate in a blizzard of paper. It means they want their elected representatives to advocate and vote in their interests. They want their representatives and senators to demonstrate political courage — stepping outside party loyalty, future electability, or potential negative consequences if that’s what it takes to represent their constituents. More and more, lawmakers go to Washington as little more than a number and a party designating letter, expected to vote in lockstep with their party’s interests. Americans are tired of this. How refreshing would it be to see a legislator who crosses the aisle, makes a deal, and shakes hands with members of the opposing party — regardless of the political consequences — if it supports the will and needs of his or her constituents and benefits the nation? That used to be how Washington worked. Political courage and advocacy are very rare today.

Christopher Knob, Drexel Hill

I want to commend The Inquirer for the recent story about Philadelphia hospitals lacking formal training for providers who designate as “LGBTQ-affirming.” However, as a nurse practitioner who serves as director of LGBTQ services for Main Line Health — and a transgender man with 18 years of experience teaching LGBTQ care — I feel some important perspectives need to be included. While it is true that no national curriculum or formal clinical certification exists, if you hire qualified clinicians and leaders, they can develop and implement a curriculum. You weave it into the values of the health system — top-down.

Our LGBTQ clinical providers undergo four to five hours of training, and our support staff have similar training. We then have additional training focused on respect and inclusion no matter the employee’s role. It is in the fabric of Main Line Health’s values. LGBTQ care can be done comprehensively. Health-care providers having a title of “LGBTQ-affirming” is insufficient. Verified competence is required. There is risk to transgender and nonbinary patients. I have seen many patients with poor outcomes or turning to nontraditional models out of frustration.

Dane Menkin, Philadelphia

Praise for the young people in Montana — ages 5 to 22 — who overcame state efforts to derail their lawsuit charging that state agencies have violated their constitutional right to a clean environment. They presented sufficient evidence that fossil fuel emissions were harming their mental and physical health to win a groundbreaking legal decision. The plaintiffs’ victory may seem hollow in the face of state officials’ vow to overturn the decision on appeal, but they have set a precedent for young citizens who feel helpless about the future to fight for cleaner air.

Deborah Stone, North Wales

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Kudos to Jonathan Nelson, who shared his story on depression and happy outcome. Nelson is brave to share his mental health issues. He persevered for many years until technology was available, and he took the initiative to pursue a clinical trial that cured his depression. I wish him the best life going forward and hope he continues to advocate for others who cannot speak up for themselves.

Judy Zon, founding president, Tikvah, Ventnor

Columnist Jonathan Zimmerman draws the most simplistic equivalences between the rhetoric of the neofascists in Congress and in state legislatures today and what he calls the “hippies” of the 1960s. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Ron DeSantis have nothing in common with Mario Savio or Daniel Ellsberg or the Chicago Seven. They have only co-opted the language of free speech for their own tyrannical ends. Anyone who understood what was at stake on college campuses in the 1960s and ‘70s would not be fooled by this sinister sleight of hand.

This is more of the “through the looking glass” world Republicans have been presenting us with for decades now, whereby gangs of neo-Nazis have the right to shoot people protesting on the streets, government has the right to ban books and control the curricula in schools, and granting human and political rights to oppressed populations can be called “reverse racism.” Just because the right is railing against the FBI and CIA now doesn’t mean that given executive power, they won’t happily abuse these agencies. There is not a shred of idealism or moral courage in these people. What they have captured are our worst instincts and packaged them in the language of freedom and rights.

Elaine P. Zickler, Moorestown

Estelle Samberg, Warminster

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