What a brilliant play: Get enough votes from desperate states to garner the Electoral College vote for Donald Trump. Watch him disintegrate (as any intelligent person, including many Republicans, knew he would); then very casually play the (sorry) Trump card with this New York Times "anonymous" column, simultaneously reassuring the corporate and billionaire base that their tax cuts are assured and assuring the moderate/undecided/whatever class that sane men are in control. And when the despised liberal elite shriek, "But they're not elected!," unveil the man behind the curtain, the (elected!) vice president.
Nothing unconstitutional about it. Brilliantly (and, for the Republic, disastrously) executed.
NEIL ELLIOTT, Falcon Heights
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A coward wrote the anonymous New York Times op-ed. They claim to have senior status in the administration and say they are part of "the resistance." Really? Did you study American government in school? Have you heard of the peaceful transfer of power (the thing that differentiates us from the many countries at constant war within their governments)? As former President Barack Obama puts it, "Elections have consequences." If you truly disagree with President Trump's ideas, then resign and work for your candidates. That is the American way.
CHRIS SCHONNING, Andover
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I don't understand why President Trump would be so upset about the anonymous op-ed in the New York Times. It's all "fake news," isn't it?
JOHN E. ROWELL, Champlin
HEALTH CARE
Medicine, an art and a science, is now an industry; sad to see
A health care market analyst was quoted in the Star Tribune as saying that "the mantra in this industry is we want to grow" ("Mayo has $800M plan for the South," Sept. 6).
When I was a student nurse in the late 1950s, one of the first things we were taught is that medicine is an art and a science. Now it is called an industry. I consider this a sad commentary on the present state of medicine, particularly in the United States, where too many are priced out of decent health care, precisely because medicine has become an industry.
CAROL LARSEN, Plymouth
VOTER SUPPRESSION
Here's the agenda behind that attack on birth certificates
As your Sept. 6 editorial ("A new front in immigration battle") states, the Trump administration's attack on the legitimacy of the birth certificates of Hispanic-Americans has an "agenda" behind it, You didn't spell out what that agenda is, so I will: It's all about voter suppression.
President Donald Trump earned fewer votes than did Hillary Clinton, but he sits in the White House because of an electoral college tilted toward conservative rural states and the help of Vladimir Putin. But given that his presidency has been mired in chaos and incompetence, that may not be enough to carry him next time around.
Republican legislatures have been busy for years devising increasingly creative and insidious ways to deny people — in particular, people of color — the right to vote, or failing that, to make it as difficult as possible to exercise that right. Those efforts have kicked into overdrive (see the recent attempt in Georgia to shut down polling places in majority-black precincts; Randolph County backed down only after a massive and widespread public outcry).
While sitting with an approval rating of 36 percent, Trump recently declared that no one will "come close to beating me in 2020." It now falls to the Republican voter-suppression machine to make it so — and clearly, as shown by the revocation of Hispanic-Americans' passports, they are pulling out all the stops. Those of us who cherish our sacred right to elect our leaders need to push back with equal vigor. Please vote, protest and give generously to organizations that are working to combat voter suppression.
ANNE HAMRE, Roseville
DFL MAILER
Two takes on literature that took Republicans to task
The Star Tribune Editorial Board mischaracterizes the DFL mailer about GOP priorities in the last legislative session ("DFL's claim isn't true on legislative pay," Sept. 5).
I received the mailer, and the header reads: "In Rep. Dennis Smith's Legislature: THEY get more. WE get less." It then lists (with citations) items that passed and items that didn't. Among the legislators' first priorities this year was to get themselves paid, and somehow they managed to pass their pay raise in a single-subject bill. Other Minnesotans' priorities — legislation combating opioids, elder abuse, etc. — were delayed, cobbled into omnibus bills as bargaining chips, and ultimately left behind.
It is clear to anyone reading the mailer that the point is to criticize GOP priorities over the course of the session, not to criticize a single vote in a vacuum. The Editorial Board did a disservice to its readers by ignoring the context of the mailer.
CHRIS EVANS, Maple Grove
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The recent editorial pointing out the lying DFL mailer made me ashamed to be a Democratic voter. We need a DFL that stands for honesty and fair play. It is up to us, DFL voters, to insist on honesty. When our party does not honor the truth, we need to identify and punish the politicians, like DFL Minority Leader Melissa Hortman, so the message is clear: We want honest, responsible government from our side of the aisle.
ROBERT KAUL, Minneapolis
OFFICER NOOR
'Red flags' in pre-hiring evaluations raise some other ones
Now it appears Mohamed Noor might be innocent of murdering Justine Damond ("Red flags raised before Noor hired," Sept. 6). Two psychiatrists stated, during pre-hiring evaluations, that Noor "exhibited an inability to handle the stress of regular police work" and was unwilling "to deal with people." Innocent by mental defect. That's what his attorneys will claim. Somebody needs to be held accountable.
Former Mayor Betsy Hodges, former Police Chief Janeé Harteau and the director of human resources should be charged with some kind of felony. This recent revelation regarding Noor's personality is an obvious attempt to lessen his guilt. Damond's wrongful death lawsuit needs to include some Minneapolis officials.
WAYNE DOKKEN, Robbinsdale
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After reading the story on Officer Noor, I want to know how many other high-risk police officers are polishing their guns getting ready for duty?
JIM GOUDY, Austin, Minn.
KLOBUCHAR AND KAVANAUGH
'Downright disrespectful'? More like downright persistent
A Sept. 6 letter writer was concerned that Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., was "downright disrespectful" at the Kavanaugh hearings. I saw her as downright persistent. Thank you, Sen. Klobuchar.
