On Tuesday, I listened to President Donald Trump equivocate on the Charlottesville terror ("Trump reverts to 'both sides' claim, Aug. 16). Tonight the lights are very dim in the "shining city on a hill"! What will it really take before people of courage say, "Now this is truly enough"? When will our country really become more important than a political party's agenda? Who will finally call out a president so manipulative of the people who look to him as their savior or so ignorant of history or perhaps just so sociopathic that all that matters in his life is him? My dad, my father-in-law, and so many millions of American soldiers, sailors and airmen — during and since World War II — fought and died in the belief that the United States was worth it. Today our president would rather reach out and place himself on the wrong side of history. All of those lives sacrificed in so many ways, and the future lives of our children, seem not worth it to Trump. He is certainly disgraceful as a leader and should be seen as shameful to all Americans who care for our country. I can hardly stand it, and so I will start here to speak out!
Claudia O'Neill, Burnsville
The writer offers this letter to honor Warren L. Ganske and William G. O'Neill.
• • •
On Tuesday, the president made it very clear he stands with the white supremacists and neo-Nazis who rioted in Charlottesville by trying to blame Black Lives Matter and others who were at the protests. David Duke immediately tweeted his thanks to the president for speaking up in defense of his groups. How long will it be before Trump replaces his flag pin with a Nazi emblem?
When are the Republicans who care about our country going to speak up? It is time for Congress to come together, Democrats and Republicans, and stop this craziness before it is too late.
Jean Schiebel, Brooklyn Center
• • •
"But you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides." (Donald Trump, Aug. 15)
Just wondering: Among the torch-bearing, Nazi-slogan chanting, monument-to-treasonous-general-defending people, how is one to recognize the "very fine people"? Must have been the "Made in China" MAGA hat-wearing ones.
David Hauschild, Blaine
• • •
In the name of fairness, it's hard to see why Trump is being attacked for blaming "both sides" of the Charlottesville confrontation for the violence that occurred. As he has so rightly pointed out, there are always two sides to the story. We all learned that in grade school.
Consider, for example, how unfairly history has treated the Nazis. I'm not saying they were necessarily good guys, but hey, fair is fair. The side of the story you never hear is that in the case of both the invasion of Czechoslovakia and Austria, the Germans were not actually "invading" another country, but only rightfully reclaiming what had originally been theirs. The only part of Czechoslovakia Germany ever "kept" was that part populated by German speakers. As for Austria, it had been part of the German Confederation until Prussia pushed it out in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866.
That wall that the Communists in East Germany built in Berlin? Really, is it so different from the wall the U.S. plans to build on our Southern border? How could East Germany rightfully continue to let its citizens — people who took advantage of their excellent and free school system, their welfare system and their superb army training — just take all that expensive education and walk over the border to a nation devoted to their extinction?
Now as to slavery, and don't get me wrong here, I know slavery was not "right," but, remember, the economy of the South depended on it. Jobs, jobs, jobs. And it was not just the Southern economy that was threatened, but that of the North, as well. The South may have turned out the cotton, but it was that cotton that kept the spinning wheels of the North's textile mills running. Against the "evil" of slavery, you have to balance the economy of the whole country, the lives of good, hardworking people in both the North and South. And that's just what Jefferson Davis and his pals did.
It's just common sense that every story has two sides. And nobody wants to say this, but I'll say it right now. Once again, Donald Trump is being pilloried for merely attempting to bring fairness and common sense to the American political scene.
Steven Kaplan, St. Paul
• • •
I am absolutely infuriated that Trump is now backpedaling on his earlier comments blaming the white supremacists. I'm all for free speech, but the sole purpose of hate groups like the KKK and the Nazis is to do harm to other innocent people simply because they don't meet certain "qualifications."
We are a melting pot — that's the beauty of this country. Those hate-filled idiots forget that they, too, are the products of immigration. Either learn to get along or get out.
Kay Kemper, Crystal
• • •
In the battle between good and evil there may be two sides, but only one that is good. If you line up and march with Nazis, you are a Nazi. There is no other moral side in these two things.
David Day, Anoka
EDITORIAL CARTOONS
With panel slamming the media, is the Star Tribune pandering?
"If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention" is bumper-sticker wisdom that should apply to every American who watched, listened to or read about President Trump's both-sides-do-it argument Tuesday that showed the world he's a racist.
Call me outraged that the Star Tribune's editorial folks would include a Dana Summers cartoon the very next day that criticized the media — whom he refers to as "the left" — who appear more interested in blaming Trump than actually gathering news. If the purpose of a political cartoon is to be (a) persuasive and (b) funny, Summers failed badly on both counts. Blaming the media is a tired and pathetic attempt to change the subject when you don't like what's being reported, i.e.: "fake news."
Steve Sack is a local treasure I wish could grace your pages 365 days a year. I hope the Star Tribune doesn't believe it's achieving some type of political balance when his replacements are merely Trump apologists. Besides, balance is overrated. Have you considered cloning?
Stephen Monson, Golden Valley
HIAWATHA GOLF CLUB
If Park Board wants to reuse the site, it will still need pumping
Even if the Hiawatha Golf Club is closed down because of the cost of groundwater pumping ("Black golfers argue to save golf course," Aug. 16), almost all alternative uses of the land will still require pumping. If the Minneapolis Park Board wants to reconfigure the course to make a park, why not reconfigure the golf course instead or develop a better drainage system?
