Allow me to respond to an email I received about my Sunday Sun column on Trump and his supporters. Though the column was pointedly not about President Biden, readers who support Trump naturally tried to make it about the current president.
From Michael Ernest, who calls himself “a Trump supporting democrat,” came this:
“Joe Biden took an oath of office to execute and enforce duly passed laws. He has violated his oath by not enforcing long existing immigration laws. He is doing the same as Obama – picking and choosing what laws to enforce. At least Trump tried to do what was required to enforce immigration law. Immigration law states that those unlawfully present on US soil are subject to deportation. By not enforcing the law, the floodgates are opened for the cartels to profit from human trafficking and dangerous drugs that are getting through the border and causing increased overdose deaths.”
Response: This sounds just like Tucker Carlson, but OK. FYI: Obama was the “great deporter” because, during his administration, 3 million people were deported — many of whom had jobs, homes and children in the United States. Trump did not deport as many immigrants as Obama did.
Despite constant Republican rhetoric about “open borders,” Biden does not have an open border policy (even the conservative-libertarian Cato Institute agrees with that). However, in an effort to be more humane, the Biden administration ordered more targeted enforcement of immigrants deemed dangerous or threats to national security. As a result, arrests and deportations of immigrants living illegally in the United States dropped significantly in 2021, but more of those arrested were convicted of serious crimes, according to ICE data released in March. A Trump-appointed federal judge threw out Biden’s more lenient directive just the other day. One thing we can be thankful for: The U.S. is no longer separating families at the border, a Trump policy found to be intentionally cruel.
“The Sunpaper … has low tolerance for dissenting viewpoints.“
Response: We publish conservative commentary all the time; all you have to do is read our op-ed page and reader commentary. We also frequently publish news stories about Biden’s struggles to move his agenda through Congress.
“While I take the agnostic viewpoint with regard to election fraud. . . . The relatively small losses in toss up states by Trump would hardly necessitate massive fraud. That is the fallacy in the massive fraud argument. What is not fraudulent when state election laws are violated by election officials making changes that need to be legally done by state legislatures. I would be more convinced if the level of investigation into election security was comparable to that as what the Jan 6 probe is costing US taxpayers. This is why a lot of Trump voters continue to question the validity of the election.”
Response: This is so ridiculous at this point. How many court rulings and audits do you need to be convinced there was no fraud in the 2020 election? The AG under Trump, Bill Barr, told him it was “bullshit.” To be an “agnostic” at this point shows how willing you and other Trump supporters are to ignore facts and accept the Big Lie from a former president who, according to the count kept by the Washington Post, lied or made misleading claims more than 30,000 times during his presidency.
“Democrats are still smarting that a non-politician had the gall to beat the media darling who did everything possible in trying to implicate collusion between Trump and Russia. It is patently clear, the democrats do not want Trump even having the possibility of pulling a Grover Cleveland in 2024. So they craft a select committee with all Trump haters and some of the biased impeachment holdovers. All this does is provide what appears as a one sided railroad job with little credibility and is not going to sway opinion of Trump supporters. FYI – I am a longtime registered democrat that votes policies not personality.”
Response: Hillary Clinton was a “media darling”? The woman who was hounded about emails on her server for months on end by The New York Times? The woman whose emails continued to be an issue until shortly before the 2020 election, with the FBI director announcing that the bureau had reopened its investigation?
Sir, if you don’t think a riot in the Capitol — and the reasons it happened, and who provoked it in an attempt to subvert the results of a presidential election — are worthy of a congressional investigation, I can’t help you. My column was an appeal to relatively rational Americans who cherish our democracy.
Policies? What Trump “policies” benefited you? I’d be dying to know: Tax cuts for millionaires and corporations, opening up a sprawling deficit in the federal budget? Making nice with Putin? Or maybe you liked the family separation at the southern border. Was it Trump’s fabulous infrastructure initiative that pleased you? Oh, right, that was Biden.
“The big question is whether the life of the average citizen is better off now than when Trump exited the presidency. In my viewpoint when I have to shell out more of my social security for gas in my car and food on my table, frankly my dear I prefer the Trump era.”
Response: No doubt, inflation sucks. But you’ll have to explain to me and everyone else reading this what inflation has to do with Joe Biden. Another Trump supporter wrote to tell me that Biden could “lower oil prices tomorrow.” If that were true, why hasn’t he done it? He’d have to assume control of the major petroleum companies that have made the U.S. a net exporter of fossil fuels and have them stop selling overseas. Would conservatives agree to that?
A recent Washington Post poll asked 1,055 adults who or what they blamed for rising gasoline prices: 72 percent blame corporations trying to increase profits; 69 percent blame Russia’s war against Ukraine, while 58 percent blame President Biden and the same percentage blame pandemic disruptions.
It was a relief to see Big Gas at the top of the blame list. I still don’t understand why any president, Democrat or Republican, gets blamed for high gasoline prices. But, alas, we always blame the person in the Oval Office (see Carter, James, 1979-1980).
“Biden in his attempt to placate the extremists of the party rather than being smart and focus on being moderate majority in policy has caused his administration a slew of self inflicted crises negatively affecting the US populace as a whole. His lack of leadership clearly tells he should not be re-elected if he decides to run again.”
Response: Because of the Republican block against Anything Biden (enhanced by two Democratic senators, Sinema and Manchin), the president has been unable to “inflict” much of anything on the American populace. As for leadership: I’ll take Biden’s humanity and his integrity over Trump’s cruelty and criminality any day.
Thank you for your letter, and for at least being civil. The other letters I received in reaction to Sunday’s column were not. I note that it took a Democrat, alas a Trump-supporting one, to actually express his views without profanity or a personal attack.
Dan Rodricks 
Dan, your replies were spot on and more than factual and truthful.. I live in Eastern Shore country, am an Irish Democrat, can’t even put a “not a Trump candidate” on my lawn without trouble. But my neighbor has no problems with his posting Trump signs. I just cannot fathom how we can have a civil discussion about Trump or Biden. Frankly, I am afraid to. The J6 committee will prove how this fascist tried, and is still trying, to destroy our democracy. I don’t care about inflation, the gas, or anything else except putting our democracy back together and fight this push for autocracy by voting Blue.
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What color crayons did this guy use? Nice factual job by you
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If Ferndale Slim is incapable of rendering a legitimate intelligent rebuttal to my email, he really should not be leaving a derogatory comment.
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Dan, a far kinder man than I, took the time to demolish your nonsense. I am not that kind. Besides, your views do not need a rebuttal, as they fail of their own, no matter the color scheme
Ferndale Slim is a proud, Never Trump Republican who still bristles at Trump’s pandering to Putin, trashing Gold Star Mothers, and calling the great John McCain and other brave POWs “losers”. That from Lt Bonespur. How dare he! Lock him up!,,,And just between us, what color crayons did you use?
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Thank you for adhering to the Ethics of Journalism. Sadly and tragically, radicals (from left to right) are not willing to accept the truth, widening the wedge for bipartisan solutions. This disruption to democracy is exactly what power hungry politicians perpetuate. Keep up the great work and it’s encouraging when you write about good people and good news.
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Those complaining about gas prices must have never visited Europe. While the price signs at European stations typically reflect similar numbers to those in the U.S., two things needs to be remembered. (1) The British Pound and the Euro are each worth more the the U.S. Dollar. (2) The European prices are for a *liter* and not a gallon. Multiple the liter cost by a little more than 3 and you have the true cost of a *gallon* of gas in Europe. Finally and sadly, it is next to impossible to rationalize anything with members of the Trump Cult.
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A superstition can be thought of as treating fiction as fact; a person who’s superstitious about black cats, for example, says “they really ARE bad luck” – or “the election really WAS stolen.” Alas, superstition is impervious to fact or logic, and so we have a massive chasm between the former president’s supporters and those of us who recognize ,objective reality.
Cheers,
Mitch Edelman
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I am not at all a Trump supporter! But i _am_ going to take issue with your response about Biden and inflation. I mean, sure: inflation is a worldwide phenomenon right now, made worse by the situation in Ukraine and supply shortages from the pandemic, and Biden can’t help those things; moreover a small amount of inflation would’ve bene a necessary consequence of adequate stimulus during the pandemic.
But, there are _obvious_ things Biden could do to at least slightly mitigate inflation so your implication is just wrong. He could, for example: work to restore immigration to the US to pre-Trump levels. Aggressively restore the ability to vette and admit refugees. Ease Trump’s presidentially-imposed roadblocks to seasonal workers — especially agricultural ones. Encourage the best and brightest foreigners to resume their longtime pursuit of a US education. Get rid of the stupid “national security” tariffs on products form allied and friendly nations (and maybe even some of the Trump-imposed tariffs on, say, Chinese goods, like solar panels). Reverse some of Trump’s aggressive onshoring to recognize we can continue to purchase some essential products from firendly an allied nations. All those things would at least take some edge off of inflation.
Of course I suspect your Trump fan strongly opposes all of them.
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Thank you for another excellent response to the continual nonsensical and fantasy-based arguments of Trump supporters. It seems that they believe everything the Fox entertainment show pumps out there, regardless of actual facts.
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As we watch the January 6 Investigation “hearings” (they are not hearings; they are persuasion pieces; I wish they would stop pretending that they are anything but that), I am absolutely terrified that one man had — and still has — such a powerful hold on people. Through rhetoric alone, he has been so thoroughly convincing that literally millions of people believe him wholeheartedly. Untold numbers of them accept those lies so completely that they believe that their democracy needs to be violently defended. The videos of the attack on the Capitol are horrifying. How can one person have such power? Was there something that we could have done to prevent this crisis?
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I differ from the reader who thinks the hearings are propaganda. The American public meeds to learn the truth! And while Trump supporters may not be swayed, hopefully the average American will see him for the grifter he is. He is a deranged narcissist who only does things for himself. He could care less about our democracy or our constitution.
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Trump is EVIL personified.
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Sorry prof, but a righteous motive can negate criminal intent, no?
Besides what will the Trump or DiSantis DOJ do with this case in 2024? And will they then prosecute Joe on some trumped up BS?
Ah, Victor’s Justice. With global warming we can grow bananas here and govern ourselves like a Banana Republic
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Despite my doubts about the Democratic candidates, I proudly cast my vote twice against Mr. Trump for president, seeing it as my duty as an American. Had Secretary Clinton been elected, as the popular vote said she should have been, is a big “What if?” in America’s checkered history. Despite a number of his mistakes, I have been pleasantly surprised by President Biden. I somehow doubt that there really is a “Trump-supporting Democrat” who is not either imbibing the conservative MSM or deluding themselves.
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