Vote for Trump if you want a radical new normal
Yonkers: There are lots of reasons to vote for Donald Trump as the Republican candidate for president. I can name a few, but there are probably several more.
Foremost, he’s the leader of MAGA (Make America Great Again). As president, he will guide the country to fascism, which is what the Republican Party is leaning toward. He will censor all criticisms directed at him and ban publications critical of him. He will enforce his dictates by enlisting the militia to end all demonstrations that are unfavorable to him. He will end all regulations curtailing gun ownership and gun types, along with corporation regulations that curtail the development of fossil fuels, which will give jobs to the oil and coal industries.
President Trump will seek to reduce the government’s spending by ending its financial support of health care, Social Security and welfare programs, along with our aid to Ukraine’s fight against Russia, resulting in a significant deficit reduction. He will support the pro-life movement for the sake of his evangelical followers. His presidency will end all felony charges against him and will allow him to pardon anyone who may have assisted him in incurring any of the charges against him. Of course, you must be able to excuse former President Trump’s 30,523 documented lies while previously holding the office of president.
As stated, the above are only a few examples of why you may want to cast a vote for Trump. Joan Cavalluzzi
Dangling a carrot
Massapequa Park, L.I.: Kamala Harris unveiled part of her economic plan for the country and it was typical — I will cut costs for everything, I will give you money to buy a house, we will continue to pay off student debt. Blah, blah, blah. Why don’t they just come out and say, “I want to buy your vote!” Raymond P. Moran
Veteran affairs
Bloomingdale, N.Y.: Since he was selected as the Democratic vice presidential candidate, Tim Walz’s military record has been attacked by JD Vance. I would hope that at the VP candidates debate, Walz asks Vance these questions: “What would you say to me if I were a five-time Vietnam War draft-dodger who received a deferment for bone spurs?”; “What if I said, ‘If you’re young, and in this era, and if you have any guilt about not having gone to Vietnam, we have our own Vietnam — it’s called the dating game… Dating is like being in Vietnam… It’s my personal Vietnam’?”; “What if I told you that ‘I like people who weren’t captured?’ “; “What if I told you that Americans who died in this nation’s wars are ‘suckers’ and ‘losers’?” George J. Bryjak
Talking nonsense
Garden City, L.I.: I have listened to all four candidates. Harris and Walz spend their time speaking about what they will do to improve the lot of the American middle class, lower prices, repair the border, guarantee women’s reproductive rights, etc. Donald wastes his time ridiculing people’s appearances, manner of speech, lying about aircraft crashes, bragging about his looks (he should buy a mirror) and generally sounding like a bad comedy routine. JD Vance — I’m not really sure what he is talking about! Paul Falabella
Dictatorial drive
Brooklyn: Trump doesn’t just want to be a president, he wants to be a dictator! He wants to be in office for the rest of his life. Let us vote for a future president, not a future dictator. Vote for Kamala Harris! Arthur Mazlin
Minority rule
Whiting, N.J.: Voicer Jason Randazzo’s letter is full of great points regarding rights of the minority of voters, except for one crucial error. He writes “the will of the majority will prevail,” but thanks to the Electoral College, this has been proved wrong in the past (Al Gore and Hillary Clinton, to name two) and we are in grave danger of it happening again this year if a couple of battleground states fall the wrong way and Trump wins. In that case, the minority wins and the rights of the majority face grave danger. Bill McConnell
Crappy statue
Manhattan: New York City is about to erect a huge sculpture of a flying rat that feels it can defecate wherever and on whomever it feels like. No, it’s not a statue of Donald Trump. It’s a statue of a pigeon on the High Line. Neither have any business being honored in NYC. Louie Russo
Isolated island
Dayton, Ohio: The Aug. 17 Daily News editorial says “Puerto Rico is not second class.” Unfortunately, it is, as the editorial points out, treated like it is. The only real way to fix this is to grant statehood to Puerto Rico. This requires congressional approval. This shouldn’t be too difficult to obtain because Puerto Ricans are already U.S. citizens. Republicans should approve because island residents are very conservative, and Democrats should approve because it’s the right thing to do. Vic Presutti
Protest abroad
St. James, L.I.: I am so exceptionally impressed with the college protesters throughout our country that I would like to support their cause to liberate Palestine and bring their “river to the sea” chant into reality. Particularly, the Ivy leaguers who are fervent in their views and intransigent in their negotiations. I am willing to purchase a one-way ticket to Gaza for each protester. In Gaza, they can exchange their words for action and transform their genuine, soul-searched protest positions into reality. I’m sure Hamas will offer an extensive meal plan, classes on strict Islamic law and workshops on antisemitism. Anybody with me? Carmine E. Esposito
Hidden horrors
Hallandale, Fla.: Unless Americans watch stations like Al Jazeera TV, they are not privy to the savage everyday assaults on Gaza’s civilians by Israel’s military. Every single day, civilians — including entire families — are wiped out, with amputations commonplace. Polio is now a risk. Gazan families, with scant provisions, are ordered to move frequently when there is not a single safe zone. Our government not only stands by, allowing all of this brutality and devastation to unfold, but continues to provide Israel with all that it needs to continue its relentless campaign. Israel is a pariah and the U.S. is becoming more so. Sid Sussman
Mass murder
Manhattan: Benjamin Netanyahu has adopted a Holocaust mentality. His military units have killed more than 40,000 innocent Palestinians by way of bombing, starvation and torture. Moreover, this process of destruction has reduced the infrastructure required for housing and health care to rubble. What is unforgivable is that the United States is complicit by providing weaponry to this sociopath. Sheila Edwards
Transplants
Lackawaxen, Pa.: Voicer Daniel H. Trigoboff objects to my assertion that there were no Homo sapiens indigenous to the area of the Levant currently in dispute between Israelis and Palestinians. The term is intended in its classical denotation as being “place of origin.” Trigoboff is apparently an adherent of Jew-before-Judaism taxonomy (a sort of reversal of the Catholic deathbed conversion). The Voicer, although taking offense at my reference to the ancient peoples of the region as “western Asian,” is not a geographical denier, but simply confirms one of my points by identifying “Israel [as] a modern Western democracy in every sense” — an admission that the post-Zionist immigrants are not the same people as their Jewish predecessors (and a distinction drawn by the newcomers between their secular interests and the religious life of the older population that stayed the course for several millennia). John A. MacKinnon
Unethical consumption
Yorktown Heights, N.Y.: Thank you for Voicer Kiley Blackman’s letter about foie gras. The treatment of the majority of farmed animals is disgraceful. In addition to having everything that’s natural denied to them, most farmed animals are forced to suffer in a seemingly endless amount of ways: intensive confinement, mutilation without anesthetic, separation of mothers and their babies, live-shackle slaughter, high-speed kill lines, live male chicks being thrown into grinders, conscious animals ending up in scalding tanks and getting skinned, and so on. When will we abide by the concept that it’s wrong to cause senseless suffering to animals? Do we really need to consume such a high level of animal products? If the answer is yes, then factory farming will continue to thrive in the land of the free, home of the brave. James Scotto