Trump is not a business model or a founding father
Unless Patrick Gilligan’s letter to the editor is being sarcastic, he has it all wrong. (“Trump has a lot in common with our Founding Fathers,” Detroit Free Press, June 21.)
There is no comparison between Donald Trump and the founding fathers. The Founding Fathers were creating a new, independent, strong nation. Trump is tearing it down by decimating various departments, i.e. the U.S. Department of Education for one, and turning us into an oligarchy ruled by billionaires. Instead of uniting people, he has them at war with one another.
Nor did Trump inherit a “small” business. He inherited multimillions of dollars. He learned his business tactics from his father, which included apartment buildings that the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Decision said discriminated against potential Black and Puerto Rican tenants, as well as shading his tax obligations.
As a businessman, Trump has bankrupted several casinos and has been in debt as much as $100 million dollars.He has hired people to do work for him, then reportedly failed to pay them. He’s not the dealer he claims, see above, or consider the terrible deal he has set up with Iran.
The “decline” Mr. Gilligan refers to is the one we find ourselves in presently. Before Trump, by and large, people could afford groceries, gas, medicine. Now inflation is up. None of his campaign promises have come true.
Before Trump, we had allies around the world. We’ve lost most of them, they don’t trust us. Trump’s misbegotten forays into things he has no idea about are costing us dearly. It will take years to dig out of the morass created by his mistakes.
Mr. Gilligan won’t be persuaded, but he has his facts wrong, most likely because he listens to and believes Trump.
Marshall Cossman
Grand Blanc
I think our Founding Fathers would disagree
One reader thinks for some reason that President Donald Trump, Mr. “Art of the Deal” (that he didn’t write by himself by the way), whose businesses filed bankruptcy not once, not twice but six times, is somehow saving our country from decline.
Hm, I beg to differ, as does most of the country. How are your grocery prices? Did they go down in a day as he promised? How are your gas prices that skyrocketed because of the war he said he wouldn’t start and can’t get out of? He has alienated all our allies and pardoned convicted felons who attacked the police who were guarding the Capitol of our country. Do you really think our Founding Fathers would have pardoned anyone who attacked the Capitol of the country they founded? Think again.
Errol Shifman
Fountain Hills, Arizona
Another great name for the new bridge
I think a great name for the new bridge would be the President James Buchanan, Jr. Bridge, because it’s always a good idea to remember your mistakes.
William Weber
New Taipei City, Taiwan
The dangerous undercurrent in Michigan’s 11th District primary
Michigan’s 11th Congressional District primary has taken a troubling turn. Democratic candidates Aisha Farooqi and Don Ufford have targeted state Sen. Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield, by focusing attacks on “AIPAC ties” and what they call support from a pro-Israel “dark money’ network.
Advocacy groups are open to criticism. However, elevating “pro-Israel groups” into a central campaign attack against a Jewish official portrays Jewish civic participation as uniquely suspect.
The timing is deeply concerning. Metro Detroit Jews face historic anxieties, including a recent vehicle attack at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield. Yet, local campaign tactics increasingly frame Jewish organizations as political villains. Those seeking to represent our community in Washington should know better than to play into age-old antisemitic dog whistles for short-term political points.
We are your neighbors, colleagues, and public servants. Judge candidates strictly on their legislative records. When Jewish participation is weaponized, political leaders must lower the temperature, not exploit ancient biases.
Jonathan Schwartz
The writer is a resident of Huntington Woods and is the president emeritus of the Jewish Bar Association of Michigan and a founder of the Holocaust Art Recovery Initiative
Are the elite the only ones who can support creative art?
I just finished the article regarding the fundraiser being planned at the Detroit Opera House to benefit the Detroit Creativity Project and other organizations in the city that expose kids to the arts. I was excited about it, not only because I myself was an art major and now retired, am still involved in artistic creations. Attending and donating to this affair was something I wanted to do.
However, in checking ticket prices, I soon saw this would be out of my financial reach. Balcony tickets are $318, with the price going up from there in closer rows. Main floor prices range from $410 to $627! I really hope that they make lots of money for their charity, but unfortunately, not being one of Detroit’s elite leaves me out of assisting. And that makes me very sad.
Alice M. Zeiger
Roseville
I’m not buying Carlson’s sudden epiphany
Tucker Carlson is the latest former sycophant to finally hit their limit with President Donald Trump. He just stated that he can no longer support the GOP due to Trump’s handling of the war in Iran. My initial benevolent impulse is to show Tucker some grace. It took him a while to have his epiphany, but let’s give him credit for finally getting there, right?
Wrong. Tucker, and others like him, do not denounce their past ways when they see the light. Presumably, they just arrive at a bridge too far.
He has been fine with Donald Trump for over a decade. More than fine, actually. He has defended and supported every illegal, amoral and insane policy that Trump has attempted to initiate. Finally saying enough is enough does not absolve him from the immense role he played in the Trump legacy of democracy destruction.
Bryan Chase
Huntington Woods
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Another new name for the Gordie Howe Bridge | Letters
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