Opinion: Dear Donald: Letters from readers to President-elect Trump and his supporters

Dear President-elect Trump:

You ask for my support and my guidance, so I will offer you some: Earn my respect.

I will fight against the narrow mindedness and prejudice that I saw you display during the campaign. Do not tell me I was wrong — instead show me that you have compassion.

I will fight against the crazy ideas that you displayed during the campaign. Do not tell me to shut up — instead show me that you have some sense.

You claim you want to make America great again. Show me that you respect the freedom that is enshrined in the Constitution.

You can only show me by what you do, because you have taught me not to believe what you say.

So, please, Mr. President-elect, I am the loyal opposition — earn my respect.

James Lashly, Ojai

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Dear President-elect Trump:

I write this letter with a heavy heart and great sadness. On Tuesday night I returned from a gathering of friends at which we expected to celebrate Democrat Hillary Clinton becoming the first woman president of the United States.

Yes, we realized that there were many people in our country who did not support her. She has been part of the political establishment. She has been accused of “putting our country’s security at risk” by her “careless” use of a private email server. She has been “too cozy with Wall Street.” She “inappropriately supported her husband when he was accused of sexual misdeeds.” She is a woman and, therefore, by virtue of her gender, is not suited to being the president of the most important country in the world. And on and on.

And yet, my friends and I really believed this time would be different. We believed there were enough women out there who had been insulted by your “locker room” talk that they would rise up and vote against you. We thought there would be enough Latinos offended by your talk of mass deportation. We thought your insults of Muslim Americans, especially those who had honorably served our country, would cause veterans and their supporters to question your own patriotism and support of our troops. We thought your lack of specific plans and policies would lead ordinary Americans to question where and how you would lead us.

But apparently none of our concerns were reflected in Tuesday’s vote. Rather, voters in most of the other states decided to believe that your vague “Make America Great Again!” slogan was where they should put their faith.

So where do we go from here? I am a proud American. I can’t imagine living in any other country. I do not want to live in any other country. Yet I do not want to spend the next four or eight years living in a country where I do not feel welcome, where it seems that my values are so very different from those of more than 50 million of my fellow citizens.

Therefore, I ask you, President-elect Trump, what can you say to the millions of people like me who voted for your opponent? Do we not matter? Or are you willing to reach out to us, to try to understand our concerns and reassure us that we are still part of this great country that you have been chosen to lead? I hope with all my heart that you will now see how important it is that you become the president of all the people and that under your leadership we will once again become one nation.

Marjorie Lewis, Huntington Beach

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Dear Trump supporters:

Congratulations on your victory. Congratulations on sending a message to all of the politicians that we want change. I don’t disagree. You did it. Let’s hope the person you elected can hold up his end of the bargain.

But make no mistake: This does not give you the right to grab any part of my anatomy at any time at your will, let alone brag about such acts. This does not give you the right to make fun of a person with a disability. This does not give you the right to tell me whether or not I may practice my religion or have friends and family that are foreign or a different color than me or tell me whether or not I must choose to have a baby.

For the first time in my life, I fear the discrimination that women faced 100 years ago when they wanted to vote or hold a paying job, or 40 years ago when they couldn’t open a credit card account unless their husband vouched for them. I’m now scared to walk down the street by myself because men will feel free to act however they want toward me and I will have no recourse.

Since I turned 18 I have voted in every single election. I have cried only twice: tears of joy when Barak Obama was elected in 2008, and tears of fear Tuesday night. I can only hope that with more than 300 million pairs of eyes on him, we will not lose the ground for which so many women, Muslims, blacks, Hispanics, lesbians, gays and every other group this candidate has offended has fought. God bless us all.

Sarah Pousho, Richmond

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