Opinion: Trump is a reflection of the Republican Party, not the American people

To the editor: Jonah Goldberg’s latest column comes off as an attempt to normalize President Trump, who he writes personifies the trends that have been in place for some time among voters. (“Don’t blame it on the Orb: American institutional failure is the source of our weirdness,” Jan. 2)

Are serial lying, bullying, the debasing of women and gays, racism, white nationalism and ignorance of facts, history and our system of government all trends in the making over the last few decades? In the United States writ large?

No, but perhaps Goldberg only sees where he sits, as indeed Trump is the personification of these debasing trends in the Republican Party. In this column, Goldberg fails to see how these trends are leading to the destruction of his party.

Mark Chipman, San Diego

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To the editor: As Goldberg notes, a host of public opinion polls and surveys indicate that the majority of the electorate are as ignorant in their knowledge and understanding of our government as the president they elected.

Using H.L Mencken’s definition of democracy as “the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard,” Goldberg’s column should be a wake-up call or warning to all of us.

We need to urgently and methodically educate an unschooled electorate in history, civics and critical thinking. If this does not happen, all of us in this great democracy are destined to “get it good and hard,” as this last disastrous election has so clearly shown.

John Wynne, Garden Grove

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