Letters to the Editor: We are a gravely wounded country, no matter who’s president

To the editor: If you look at the electoral map of the United States, something begins to reveal itself — the American character. (“Trump steps up false claims of election fraud,” Nov. 4)

Basically, we appear to have a heartland of tradition, but we also have a fringe of eccentricity, and they seem to be about equal in numbers and quite at odds with each other. In that sense America could be characterized as a patient suffering from dissociative identity disorder.

One thing is certain no matter who wins this election: Neither President Trump nor former Vice President Joe Biden represents America as a whole. Equal numbers love and hate them and what they represent.

I would give “credit” to President Obama for allowing the division to emerge (it was always there) and to grow. I think Trump saw it to fruition.

The problem we’re facing is not about who gets elected; that’s merely a symptom. The problem is in deciding who we are as a nation, as a people, and if we can continue to be united.

Arthur Saginian, Santa Clarita

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To the editor: Remember what it was like before? Blissfully ignorant, we basked in the glow of growing equality and civility. Or so we thought.

In 2016, Trump didn’t hijack anything. That this race is so close now shows 2016 was no fluke.

We’ve now been slapped awake again, with the realization that America doesn’t actually have a moral compass.

He’s not a disruptor, he’s a mirror. And the reflection is horrifying.

Lisa Harmon, Yakima, Wash.

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To the editor: Though the election hasn’t been called yet, Trump received more votes this year than he did in 2016. While the president seems consistently incapable of getting a majority of Americans to support him, twice he’s received more than 62 million votes.

To those of us in the U.S. and around the world who’ve watched Trump’s unapologetically corrupt and immoral presidency unfold over the past four years, it speaks volumes about the America that we’ve apparently long had but was lurking just below the surface.

Perhaps most dispiriting is the thinking that Trump likely would have won by now had he not bungled his pandemic response. But for more than 230,000 dead, Trump would’ve been declared the winner by now.

Todd Piccus, Venice

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To the editor: Our society is very sick.

No healthy society would give almost half its votes to a pathological liar, a man credibly accused of sexual assault, a phony “populist” champion of the ultra wealthy, an instigator of racism who is appreciated by neo-Nazis and other white nationalists, and a narcissist who cares only about himself and certainly not for the country.

That Trump could garner almost 50% of the votes is a symptom of an oligarchic, diseased society.

Roger Carasso, Santa Fe, N.M.

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To the editor: Perhaps it’s time to have a federal election for president with uniform rules across the country. It would be less “fun” for the TV people with their magic charts and projections, but it would be far easier on my stomach.

Doug Stokes, Duarte