Cabinet flatterers don’t serve our country well
Donald Trump held a Cabinet meeting recently that lasted three hours and 17 minutes and featured him basking in the fawning praise from his Cabinet members.
Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer invited Trump to see the banner with his “big beautiful face” hanging in front of her department headquarters. Middle East envoy Steve Whitkoff told him, “There is only one thing I wish for, that the Nobel committee finally gets its act together and realizes that you are the single finest candidate since this Nobel award was ever talked about.”
This cringey display reminded me of Dante’s Inferno, an imagined journey through hell where sinners are punished in a fashion befitting their crimes. In the eighth circle, Dante encounters the “flatterers,” those who gained power not with intelligence or skill but through misleading others by feeding them lies. The flatterers spend all of eternity trapped in a pit, submerged in the excrement that spews out of their mouths every time they speak.
A fitting fate, some would argue. History shows that flatterers push aside men and women of true wisdom. Flattery is safer than telling unpleasant truths but, in the long run, it can cause a government to collapse.
Becky Bartlett
Upper Nazareth Township
Bill White cutting off his nose to spite his face
Some readers, especially the Baby Boomers, may recall the phrase “cut off your nose to spite your face.” I know I heard it from my mom as a kid when I even thought about doing or saying anything that would end up backfiring.
This phrase came to my mind as I read Bill White’s column Aug. 30. I’ll admit that he initially appeared to be off of his hateful vendetta against President Donald Trump in the opening paragraphs, and I was foolish enough to think he was finally understanding how, in only eight months, the United States appears to be on the right track. Unfortunately, he apparently couldn’t help himself and went on to a written rant that was one of his worst, I believe. He wrote about his faith and his belief in Jesus, but then “cut off his nose to spite his face” in the ending paragraphs, writing again of his apparent hatred of Donald Trump.
Mary E. Wozniak
East Allen Township
Trump’s anniversary nothing to celebrate
On the sixth-month anniversary of President Trump’s return to the White House, House Speaker Johnson put a post on social media that because of Trump’s leadership America is “safer, stronger, and more prosperous.”
I’m guessing there might be a few Americans who disagree.
For example, law enforcement officers who were injured by the now-pardoned Jan. 6, 2021, “patriots”; 16 million children, 8 million seniors and 4 million nonelderly adults with disabilities who may be deprived of Supplemental Nutrition Assistant Program benefits; pregnant women in rural areas who may lose labor and delivery units at local hospitals because of Medicaid cuts; millions of Americans who may face devastating losses from natural disasters due to climate change because government efforts to fight it have been scrubbed; victims of human trafficking and gun violence who now face the gutting of government offices designed to aid them; and lastly, Americans who may be deprived of improved flu and COVID vaccines because of $500 million worth of cuts in mRNA technology.
So exactly who benefits from Trump’s agenda? Billionaires, large corporations, the fossil fuel industry, gun manufacturers and monopolistic tech companies. The reality is that Trump’s first six months culminated in one big, beautiful rip-off.
Rich Israel
Bethlehem
Trump doing nothing to stop US gun violence
Rumor has it that the president is worried about gaining admission to heaven. It’s why he’s taken on the role of peacemaker. Yet while he seeks peace in Russia and Gaza, he ignores the violence from within, the death of innocent children and unlucky bystanders in America’s orgy of gunplay. Not unlike his fellow politicians, he’s quick to offer thoughts and prayers, but little else. While prayers are a good thing, the role of people in government is to do more than mouth platitudes, it is supposed to be about protecting ordinary citizens. To do this, politicians are charged with crafting meaningful legislation. No one in Congress or even the all-powerful president should get a pass on this issue. The state of mental health care in this country is abysmal; couple that with wishy-washy gun regulations and you have “American carnage.” Remember that one, Mr. President? So maybe, just maybe we should be a little more circumspect when it comes to peacemaking, even if there is no Nobel Prize in the offing?
Martin Stockman III
Bethlehem Township
Renewable energy cuts will hurt US supply, bills
Donald Trump and the Republicans’ reversal of subsidies for renewable energy have made sure that not only will China eat our lunch, but they will have our dinner too. Big, bad changes are coming as artificial intelligence super data centers gorge on local energy resources that could have been somewhat moderated by incentivizing massive solar installations on the warehouse farms that we now have among us.
Our energy bills are already going up and will go even higher because this administration has crippled the fastest growing energy supply we had. If we want to pay less for solar panels, guess who is more than happy to provide the latest and greatest versions: China. It is experiencing a boom in renewable energy projects and leaving us in the dust.
When asked why the subsidies should be cut, our Sen. McCormick said that the industry didn’t need subsidies anymore to move forward. Really? Then why do we still continue our 100-year subsidizing of the fossil fuel industry? Lastly, this administration is actively sabotaging development of wind projects, both on and off shore. We are regressing, not progressing in the energy sector.
Deborah Hunter
Forks Township
The Morning Call publishes letters from readers online and in print several times a week. Submit a letter to the editor at letters@mcall.com. The views expressed in this piece are those of its individual author(s), and should not be interpreted as reflecting the views of this publication.
https://www.mcall.com/2025/09/06/letters-to-the-editor-flattery-will-get-the-us-nowhere/
