Presidents Day
Presidents Day celebrates presidential accomplishments without whitewashing their reprehensible behavior. For historical perspective, some of President Donald Trump’s actions have presidential precedents:
Like Trump, many presidents were overtly racist. Twelve were slaveholders. President Woodrow Wilson screened “The Birth of a Nation,” glorifying the KKK.
Like Trump, Presidents Ulysses Grant and Warren Harding (Teapot Dome) had corrupt administrations. Unlike Trump, they did not personally enrich themselves.
Like Trump, Presidents William McKinley and Herbert Hoover raised tariffs on imports, increasing costs for Americans. Unlike Trump, they obtained Congressional approval.
Like Trump, President Franklin Roosevelt incarcerated noncriminal immigrants (Japanese Americans during World War II).
Like Trump, President Harry Truman tried to acquire Greenland.
Like Trump, six presidents deployed the National Guard.
Like Trump, President Richard Nixon engaged in a criminal conspiracy to influence an election — Watergate.
Like Trump, President Ronald Reagan endangered public health (ignoring AIDS).
Like Trump, President George H.W. Bush deposed a Latin American leader (Gen. Manuel Noriega), violating international law.
Like Trump, Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton were impeached.
These are widely considered among the most notorious presidential scandals in U.S. history. Trump has singlehandedly replicated all of them. In addition, Trump is the only president who was impeached twice, the only adjudicated sexual assaulter and the only convicted felon. A bipartisan panel of historians ranked Trump’s first term as the worst presidency ever.
I believe his current term will easily eclipse that.
David Campbell, Virginia Beach
Disenfranchise
Re “The final say” (Our Views, Feb. 11): Many times since my teens back in the 1960s, I disagreed with this paper’s stance but overall, we got a good representation of both conservative and liberal thinking. However, the editorial board’s endorsement of the Democrats’ attempt to disenfranchise nearly half the state’s voters with their redistricting plan removes any doubt about your editorial policies.
This blatant power grab hopefully will be denied by the courts. Bypassing the nonpartisan redistricting commission to turn our state into a 10-1 Democratic stronghold should have been denounced by the board. Including parts of York County in a district with Northern Virginia should have been denounced. To endorse this plan by saying other states are doing it is a disservice to your readers and to the nearly 50% of Virginia voters who lean conservative.
You had a chance to call out Virginia Senate President Pro Tem Louise Lucas, a very polarizing politician, for supporting this plan and blatantly ignoring constituents who are not Democratic. Instead, you put her photo at the top of the Opinion page. And then to close by saying voters will determine if this goes forward or not turns the whole editorial into a joke. You already know that if 51% agree to it, the other 49%, who happen to lean conservative, will be effectively locked out of having any voice in what happens in our state. But I believe that’s what you want.
Bill Wallace, Gloucester
Racism
President Donald Trump’s recent social media post of a racist video of the Obamas brings to mind the old saying, “the best revenge is success.” I’m not worried about the Obamas. I’m sure that their best-selling books and the former president’s Nobel Peace Prize will do more than keep them “warm at night.”
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., said it was, “the most racist thing to come out of the White House.” Where has he been all these years? There hasn’t been a group of black or brown people that haven’t experienced Trump’s racism: Haitians are eating the dogs and cats; Somali people are animals; Mexicans/Hispanics are murderers, etc. That list is endless and as a Republican, you simply ignore it or look the other way.
Thank God for midterm elections.
Billie M. Cook, Portsmouth
