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Tuesday letters: Trump, Klobuchar

Post Independent Letters to the editor graphic

Bad bathroom dreams

After our Electoral College system resulted in Trump being the handed keys to the Oval Office in 2016, I was hopeful that he would shift away from the persona he projected during his campaign. I wanted him to become presidential. That hasn’t happened.

Every day on the long trip since then has been like a dream about stopping at a gas station to use the bathroom, knowing that a gas station latrine is not likely to provide a good experience. Sure enough, the clogged commode has overflowed onto the floor, the stall door is broken, and someone has left a dirty diaper in the only sink. An orange-tinted guy is busy adding to graffiti covering the wall. He’s carrying a plunger that looks suspiciously like a tweeter, and when I ask what he’s doing, he says, “I’m practicing my signature for executive orders that will get rid of Obama stuff. If there is anything left that I haven’t already eliminated, it’s toast.”



At that point in the dream, the orange guy disappears, replaced by a turtle-looking fellow displaying a name tag identifying him as “Mitch.” Recognizing the Speaker of the U.S. Senate, I ask, “How do you get your way so often?” His response: “I just give the orange guy the name of someone who isn’t cooperating, and 45 produces a tweet that scares the hell out of the dissenter. Others see that and stick to the party line. Actually it takes Don very little time since he has an app for that. It translates Fox News reports into twitter format and downloads the finished products to his tweeter so he can post them.“ 

After three years of this, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between reality and the dirty-bathroom dream. Just try to imagine the nightmares that could follow if he is re-elected: Vote.



John Palmer

Glenwood Springs

Not paying attention

In my ongoing efforts at understanding how, after three years of Trump, there are still significant numbers among us that see this guy as some sort of messenger chosen by God to save us from ourselves, I have come to the only conclusion that makes sense to me. You’re not paying attention. 

I would bet my life against 10 cents that a significant majority of those still mesmerized by this con didn’t watch 10 minutes of the recent impeachment proceedings, or have no clue that Trump, along with that great American patriot William Barr, is corrupting the Justice Department in glaring and plain sight. 

I’m so confounded by the complete absence of critical thinking. It explains why it is nearly impossible to have a rational conversation with these people. Trump and the current GOP have, with stunning success, gotten 40% of us to disregard facts and look the other way. 

It’s no coincidence that “fake news” was never a thing until we got ourselves a fake president. Stupid comments regarding the amazing economy that Trump is somehow responsible for are just that. Stupid. When it crashes, which it will (for too many reasons to list), Obama will surely take the hit in some ridiculous, convoluted way. 

Frankly, the idea that we should hang our collective hat on some short term “booming” economy at the expense of … I don’t know … maybe … the climate crisis is not only jarringly selfish, but also completely reckless. Thank god we can once again pollute with impunity. Our grandchildren will be so proud. 

And finally, for the religious supporters of this moron, have you ever considered that he might very well embody the complete opposite of what you believe him to be? As far as my understanding of an antichrist goes, he certainly checks all the boxes.

Erik MacPherson

Glenwood Springs

Why I like Amy

(Spoiler alert: I want a woman in the Oval Office before I die.)

I began paying attention to Amy Klobuchar after I saw her exchanges with Bret Kavanaugh at his Supreme Court confirmation hearing in September 2018. Amy handled herself graciously and with decency in the rather ragged dialog she had with him. Plus she was forthright about her family’s struggle with alcoholism, a burden many Americans share. Over time she has shared other personal circumstances that affect many of us, including her parents’ divorce and her daughter’s ICU confinement at birth. I believe she genuinely knows our struggles because she’s like us.

Amy has the endorsements. She has a sound resume of public service. She knows how government works and should work. She was elected county attorney for Minnesota’s most populous county in 1998 and became the state’s first elected female senator in 2006. The only personal negative about her of which I’m aware are allegations that she is a too-demanding boss. I think she is tough, serious, honest and exacting, qualities that cut both ways.

The most apt label for Amy’s politics is probably moderate. She has a reputation for being a hard-working pragmatist instead of someone who wants to blow things up. For example, her view on health care access is to allow folks to buy into Medicare rather than having an abrupt changeover to a Medicare For All system.

She is not 70 and she is not 30; I like that. True, she wears comfortable shoes and business suits that middle-aged moms wear (she is a middle-aged mom after all). But she’s got her bangs under control now, and with good humor and sharp wit, she’s more than ready for prime time. Her debate performances have shown she can stand up to her opponents with civility and get the facts across clearly at the same time. I like that too.

Electability? I think anyone people support can be elected. After all … 

Joyce L. Jenkins

Glenwood Springs


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