Letters to the Editor: Election 11.17.16

Through the Arts

East Hampton

November 11, 2016

Dear David,

The clear message from last week’s election is that we are a country divided. We lag behind in education, and, as a result, we are susceptible to cognitive biases supported by the media. Guild Hall believes that one of the most effective ways we can counter this discord is through the arts. A well-functioning democracy needs the free expression of artists, writers, and performers. It needs their creativity and spontaneity to enhance our capacity for independent thinking.

Guild Hall means “gathering space,” and we bring unity to our community. In 2017 we will push the envelope in visual arts and theater. We will host meaningful and informed conversations, and we will teach, and thus foster critical thinking and social intelligence. We will let artists lead the way, make a place for the next generation, embrace diversity, and collaborate actively with other institutions. 

The arts can and will nourish the roots of our culture, and bring us back to productive dialogue. 

ANDREA GROVER, 

Executive Director

Alec Baldwin, President 

Martin Cohen, Chairman

First Ladies Meet

Montauk

November 10, 2016

To the Editor:

The first ladies meet.

Michelle: “I’m so happy to be meeting you. I do sincerely hope that in time we may become friends.”

Melania: “I’m so happy to be meeting you. I do sincerely hope that in time we may become friends.”

DICK CAVETT

Your Whirlwind

Springs

November 9, 2016

Editor:

To all those throughout the nation who voted for Donald Trump: You have sown the wind and now we must reap the whirlwind.

Unfortunately, your whirlwind will not only blow on you; it will blow upon us all.

SID DELSON

Sail On

Steady as you go. Stay the course,

 Trust yourself, be vigilant, yet relaxed,

 

Be one with your surroundings,

and also be part of what lies ahead.

 

Smell the sea and feel the warmth

of the early sun.

 

Hear the silence and touch the love 

that is yours and ours.

 

There is no safe harbor, yet we sail on, we can, we do.

 

It is the time for Reflection.

 

When it is time for the re-birth of  today,

 

And when tomorrow does arrive,

with or without us,

 

New destinations will still be 

      dreamed of

and charted and sailed,

 

to yet another unsafe harbor,

by another unsafe crew.

 

Because — Sail on, we can, we will, we do. . . .

LARRY SMITH

Own Your Choice

Montauk

November 13, 2016

Dear Editor:

To my friends and neighbors who voted for Donald Trump: I know you are not racists or bigots. I figured out early in the race that the majority of the people I know and respect who were voting for him were doing so for other reasons. I held healthy debates with some of you, but cautiously so. I learned this 16 years ago during a heated discussion about the validity of the war in Iraq when losing ground, my “friend” declared, “Well, all I know is that you have to be proud to be an American.” I knew that was my cue to shut up and I did.

I am moved to share this by all the people suggesting that it’s over and wehould get over it. Alas, it’s more complex than that. My kid got on the bus and was teased (not maliciously — by friends) that his Irish ass might soon be kicked out of the U.S. He laughed. He shared that everyone was saying goodbye to their Latino friends in the school, in jest. He saw my expression change and insisted it was just lighthearted teasing. He said that’s how teenagers deal with it, they joke around. I asked him, “Why would those boys suggest that he, as an American, might be kicked out of the country?” He said, “You know, Mom, their parents are American, you and Dad are Irish.” Apparently it’s now a pedigree? Let that sit with you for a while.

At church on Sunday the priest shared that at a retreat he had attended, people referred to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. He thought it might be a healing way to think of each other this week — he shared that many of his Latino congregation were scared. He told a few personal stories of undocumented people with American-born children, American citizens, who fear that they will be separated from their families. He asked that we be mindful of their fears. It was followed by one loud, booming Boo! from a man in the congregation. It echoed and bounced around the silent church and then hung in the air. I watched as every child in the church looked up at a parent’s face in bewilderment. Please take a moment to think about that before you move on.

President-elect Donald Trump won the election. I concur. Congratulations, enjoy your celebrations. When you are done, please remember that although your vote was not one of hate, your candidate’s campaign was. I understand that as an adult you believe he said what he said to win. The media painted him to be a monster, right? Yet there were no voiceovers, they were his words. There were no media tricks, I watched the rallies and debates live with my children, and while I believe you do not take his words literally, please remember that there is a whole generation that does. Children take things literally. I know many of the things he said made you feel uneasy. Those qualms you had — please let them sit with you, do not let them go and move on.

I dearly hope that your leap of faith pays off; we are all in this together. In the meantime, I beg of you not to sit back when your celebrations are done. Own your choice! Pay attention to the things he does that don’t sit well with you. Examine that feeling, spend time with it, don’t just let it go and move on.

If you have a hard time hearing this because it is said with an Irish accent, spend time with that too. I am sure it’s not coming from a place of hate, but please examine it and then talk to your children.

Love always,

JACKIE TYRELL

 

First 100 Days

Springs

November 14, 2016

To the Editor,

To all who voted for Donald Trump: You were right. I was wrong to attack Donald Trump and his supporters (like my congressman, Lee Zeldin) as being racist, misogynists, fascists, and haters.

As a first-generation American, Candidate Trump’s words scared me when he declared immigrants to be America’s number-one enemy, claimed Putin to be a great leader, said if elected he will start the mass deportations of 11 million people, and said he will put his political rival, Hillary Clinton, in jail.

I was scared when I heard Candidate Trump deny climate science as a liberal plot supported by the Chinese, when he said “I will build a great wall and Mexico will pay for it,” he will “repeal and replace Obamacare,” all that and more in his first 100 days.

When I awoke to the election results and posted my thoughts and fears on Facebook, my Trump-supporting friends gloated rather than celebrated their victory and they derided protesters chanting “not my president” as being professional agitators.

I’ve done a lot of thinking over this past week. They are right. I was wrong. Donald Trump is my president now. 

I listened to their rhetoric during the campaign and was in disagreement, but today, now more than ever believe in states’ rights and the Second Amendment.

I will allow the presidential process and transfer of power to unfold as it has in our republic for 240 years and through 45 presidencies. Give Donald Trump our nation’s top-secret security information. Give him the nuclear codes. And give him the first 100 days honeymoon to show us his fearless leadership abilities.

Mr. Trump, you are my president-elect now and I want you to succeed so that America succeeds — and nothing succeeds in politics more than promises fulfilled. Mr. President-elect, I believe in the United States of America, its system of governance, and I believe you will implement your campaign promises, because as you so earnestly promised, you are the “only one who can do this job,” you will “bring back American jobs” and you will “build a big, beautiful wall and Mexico will pay for it,” you will begin “deporting 11 million people — day one,” and you will “put Crooked Hillary in prison.”

On Jan. 20, Mr. Trump, you will become my president. I will not incite you to enact new libel laws by criticizing you during your first 100 days. By May 1, you must fulfill your campaign promises with full employment for all Americans. You will provide jobs by deporting 11 million people, construction jobs building your great Mexican wall, American jobs eliminating Obamacare and more Guantanemo prison guards (with sub-specialties in torture) where Hillary will be in prison.

If you do not fulfill your campaign promises, President Trump, using the words of former President Harry Truman speaking about Richard Nixon’s election, “You are a shifty-eyed, goddamned liar.”

And, should an executive order require it, I shall bow down before you, Mr. President, to add, “You are a con man, a loser big-league, and Putin’s boot-licker.”

May God bless the United States of America.

ALEX MILLER

Consequences

Amagansett

November 13, 2016

Dear Mr. Rattray,

President Obama is not a very good singer, but I’ve never heard or seen a better rendition of “Amazing Grace” than what he demonstrated last week when discussing the election results before the press, the country, the world. He promised that his team would provide a smooth, helpful transition for Mr. Trump, as he had been given by George W. Bush eight years earlier. He wished President-elect Trump a successful presidency, asserting we would all benefit. His words were inclusive, calming — in the face of a stunning defeat for his party, and likely his ideals.

I wished I could have been an invisible stenographer inside the White House when the president met with Mr. Trump. How do you find a common spirit after so many months of flame throwing? Amazing grace. The front page photos seen ’round the world of the two men shaking hands, a look of palpable unease on their faces, told a thousand stories.

When I came out of my bunker a few days ago I thought, Well, things will settle down. Hopefully the rhetoric was mostly campaign noise that would be muted once the concession speeches were in the archives. But it didn’t quite work out that way. 

Near the end of a lovely dinner party Saturday evening, the conversation turned — against earlier promises — to the election and the “reasons” for the outcome. Voices were raised, untoward words spoken, some by this writer, violating his own call for reasonable discourse among citizens! Shame on me. Guess the phrase “words can never hurt me” is just a child’s retort to the bully. In the adult world, words and threats come with consequences. Damn.

Educators have already noticed a spike in classroom bullying of Hispanic students since the election. A dear friend of ours from Ecuador, who has been living in East Hampton for over 20 years, told us that his family has experienced hostile looks in restaurants from whites since the election. He said many of his friends are fearful for their jobs, their children, their relatives, and what might happen next. It feels like just a few years ago that a spirit of tolerance and accommodation was rising in the land — a bipartisan resolve to find a legal path for working immigrants in this country. Among the new governing majority that spirit appears to now be dormant.

My political consciousness probably began during the civil rights movement, in the 1960s. Overlapping that was the Vietnam War. There have been seven recessions (the most recent labeled “Great”), race riots, Middle East wars, genocide, hurricanes, and nothing was ever suddenly “over.” Wars take years to end. The aftermath of hurricanes, tornadoes, tidal waves impact lives and communities, again, for years. Civil rights are never universally achieved. Never. 

And in the political realm, engaged citizenship will never wait till the next election. Never says, “We’ll see what happens in four years.” So now, without being cynical, we need to be watchful, concerned for the rights and well-being of our neighbors. Especially at a time when (a minority of) Americans feel emboldened to express their once-suppressed prejudices in vocal, even violent ways.

I was gratified to read in your pages the words of Minerva Perez, executive director of Organizacion Latino-Americana of Eastern Long Island, who spoke of initiatives helping to bridge the cultural divide in the community, schools, police departments, as well as the creation of the Latino advisory committee in East Hampton. I would strongly urge our elected town officials to reach out to the Latino community, the schools, and to the entire local population to discuss the challenges ahead and the town’s full commitment to protecting its residents from harm, abuse, or bullying.

Finally (ha!), I’m fully aware that I live in a bubble of privilege, blessed for all of my life with good family, dear friends, and all the comforts that I could earn, including a life in our extraordinary world by the sea. I think now would be a good time to remove the campaign signs from the lawns. Take your part in the reconciliation. Most of us may not possess amazing grace; I know I don’t. But we could probably all hum a few bars.

Always,

LYLE GREENFIELD

Democratic Process

Amagansett

November 14, 2016

Dear David, 

In our small town, a hundred civic-minded volunteers came together to actively participate in the democratic process. Organized by our local East Hampton Democratic Committee, we encouraged and assisted the registration of new voters, dedicated hours to phone banks contacting voters in New York Congressional District 1, and, across the country, recruited canvassers to walk door-to-door to engage residents in the discussion of the vital issues of this election campaigns. 

We also opened a headquarters just off Main Street in East Hampton Village staffed by volunteers and open every day. There visitors came, increasing in number, from East Hamptoners to out-of-towners, dropping by for help with applying for absentee ballots and asking about their election districts or location of the polls or the proposition on the ballot. And they stayed to join in the conversation about our government. I am proud and grateful to have been part of this group of citizens who served as role models of democracy in action. 

Thank you all for your enthusiasm and hard work! No, we were not successful in this election cycle, but we learned much and are surely stronger for the experience. And you can be sure, we will continue to be active participants in the process in the days ahead. 

Sincerely, 

BETTY MAZUR

Do-Nothing Liberals

Freeport

November 9, 2016

Dear Editor:

I’m sick and tired of reading these ignorant letters by white limousine liberals waxing poetic about how the racist institutions of America are oppressing black people, that we need to get rid of them. It was their liberal polices that created these institutions in the first place. 

Slavery in America, Jim Crow, and the K.K.K. were all advocated by the Democratic Party, and they were horrible, but today’s problems in the black community and race relations are not the legacy of either one. That would be the Great Society of 1966, and this year is the 50th anniversary of know-it-all, do-nothing liberals offering no solutions to the problem. Instead, they provoke fear and anger among black voters to re-elect their loser candidates, nowadays running for office based on race, now gender, while accusing their Republican opponents of being racist. Days before the election, a white lady, Democrat, told me that if I vote for Donald Trump, he will send me back to Africa.

This, my liberal friends, may not be your personal psyche, but it is your legacy, and with Donald J. Trump as president-elect, who won 30 percent of the black vote, you should own it.

DANIEL EVANS

God Blessed America

Hampton Bays

November 9, 2016

To the Editor: 

Well, here we are. God Blessed America from “Sea to Shining Sea.” With the election of President Donald Trump, Americans have sent a message.

Let’s drain the D.C. swamp of its lies, corruption, Gestapo-like tactics, and above-the-law attitudes. 

Congratulations to Mr. Trump and his tireless stamina. There is probably no one in this great country who could have withstood the ridicule this man has received. It’s certainly not over, the liberals will fight him tooth and nail going forward. However, between him and the group of people he is surrounded with, We the People will prevail. 

In conversations with many people over this campaign, I end with, remember, in the end we are all Americans. If you don’t like it here, go live in Tehran.

In writing to this paper in the past, I would end with “Thank you for letting me vent.” Now I want to end with “Let’s unite and make America great again!”

Yours truly,

JOHN PAGAC

Watching and Listening

Sayville

November 14, 2016

To the Editor:

Dear President-elect Trump,

First of all, let me congratulate you on an amazing victory at the polls on election night. It was a great feat, overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds to win an election which many thought you had no chance of winning.

I did not vote for you, however. If truth be known, I have not liked you much for 25 years. I have found you to be self-aggrandizing, narcissistic, and a bully. I’m sorry to say these things since you didn’t seem to take kindly to criticism of any kind or from any source, but I am simply being honest.

Why, you ask? Perhaps it was the fact you wasted everybody’s time questioning whether our president was born in the United States. We all had to suffer for months while this “birther” foolishness played out, when we knew all along that President Obama was born in Hawaii. You also stated several times that he founded ISIS, a patently silly remark that was beneath comment. At times you even implied that he had a darker agenda that supported our enemies. You apparently did not believe the office you will be occupying starting in January warranted respect when somebody else was in it.

Many people accept you are a shrewd businessman because you have told them so and appeared on “The Apprentice,” hiring and firing people in your own little fiefdom. You have made money no doubt, but also not been made accountable for a multitude of bankruptcies and apparently unpaid creditors left in your wake, which should have been far more troubling to more people than it seemed. A great businessman does not file for bankruptcy so many times, and stiff workers. You say you are going to bring jobs back to America and have things made here again. You might start with products made in your companies. It is time for you to put those principles into practice instead of simply telling everybody else that is what they should be doing.

You refused to admit being for the Iraq war when your documented statements at the time indicated so. Despite the fact you have claimed support for veterans of our country, you smeared one of the most respected veterans of our times in John McCain, a true American patriot, who fought to keep you and me safe and wound up tortured in a North Vietnamese prisoner of war camp while I went to college and you cut your teeth in business. And you allowed your supporters to mock him at numerous rallies. Then, when faced with legitimate criticism from a Muslim-American Gold Star father of Humayun Khan, a soldier killed in Iraq, you chose to attack the slain soldier’s grieving mother instead. When most felt you should apologize, you stepped up your attacks on the family instead.

During the campaign season, you delighted in calling your Republican rival Ted Cruz “Lying Ted,” and Hillary Clinton “Crooked Hillary.” Yet in the debates against Clinton, you consistently made untrue statements, which mean you either ignored the facts or were uninformed. You said you would not accept the results of the election if you lost, willing to ignore one of the most basic tenets of our democracy — the peaceful transfer of power. Even Richard Nixon and Al Gore, who had far more legitimate concerns about election shenanigans, conceded to John F. Kennedy and George W. Bush, because they recognized the importance of the voice of the people being sacrosanct. Not you, however. You told anybody who would listen that the election was “rigged,” though you had not one iota of evidence to back it up. 

And let’s not forget your many derogatory statements about women and immigrants, the time you poked fun at a reporter with a disability, and your questioning the integrity of the Indiana-born judge presiding over your Trump University mess simply because he is of Mexican descent. You have either denied or attempted to justify many of these transgressions. I was watching and listening, however, and was far from the only one to be doing so.

By now you are probably dismissing me as another loony, lefty liberal. Fact is, though a Democrat, I voted for John McCain, as honorable a man as has ever graced the political arena, and for George H.W. Bush, another gentleman and statesman. I also vote Republican in my district quite often. But in spite of also wanting change in Washington, I simply could not bring myself to vote for you.

Despite all this, I wish you well in your coming term, because the stakes are too great for our nation. This nation is as polarized as I have ever seen, and we need to bridge that divide. Despite your campaign slogan, nobody needs to “Make America Great Again” — we are great, and always have been, and the world still looks to us for leadership. But I do agree with you that we can do better and thrive. But not with insults and name calling.

You made a good start in your acceptnce speech. You were conciliatory and commented you want to be the president for all Americans. I can be on board with you on that, but only if you mean it, and, more important, show you mean it by your actions. The Trump I saw during your campaign falls short.

You likely think I’ve been rough on you, and you are correct. But I will tell you this. If you pull it together and do a fine job, I would not hesitate to admit I was wrong. I’m not inflexible, and I am fair and practical. There has been talk of “draining the swamp” that Washington has become, and I agree it is a quagmire. But if we replace the swamp with a cesspool, what’s the difference? 

So I am watching and listening very closely. The ball is in your court now, Mr. President-elect. 

JERRY GIAMMATTEO

She Lost Because

East Hampton

November 13, 2016

Dear David,

Hillary Clinton did not lose the election because of James Comey’s behavior, improper and suspicious though it was. She lost the election because it was in her nature to blame James Comey rather than herself.

RICHARD ROSENTHAL

Take a Good Look

Springs

November 14, 2016

Dear David,

First, congrats to President-elect Donald Trump and a great big congrats to Lee Zeldin. I feel your editorial on Lee Zeldin was a total disgrace, shame on your liberal thoughts and shame on those who called Donald a column of names. You stated that Congressman Zeldin backed Mr. Trump. Is that all you and other Democrats had? It’s your opinion that because Mr. Zeldin backed Trump he stands for racism, hatred, and sexual assault, and this disqualifies him from holding office? Perhaps you should take a better look at Lee Zeldin’s record. You printed lies that liberals made up as they tried to pull apart statements that Mr. Zeldin made, e.g., he never called Obama a racist. Read the whole statement! Examine it carefully. You will see the truth, not something Anna Throne- Holst made up. 

Perhaps you should drop your left-wing thinking, open up your thoughts, and take a good look at Hillary Clinton’s true record. She’s a disgrace. Her foundation is a huge Ponzi scheme, and she put this country in jeopardy with her private server. Strange she emailed Obama from this unsecured server and he didn’t know it was private and unsecured. Boy, what a buncha jewels watching over our country.

In God and country,

BEA DERRICO

Orwellian Logic

Springs

November 10, 2016

Dear David,

I have read some self-congratulating essays about America’s peaceful transition of power. Some suggest, almost with a shrug, that Donald Trump might rise to the grave responsibilities of the presidency. Well — 

It has been reported that Myron Ebell will be Donald Trump’s appointee to run the Environmental Protection Agency. Mr. Ebell is the director of energy and global warming policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Business Insider called him “enemy #1 of the climate change community.” 

The Competitive Enterprise Institute has received millions in funding from ExxonMobil, and more millions from Donors Trust, which is the dark money arm of what has been called the Koch-topus. Mr. Ebell is not a scientist. He is, in effect, a paid lobbyist for the fossil fuel industry. How appropriate, in Orwellian logic, to make him the top man in the U.S.A. in charge of protecting your environment! 

After 30 years of delay, the world in Paris had turned the corner to address climate change, a problem that already has thousands of refugees fleeing drought and being squeezed into already struggling societies, resulting in cauldrons of resentment and violence, fertile recruiting grounds for terrorists. Syria didn’t just happen. The Middle East, Africa, and Asia are boiling over into Europe, the water table in California is 800 feet down and soon to disappear, while the streets in Miami are flooding on sunny, storm-free days.

The fossil fuel industry has succeeded, with cunning and subterfuge, in using an army of the ignorant to bitch-slap America back onto the path of self-destruction. Spare me the self-congratulation.

What have you done, America? Weep for your children.

DON MATHESON

Back in Business

East Hampton

November 12, 2016

To the Editor:

Hey out there, Trump supporters, don’t totally wallow in your success. First take a deep breath and see if your knight in black armor is going to do what he said he would.

Will he “drain the swamp” of the Washington lobbyists and big corporate interests he railed against? After all, he won’t be tied to their money leash; he spent his own to get elected (he says). Will he find new faces in the industries around the country who will certainly do better than those who screwed up our economy, destroyed our foreign policy, and embarrassed us all by their stupid actions? Right?

Whoops, sorry, wrong. 

First report: In every agency of government where reassessment is taking place we see that the long-term, big-name lobbyists and lawyers representing the clients who have the most interest in the agency have been put in charge of the Trump transition teams.

At least Obama banned these individuals from the playing field for years after the changeover, and followed through. Not so Mr. Trump: “Come on back, boys, I was only fooling to get the votes. I got ’em, now we can play!”

And this is only the beginning. “Hey, suckers, you don’t really think that nonsense was the truth I was telling. Wanna buy a bridge? President Obama really was born in the U.S.A., I was just looking for headlines. It was just a game of catch me, I’m lying! Now, as old-timers say, Washington is back in business. Read all about it in every newspaper in the country — the names, addresses, and résumés. They earned millions lobbying before, and they will just be doing the same thing now I’m elected, so we start again, the old way.”

Climate change? Get old Myron Ebell — he’ll take on the climate changers at the E.P.A., backed by coal money, as usual. Goodbye, emissions control.

Stay tuned as the real story of the repeal of Obamacare and Nafta and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement start to appear in the ever-changing, mendacious script of Donald Trump.

RICHARD P. HIGER

Our Own Flying Pig

East Hampton

November 13, 2016

To the Editor:

“Flying pigs” was the term used by illiterate peasants in medieval Russia for unexplainable phenomenon. Donald Trump’s election certainly makes “flying pigs” seem appropriate. How the most repugnant, disrespectful con man in American historical politics gets elected president is certainly an unexplainable phenomenon. 

Certainly the lack of enthusiasm for Clinton and turnout, five million fewer than in 2012, and the extraordinary fervor of Trump supporters was significant, but something beyond or below these facts germinates grossly. Strangely, the result of an all-Republican government that made sure that every Obama program to create jobs and raise income for blue-color male and female workers remains intact has nothing to do with changing Washington. His election more deeply entrenches the forces of obstruction and anti-change, and will allow the people who have screwed U.S. workers even more latitude in this pursuit,

Now America joins the world of the Putins, Erdogans, Assads, and all the places with fascist demigods leading their countries. We are now in lockstep with countries that advocate for individual rights above the collective well-being. Where “I” and “me” are the only national pronouns that are relevant to the discourse. We now stand above and alone, reeking in our self-serving greatness. Masturbating to how awesome we once were, as if there were a drop of credibility to the claim. 

Certainly the election of Barack Obama and the relentless race-based evisceration of virtually every program he initiated set the tone and the pathway for Mr. Trump’s overt racism. Blacks, Latinos, Muslims, gays, Jews, women, and the disabled were and are fair game in the new discourse. Taking race and vitriol out of the closet and making them seem normal was the high point of his campaign. Uncivil discourse finally bridged the barriers of respect and mutual correctness under the guise of calling a spade a spade. Literally.

So we will bid goodbye to the minimum wage, overtime benefits, retirement and health care benefits, to be replaced by a free market? Goodbye to the E.P.A., climate change, clean water, workplace environments. Goodbye to Dodd-Frank and the controls on big banks and consumer protections. Goodbye to Obamacare, to be replaced by? Garbage that will soon double prices and will deprive 30 million people of health care (they haven’t gotten used to it yet anyway).

Now that we have our own genuine flying pig, America can once again revel in its greatness, lead the quasi-free world, and join the British people as the dumbest on the planet. Mr. Trump was a pig before he ran for president, while he ran for president, and now as our newly elected president. Hillary Clinton no longer exists as a hedge against who he is. Literally, figuratively, and sadly, his piggery is undeniable.

NEIL HAUSIG