I would like to comment on the letter from Lee Levin of Nov. 28 where he listed 10 accomplishments of Donald Trump since becoming president — in a humorous way.
Ignoring the issues arising from impeachment, it is not the catalogue of things Lee mentioned that concern me — although some of his list is debatable as positive — it is what he has not done I would like to focus on.
1. He has not supported any of the international efforts to combat the serious problem of climate change. Instead, he still supports growth of harmful fossil fuels and coal through deregulation.
2. He has not supported the concept of a two-state solution for Israel, which many experts feel is the only real way for peace in this conflict. If anything he has undermined the prospects and made the situation worse.
3. He has not supported the basic right of a free press to act as a check on abuse of power. He continues to mock this constitutional right by evoking “fake news” for any media that questions his facts and positions. Coming from the most mendacious leader we have ever had as a president, it is laughable.
4. He did not support the concept of military “chain of command” as shown in the recent support for Navy Seal Edward Gallagher, ignoring the advice of the peer court and the military leadership by overruling their direction.
5. He did not support the Kurds in Northern Syria who gave their lives (in place of U.S. soldiers) in fighting ISIS.
6. He does not trust his own intelligence agencies and chooses to believe Putin and the Russian misinformation campaigns. Our 2020 elections are at risk of more attacks.
7. He does not support the rights of women to have freedom of choice on how to manage their own reproductive decisions.
8. He does not support improvements for public education. The U.S. continues to fall behind many countries in reading and math, which will not bode well for competing in the future.
I could list many more, but I think you get the point. Trump is not the leader of the free world we so desperately need. I for one look forward to having a leader I can respect.
Howard Trilling
Kansas City, Missouri
