I used to call myself a patriot. Under President Trump, I no longer do | Opinion
Love of country being tested
“Donald Trump’s Approval Rating Negative in 20 States He Won,” (modbee.com, Nov. 25)
I used to call myself a patriot without hesitation. I spent much of my life studying and teaching American history because I believed in the promise of this country. But I cannot love a nation that allows itself to be governed with such cruelty. Under President Donald Trump, my government has embraced xenophobia, racism and a deliberate, gleeful harshness as guiding principles.
For most of my life, the United States aspired to be the “good guy” on the world stage. That identity is shattered. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been twisted into an instrument of authoritarian power — an agency used not to uphold justice, but to intimidate, punish and dehumanize. The government’s actions — whether in Washington, Chicago or on the high seas — are not just shameful, they are un-American at their core.
I hold onto hope that one day this nation will find its moral compass again. But the legacy of the Trump era is already written, and the Trump name will be remembered with the infamy it deserves.
Gordon Fake
Fresno
The needs of the people
“Donald Trump’s Approval Rating Negative in 20 States He Won,” (modbee.com, Nov. 25)
President Donald Trump is trying to change our nation in ways that go against everything we’ve stood for over the years. We’re now a nation that plans to steal Canada through economic pressure, Greenland through military force and Venezuela for its oil. We’ve levied huge tariffs on every nation of the world, most of which are much poorer than we are.
Trump is trying to make our country a one-party MAGA state by scamming the elections system to gerrymander red states. He is ignoring the needs of the people, calling the affordability crisis a “hoax.” He has not succeeded in lowering prices, and they continue to rise.
Brian Johnson
Fresno
Protect Endangerment Finding
“President Trump transition leader’s goal is two-thirds cut in EPA employees,” (modbee.com, Jan. 30)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is threatening to revoke the Endangerment Finding, a regulation that’s foundational for managing greenhouse gas emissions and curbing the increase in climate change and its growing impact on our health and well-being.
The agency must continue fulfilling its role in protecting communities from environmental harm through regulating heat-trapping emissions. The link between greenhouse emissions, warming and increases in devastating wildfires, floods, droughts and other climate-change impacts is clear. Established science should continue informing decision making.
Roger Bales
Merced
Keep conversion therapy ban
“Should conversion therapy be banned? What poll found amid Supreme Court case,” (modbee.com, Oct. 15)
Research has shown that “conversion therapy” is ineffective at changing sexual orientation or gender identity and can pose a significant risk of harm (including suicidality) to individuals undergoing this unproven “therapy.”
The American Psychological Associations, joined by the American Psychiatric Association and 12 other mental health and medical professional organizations, has filed as amicus curiae in opposition to reversing the Colorado ban of “conversion therapy.” The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry clearly states: “Conversion therapies should not be part of any behavioral health treatment of children and adolescents.”
If the Supreme Court votes to reverse the ban, they should assume medical-legal liability for the pain, harm and possible suicides caused by this so-called treatment.
Harry Wang, MD
Sacramento