To the Editor:
“Trumping on Eggshells,” by Frank Bruni (column, May 25), about his reluctance to talk politics with relatives, resonated with me as a Democrat in Georgia. I have adopted a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy with my Republican friends regarding Donald Trump.
However, anytime that one of my conservative friends offers up her support of Mr. Trump, I am left bewildered and rendered mute, so as to save the friendship. This election can’t be over fast enough for me.
LESLIE WOLFE
Atlanta
To the Editor:
Frank Bruni hesitates to ask friends and relatives if they plan to vote for Donald Trump. So do I, and I also hesitate to ask them if they support Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton. But I ask anyway.
Yes, it’s uncomfortable, but if we do not challenge those close to us on such important issues, who will? Whatever our views, we must engage friends and relatives, particularly those with whom we disagree, in serious and honest discussions of what we really want for the future. We will get what we vote for. Let’s be sure that’s what we want.
LOUIS J. CUTRONA
Ridgewood, N.J.
To the Editor:
Frank Bruni says he avoids conversations about Donald Trump with conservative members of his family. I do the same.
I have a cousin from the Deep South who is staunchly conservative. We avoid politics. Imagine my shock, and relief, when three months ago, without prompting, she announced in the middle of a Scrabble game: “I hate Donald Trump! I’m voting for Hillary.”
Is it too much to hope that there may be many, many others who feel similarly and will vote equally independently?
SAM GOODYEAR
Binghamton, N.Y.
Note from KBJ: These letters show just how insulated the readers of the New York Times are. They honestly don't understand why anyone would support Donald Trump. May I help? Barack Hussein Obama, Thug in Chief. Americans are sick to death of having leftist ideology (including such things as ObamaCare) shoved down their throats. They are sick to death of being lectured to by a man who has never held a real job and whose only skill is "community organizing" (which means cultivating grievances). They are sick to death of being told that they are racist, sexist, homophobic, and xenophobic. They are sick to death of hearing their president apologize to other countries for the behavior of the United States (especially given that the United States is the greatest force for good in the history of the world). They are sick to death of being divided against one another rather than united. They are sick to death of being mocked for their religiosity and their insistence on owning guns for self-defense (remember "clinging to God and guns"?) They are sick to death of having a bitter, resentful First Lady. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. I suggest that these letter writers get used to saying "President Trump," just as I and many other ordinary Americans have had to get used to saying "President Obama." What goes around comes around.
