Post-Gazette Editorial Director Keith Burris’ plea not to have his “heart judged by people who do not know me” was an interesting comment on the “war on civility which comes from all directions,” which he so rightly decries in our current political state (June 24, “On Being Labeled”). I appreciate his attempt to restore some level of communication between sides in our national discourse.
But I find a jarring inconsistency with his defense of the Trump presidency—“because I like the booming economy and the opening to Korea and . . . defense for U.S. auto and steel workers”—despite what he admits is the “war on fact and science and the president’s assault on freedom of the press and most of all the war on civility.”
We are talking about vast differences in order of magnitude here: The very foundation of our civilization depends on honesty, integrity, freedom, the rule of law, the scientific method, freedom of the press, compassion for the least among us. And most of all, on civil discourse. Democracy cannot exist without honesty, accurate collection of data and respect for the truth.
Mr. Burris calls for “embrace of complexity and subtlety” from his readers. Why not require that too from our president? No, I do not “hate” Donald Trump when I state, with justification, that it is he who wins the prize for being uncivil, that he is sorely deficient in integrity, that in matters of diplomacy he is a bungling amateur, and that he lacks a basic understanding of the principles on which our democracy was founded and on which the world’s trade depends.
I am surprised that Mr. Burris, who claims rightly that the environment is “the great issue of our time,” doesn’t see that the appointment of Scott Pruitt to the Environmental Protection Agency epitomizes how Mr. Trump has turned his back on science and embraced the self-interest of the carbon industries at the cost of the world’s future.
This is aside from the administration’s bungling of the immigration mess, focusing on a ridiculous costly wall and ignoring a promise to address our huge infrastructure needs.
I hope we can count on Mr. Burris and our press to give us constructive honest leadership and a higher level of discourse that can raise us out of the gutter we’re in, brawling like a bunch of street punks.
VICKI GUY
Squirrel Hill
