Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

I've been reading George Will for at least 40 years. He has never been as critical of a Democrat (even Bill Clinton) as he has been of Donald Trump, who is far more conservative than Hillary Clinton by any reasonable standard. By vilifying Trump, Will increases the likelihood that Clinton, rather than Trump, will appoint the next three (or four) Supreme Court justices. Does Will not care about this? Is his ideological purity more important than the welfare of the people of the United States (including Will's children and grandchildren)? How's that for self-indulgence? I'm no doctor, but it doesn't take a medical degree to diagnose Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS). Will has as bad a case of TDS as I have seen, and believe me, I've seen some bad cases (including William Kristol and Jonah Goldberg). Will should retire his pen before his humiliation is complete. After that, he should get psychiatric help.

In My Tribe (1987). Mesmerizing.

To the Editor:

Re “Gritting Teeth, McCain Links Fate to Trump” (front page, June 5):

Although I have disagreed over the years with many of Senator John McCain’s positions and voted for Barack Obama for president, I always admired Mr. McCain’s honesty and “straight talk” on a variety of issues. He was a man with whom I disagreed yet greatly admired for both his military service and his apparent sincerity on public issues.

Mr. McCain’s support of Donald Trump despite the derogatory comments made about his imprisonment during the Vietnam War will tarnish his legacy regardless of the outcome of his Senate race for re-election. It would have been far better if he had solidified his legacy by staying true to his independent spirit and speaking frankly about the prospect of a Trump presidency. It is a sad ending to an extraordinary political and military career.

LARRY HOFFNER

New York

Note from KBJ: What is McCain supposed to do, support Hillary Clinton?

This blog had 5,356 visits during May, which is an average of 172.7 visits per day. A year ago, the average was 171.3.

This is the Mackinac Bridge, as seen from the Lower Peninsula. The bridge opened a few months after I was born. I was walking along the path to Fort Michilimackinac when I took the picture. Click to enlarge.

Here.

Here.

Here. Key paragraphs:

Obama’s job approval rating has rarely reached as lofty a figure as 50 per cent in the last six years, and three quarters of Americans think the condition of the country is deteriorating. Certainly much of this is due to the failures of George W. Bush, and some to the errors of Bill Clinton, especially in promoting the housing bubble and the sub-prime mortgage time bomb. It has been 20 years of misgovernment that have done terrible damage to the world’s greatest country, and considerable harm to the world.

Having taken issue with Mason, I should make my own prediction about Obama. I think that he will be in a neck-and-neck race with George W. Bush as the most incompetent U.S. president since James Buchanan (1857-61). Bush and Obama are the most unsuccessful presidents who have ever been re-elected.

Amen. Dubya looks worse and worse with each passing day, though, compared to Obama, he's a saint.

Some time back, in this blog, I wrote that if Jeb Bush is the Republican nominee, I will stay home on election day rather than vote for him. I said that I'm tired of holding my nose and voting for someone (e.g., John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012) whom I view merely as the lesser of two evils.

Am I being inconsistent in making fun of William Kristol (and his ilk) for saying the same about Donald Trump? I don't think so. Kristol is doing far more than announce (as I did) that he will stay home on election day if Trump is the nominee. In column after column, he runs Trump down (by calling him names, &c). I would never have run Bush down, for clearly I prefer him to Hillary Clinton as president. This alone is a relevant difference between Kristol and me.

But Kristol goes much further than this. He continues to call for a third-party candidate to challenge Trump in November. In other words, he is actively undermining the candidacy of the (presumptive) Republican nominee! Did I ever say that I would do any such thing? Did I say that if Bush is the nominee, I will undermine his candidacy? Of course not. All I said, to repeat, is that if Jeb Bush is the nominee, I will stay home. I'm tired of being a dupe of the elites.

We loved Scotland. This was the farthest I've ever been from home (eat your heart out, Kant) and the longest vacation Katherine and I have been on (eight days). One of the things we noticed immediately when we got to Glasgow is how poor the street signs are. There are no self-standing signs (on poles) and there are no signs overhead, on street lights (as in the United States). Instead, there are small plaques on the sides of buildings. These plaques must be difficult to see from a moving vehicle. (Our ground transportation consisted of taxis, trains, and buses. We also did a lot of walking.) If all the streets were laid out perpendicularly, the plaques might have been tolerable, but sometimes there are several streets converging at a single point, and then you have to look at every building in the vicinity, which is time-consuming and confusing. I don't mean to be critical; I'm merely pointing out one of the differences between Scotland and the United States. I prefer self-standing signs (on poles) or overhead signs (on street lights).

Addendum: I have many more comments to make about Scotland, based on notes I made during the vacation. Stay tuned.