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

To the editor:

It is refreshing to read that SeaWorld plans on eliminating its captive breeding program for orcas. Still, these whales have relatively long life spans, meaning they can live for decades in captivity. That gives SeaWorld a generation's worth of “circus Orcas” to fill their parks. ("SeaWorld CEO: We're ending our orca breeding program. Here's why," Opinion, March 17)

SeaWorld chief Joel Manby hits the height of hubris in his piece when he asserts that his company is responsible for the change in attitude toward orcas. By capturing the whales and selectively breeding them for entertainment, SeaWorld brought awareness to the awesome beauty of these highly intelligent animals. The only thing SeaWorld can be credited with is exposing the American people to these animals.

We are no longer willing to support the organization that makes a living on the whales' exploitation. SeaWorld argues that giving up the whales it already has would amount to a death sentence for them. What SeaWorld fails to acknowledge is that there are alternatives to keeping whales in pools for the rest of their lives without meaningful social contact.

Gene E. Schwartz, San Diego

George Will has yet to get right with Donald, but write it down: He will. The prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidency will bring him in line. It's going to be fun to watch the transformation. As for the rest of you intransigents, get right with Donald while there's still time. You won't regret it.

Not Fragile (1974). As I have said many times, only half kiddingly, I would not want to live in a world without Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

Conservatism is a family-resemblance concept, which means that it is impossible to provide necessary and sufficient conditions for its application. What we're seeing as a result of Donald Trump's candidacy for president is the diversity of conservative thought. There are neoconservatives, social conservatives, religious conservatives, libertarians, and nationalists, among others. One of the silliest things I've heard is that Trump is not a conservative. This is to arrogate the concept to oneself. Trump is a nationalistic conservative. He loves his country and its people. He wants to control our borders (which is not the same as closing the door to immigration); he wants to preserve and protect American industries so that hard-working Americans can raise their families with dignity; he wants to protect Americans from terrorists both at home and abroad; and he wants everyone in this great country to have adequate health care, a chance to go to college, and equal employment opportunity. Trump is neither a neoconservative nor a libertarian, which is why those segments of conservatism hate him. He's religious, but not ostentatiously so (like Ted Cruz). He's rich, but he knows that money is not the most important thing in life. He cares about intangibles such as borders, language, and culture (to steal Michael Savage's slogan). Donald Trump is going to make America great again. Get right with Donald before it's too late.

Here.

Here.

Charles Krauthammer is getting right with Donald. Next up: George Will, John Podhoretz, Erick Erickson, Glenn Beck, Ross Douthat, Mark Levin, Ana Navarro, David Fryman, et al.

To the Editor:

I have been reading columnists of The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The New York Times as they all—in lock step—excoriate Donald Trump and, by implication, those who support him.

Out here in the hinterland, we evangelicals see things a little differently. We see folks like you as the Establishment. And while it is clear that you do not understand us, we do understand you. You think anyone who would vote for Mr. Trump isn’t very smart.

You scoff at religious-minded Trump supporters as hypocrites. After all, Mr. Trump has been married three times. He does not know that the second book of Paul’s letters to the church at Corinth is known as Second Corinthians, not “Two Corinthians.”

We know he is crass, often cruel and sometimes lacking in oratory refinements. We wish he weren’t so. But we marveled as we watched Mr. Trump demolish the primary tool that has allowed liberalism and secularism to control the debate for decades: political correctness.

Mr. Trump’s posturing, his crassness, his rudeness, his simplistic descriptions of international issues, his demeanor—we see it all. And yet we have decided to vote for him.

For all of Mr. Trump’s faults and sins and deficiencies, he won’t be the first president to have them. That is a basic tenet of Christianity—we know we are all deficient and sinful, and only God’s grace can heal us. We have faith that Mr. Trump will “seek the Lord” when confronted by the awesome duties of leading the greatest country in history.

We are desperate for a change in direction. And in future columns of The New York Times I will be looking for reasons that we should listen to you—part of the Establishment that got us into this mess.

C. ARNOLD McCLURE

Shirleysburg, Pa.

Note from KBJ: I salute the New York Times for publishing this letter. What I don't understand is why the letter writer felt compelled to criticize Donald Trump for being "crass," "cruel," "rude," "simplistic," and "lacking in oratory refinements." Barack Obama is all of these things and more. By comparison, Donald Trump is a paragon of virtue. Consider:

• "Crass" means "lacking sensitivity, refinement, or intelligence." Let's focus on intelligence. Trump has a bachelor's degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (which is in the Ivy League). Obama has a JD from Harvard, also an Ivy. Trump has amassed a fortune in the cutthroat world of finance and real estate. Obama was a community organizer and adjunct law professor. I'm willing to bet that Trump has a higher IQ than Obama. As for refinement, could anything be more unrefined than smoking? Obama smokes; Trump does not.
• How is Trump cruel? Obama refuses to meet with families of terrorist victims and orders killings by drone. That's beyond cruel.
• Rudeness is in the eye of the beholder, but note that Obama routinely mischaracterizes the views of his political opponents. This is rude, dishonest, and disrespectful. He has said that white people (or some subset thereof) cling to their guns and religion. He sides with blacks without bothering to ascertain the facts. I'm sure you can come up with many other examples of his rudeness.
• Obama's world is black and white, both literally and figuratively. How is that not simplistic? Has he admitted to being wrong about anything?
• As for "oratory refinements," it's well known that Obama uses a TelePrompter for every speech. Trump speaks extemporaneously.

I could say more, but you get the idea. I'll take Trump over Obama any day of the week—and twice on Sunday.

This is the man who loved the crease in Barack Obama's slacks. It's going to be great fun to see him come crawling to Donald Trump. He will crawl. Write it down.