At a dinner party last year among 12 adult friends, one among us suddenly lost his temper at something generally considered unimportant, swore violently and banged his fists on the table so hard that plates and utensils jumped. Everyone sat in shocked silence, unsure of what to do or say. There was a general feeling that this would be overlooked, but that if it happened again, he would begin to lose friendships and be marginalized.
This is exactly where we stand with Donald Trump. He has all the instincts of a tyrant. His distorted view of reality and his lies are so brazen and preposterous that we — the citizens and the hated “media,” without which he would be nobody — stand in incredulous stasis. No president in American history, even the most egregiously incompetent, has ever ranted in this unhinged way.
Not to my surprise there is no “presidential” persona lurking under that orange hair, and those who hoped otherwise were fooling themselves. “What we see is what we got,” folks. In time, if no change is seen, key supporters will drift away and, as eventually happens with despots, he will stand bewildered, isolated and alone. And still angry.
We have made a grave national mistake.
A.E. Norton
Woodstock
The CIA Knows Dictators
I think it’s entirely appropriate that Donald Trump visited the CIA first after his inauguration, because it is a place where he will be instantly recognized and known. The agents of our foreign clandestine service know a petty, narcissistic would-be dictator when they see one.
John M. Wilson
Hanover
Worries About Health Care
This serves as an open letter to our new administration with a question about health insurance. Many citizens of our country cannot afford the full cost of insurance. This includes some individuals who have become sick or have been injured, as well as elderly people and children.
Donald Trump stated in a television interview that everyone should have health insurance. From the hearings regarding Tom Price, the nominee for Health and Human Services, this seems to mean that everyone should have “access” to health insurance. My question is: Will those who cannot fully afford it have a way of obtaining meaningful health insurance?
A recent headline read that Trump wants to ease the burden of Obamacare. For persons of faith, it is a very heavy burden to think that fellow Americans may be ill and not have the ability to obtain care. I hope that the new administration will work to ease this heavy burden, and help citizens who may be vulnerable.
Ruth Wilson Craig
West Lebanon
The March Goes On
After the despair and disbelief of the recent election, how uplifting it was to see the Women’s March demonstrations all over the world. We need to nurture this energy at the local level — all over America. Groups of progressive citizens need to regularly meet and work toward change and decency.
Perhaps we could coalesce under the banner of “Political Correctness,” both in the sense of yearning for a political corrective but also for a restoration of civic and interpersonal courtesy and inclusiveness.
Bruce L. Levine
Hanover
Hope and Grim Reality
Tim Messen is quoted as saying, “In this moment, we need neither unity nor healing but an active and engaged citizenry unafraid to exercise its rights” (“Division, Dialogue in Hanover,” Jan. 21). I agree with that insight. I attended the Women’s March in Montpelier later that day, and was blown away by the resolve, diversity and sheer number of people who heeded Obama’s advice to lace up their shoes.
Everywhere we looked, all sorts of people were voicing a resounding solidarity. How refreshingly supportive and inclusive, especially when compared with that divisive inauguration speech our commander in tweet gave!
Alas, grim reality dawned on me the next morning: Scott Pruitt is still on track as director of the EPA; that is to say, no matter what happens to Donald Trump (impeachment, act of God, etc.), his appointees will continue to pollute the swamp.
Messen’s message charges us to exercise our rights. Since the presidential election was compromised, we must find means of 1) securing a legitimate vote, 2) tallying the vote without the interference of the Electoral College, 3) rendering Trump and his cronies powerless. Then finally, we can unclog the drain.
Too bad Nixon’s not around anymore. He knew about plumbers and impeachment.
Kevin McEvoy Leveret
White River Junction
Mentoring Makes a Difference
With a new year upon us, it’s a great time to honor the mentors of Windsor County Partners in light of National Mentoring Month.
For more than 40 years, our mentors at Windsor County Partners have been by the sides of countless young people to provide the kind of life lessons they may not learn in a classroom. WCP continues to provide leadership to our youth in the community, having served more than 1,400 youth during this time.
Our Windsor County Partners youth mentors encourage smart daily behaviors such as doing one’s best in school, saying “no” when it counts, and developing healthy social networks.
Some pertinent statistics nationwide: Young adults who were at-risk for falling off track but had a mentor are 55 percent more likely to enroll in college, and 78 percent more likely to volunteer regularly. Ninety percent are interested in becoming a mentor, and are 130 percent more likely to hold leadership positions.
In light of National Mentoring Month, WCP would like to thank its mentors. Their dedication to our youth is at the heart of our program. They provide an additional adult role model and someone to turn to for extra support in our rapidly changing world.
Vermont governors have recognized the importance of mentoring. Recently Gov. Phil Scott talked about mentors in his own life, adding, “I would work with mentoring programs to close the gap between available mentors and youth in need.”
We hope you will consider becoming a mentor or supporting our efforts at nurturing our county’s youth. Visit our website at wcpartners.org, our Facebook page, or call 802-674-5101 for more information. Mentoring works!
Donna C. LaFleur and Megan Culp
For the Windsor County Partners’ Board
Windsor
A Wonderful Holiday at CHaD
I want to extend a belated but sincere thank you to all the volunteers, staff and child life specialists at Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock who made this past holiday season extra special for patients hospitalized in Lebanon.
Each year the child life team coordinates activities for the inpatient children and their families in the hope of making the holidays a little bit easier. Highlights from this year include:
The Dartmouth hockey team visited and brought presents for the patients. In addition, there was a Jenga competition, crafting and artistry, and some super-sized hugs from the players.
A block party was held, bringing patients and families together to help reduce stress and allow everyone to have a holiday experience.
The Demers’ holiday party was a magical event that included the New Hampshire governor and governor-elect, who came to enjoy time with the children.
The “Snowpile” highlighted CHaD’s support of patient-and family-centered care. The goal has always been to have children wake up in the hospital on Christmas morning to gifts on the foot of their bed. To support this, families are invited to “shop” (free of charge) in our gift room full of donated toys, books and other holiday items. This includes toys for the sick child and their siblings, since often parents are unable to shop while a child is in the hospital. This year we were able to serve over 120 children. Thanks to everyone from the community and within CHaD who helps lessen the stress of CHaD patients and families during the holiday season.
Emmett Norton
Chairman, CHaD Family Advisory Board
Lebanon
I would like to respond to Tim Dreisbach’s recent letter, (“The Silent Minority,” Jan. 25), in which he gave a breathtaking example of simple and elegant math logic. By eliminating large blocs of voters who were, last I knew, legal citizens of their respective states, he was able to show that Donald Trump would have also won the popular vote. I’m also pretty sure that New York and California are still part of the U.S., but Mr. Dreisbach’s beautiful theory seems to discount this inconvenient fact. Elegant math, indeed.
So, using his example of eliminating legal voters from the results, I would like to take his logic one step further and present my own elegant theory. If we keep Hillary Clinton’s wins in New York and California intact and eliminate those Midwestern states whose votes total the same amount that Mr. Dreisbach subtracted, well, that nearly doubles Hillary Clinton’s popular vote lead and hands her the electoral college votes she needs to win and, voila!, Clinton is president!
Thank you, Mr. Dreisbach, for providing the mathematical basis of her resounding win. I’ll alert the Trump administration that they need to vacate the White House.
Of course, both Mr. Dreisbach’s and my scenario are irrelevant and actually quite silly. The debate over the relevance of the Electoral College notwithstanding, Trump won.
The only real fact that matters is this: It does not matter where an American voter resides, his or her vote counts. If a large bloc of voters reside on the East and West coasts, so be it, those areas just happen to contain the largest population centers.
I can only imagine what the Republican reaction would have been had they lost two elections in the last 16 years in the same manner the Democrats have. Given Trump’s and his sycophants’ utterly classless reaction to his own “overwhelming” victory, the backlash would’ve been very ugly.
One of my father’s favorite sayings was “Figures don’t lie, but liars make figures.” Perfect saying for the era of Trumpism.
Tom Hasson
Barnard