Readers Write: Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, the Minnesota flag, newspapers

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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In a speech this past week in North Carolina devoted to “national security,” the Republican candidate for president added a new chapter to his already weird story of the war in Ukraine. He has repeatedly blamed President Joe Biden. Now he has decided Vice President Kamala Harris has culpability — and I quote: “Remember when Biden sent Kamala to Europe to stop the war in Ukraine. She met with Putin, and then three days later, he attacked. How did she do? Do you think she did a good job? She met with Putin to tell him, ‘Don’t do it.’ And three days later, he attacked.”

People, Harris didn’t meet with Vladimir Putin ahead of his invasion of Ukraine. She was in Europe at the 2022 Munich Security Conference to meet with our allies to solidify the Western alliance. He literally pulled that lie out of the recesses of his brain, i.e., thin air. This guy has had conversations with Putin, the content of which he kept secret. He told reporters: “I will have a very good conversation with him [Putin]. What I say to him is none of your business.” Really? I quote Geoff Duncan, former lieutenant governor of Georgia: “If you vote for Kamala Harris, you’re not a Democrat, you’re a patriot.” Former Mike Pence staffer Olivia Troye adds: “To my fellow Republicans: You aren’t voting for a Democrat, you’re voting for democracy. You aren’t betraying our party, you’re standing up for our country.” I encourage every voter to be a patriot and stand up for our democracy. Let’s make this happen.

Marian Severt, Brainerd, Minn.

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The Aug. 23 article titled “Trump’s N.J. club to host ‘J6 gala’ " states that Trump National Golf Club Bedminster will host a gala to “honor and celebrate” people charged with attacking the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an effort to prevent the certification of Joe Biden as president. It noted that Donald Trump’s attendance is uncertain; what is certain is that he allowed a golf club that he owns to host this event. In this presidential campaign, Trump has honored these malefactors as “hostages” and has promised to pardon them if elected. He has pledged to serve as a “dictator,” but promised to limit that term to just one day. His accusations that Kamala Harris is a fascist or a communist (as if the two are synonymous) are empty, but his own totalitarian tendencies are on full display.

Roger Day, Duluth

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Long ago I noticed the former president tends to ignore logic in favor of loud emotion. Nonetheless, I continue to be intrigued every time he vociferously praises Vladimir Putin, then puts down someone he doesn’t like by calling them a “communist.”

Larry Johnson, Golden Valley

I appreciate the article focusing on Democratic Party attacks on former President Donald Trump (”Feistier Dems no longer ‘go high’ against Trump,” Aug. 24). As the author noted, they have stopped “going high” as Michelle Obama had urged and are resorting to personal, aggressive descriptions of the former president. I find this appalling and unfortunate. Now Democrats are engaging in the same behavior they claim to abhor from him and many of his supporters.

What has happened to civility in public discourse that respects all people regardless of their words or behavior? Can’t they stick to criticizing the policies and programs of their opponent without denigrating him? The two-party monopoly is a major cause of the extreme polarization we face today. The parties have to protect and defend themselves in order to maintain their position in the monopoly and make sure their candidates are elected. The good of the party takes precedence over other priorities. Unfortunately our media outlets reinforce this system in their relentless focus on the “horse race” and the polls. So it is no surprise that the Democratic Party has devolved and gotten into the mudslinging contest with the former president. I am saddened by this development and see no end to it as the unseemly attacks from the Democratic National Convention confirm. Maybe now, after the convention, they can stick to the issues, listen to the needs of the people and leave the insults behind. I can hope.

Charlie Greenman, Minnetonka

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All this celebration of substance-free joy by the Democrats reminds me of the lyrics to a song by Harry Nilsson:

“Ah, Joy to the world was a beautiful girl / But to me Joy meant only sorrow.”

I fear that if Harris is elected we will all feel the great sorrow of our economy and our standing in the world collapsing even further than it has under the Biden/Harris administration over the last 3 1/2 years.

William J. Jungbauer Jr., Forest Lake, Minn.

Some people have a hard time adjusting to change. Take the introduction of a new state flag. As Karen Tolkkinen wrote, many people are clinging to the old flag (”Poles apart on flags, for complicated reasons,” Aug. 26). I have some traditional tendencies too, so I can sympathize with them clinging to the familiar. But for the state flag, at least, it’s time to embrace change.

There are a number of reasons to give up the old flag, but my favorite is that it fails the third-grader bidirectional test. If you haven’t heard of this test, that’s because I just named it. To perform this test, have a random third-grader write a description of an object without naming the object, and then ask another third-grader who has not seen the object to draw it following the description. When adults do this in team-building exercises, it can produce laughable results with something as simple as a football.

But there are other reasons for adopting the new flag. Supporters of the old flag cannot agree on the description. Is the Native American riding into the sunset or the sunrise? Why was the ax against the stump changed into a musket and powder horn? If the farmer is not concerned by the Native American passing nearby, why is his head twisted so completely backward? He has a plow to guide and that takes a lot of attention. What is the floral motif supposed to be? (Lady’s slipper, but they don’t look much like the real flower.) And why are there 19 stars distributed around the periphery?

The old flag is too busy. Its symbolism is lost to antiquity and open to wild interpretation. The new flag is simpler to describe but has uniqueness. There are some feature choices I disagree with, but that’s true of my car.

Let it go, folks. Rally around the new flag if for no other reason than because it’s the polite thing to do.

Daniel Beckfield, New Brighton

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In her commentary, Tolkkinen closes, “[H]ere’s a question opponents of the new flag might ask themselves: Is hanging onto the past more important than embracing the future?” I couldn’t help but notice as I walked by the Minnesota Republican Party booth at the Minnesota State Fair that they were proudly displaying the old Minnesota flag. As an old white guy whose history in Minnesota is not represented in the old flag, I have to ask that same question of the Minnesota Republican Party. I saw many booths and displays flying the new Minnesota flag, including the Minnesota DFL Party booth, at the fair.

Harvey Zuckman, Minneapolis

I began reading the newspaper at breakfast in junior high school and have done so ever since — for more years that I care to admit. A list of “my” morning papers could easily serve as a mini-biography: St. Paul Pioneer Press, The Times (London), International Herald Tribune, Los Angeles Times, The Bakersfield Californian and, finally, when we moved back to Minnesota in 2016, the Star Tribune (some of my St. Paul friends have still not forgiven me for that specific choice!). Of all of those, the Star Tribune was my absolute favorite in terms of balance, depth and breadth of coverage. And now comes the Minnesota Star Tribune which, in its first week, has clearly improved on all three of those metrics. Well done to all concerned. Thank you, and keep up the excellent work!

Lawrence Merwin, Woodbury