Readers Write: Donald Trump’s campaign strategy, Israeli hostages, Labor Day, State Fair

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

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Andy Brehm’s column on what former President Donald Trump needs to do to win back the presidency gave me my best laugh since I saw Woody Allen emerge from his coma in “Sleeper” (”Donald Trump is losing momentum. Here’s how he could turn it around,” Strib Voices, Sept. 3). He realizes he is speaking about Donald Trump, right? Given that man’s history, how could he possibly think that a second term would not look like his first? A cabinet with former opponents and Democrats included? No family members or cronies in the White House? No name-calling? Discussions only on policy? Donald Trump!

His most risible suggestion is that Trump should write a series of sober-minded commentaries on the issues. I’m assuming Brehm has seen Trump’s nearly illiterate ravings on so-called “Truth” Social. The man can’t even write a sentence. Knowing Trump as we all do, I have no doubt that he will do the opposite of everything that Brehm suggests. This will lead inevitably, in Brehm’s own description of Trump’s presidency, to “the chaos and disunity he promoted when he was in the White House.”

Richard Young, Minneapolis

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It’s almost comical to think that Brehm would expect anyone — Democrat, Republican or independent — to believe that Trump can or will change his temperament and demeanor for a second presidential term. If there is anything consistent about Trump these past eight-plus years, it is his inability to do exactly what Brehm suggests. Trump thrives on name-calling, cruelty and general lack of decorum, rarely providing any details on policy or policy specifics. He knows that many of his followers believe this approach is what makes him so special, even if voting for him and his policy positions is against their own best interests. He rewards those who are loyal to him and him alone and stampedes those who dare challenge his thinking. None of this has changed since his last term, and he has never expressed that it would change in a second term. Why would anyone think otherwise?

At the end of the day, Trump has shown us exactly who he is and what he wants. For Brehm to even suggest that this would or could change in the future is ridiculous.

Jeffrey L. Bolter, Minneapolis

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Brehm, alas, is doomed to disappointment. As a distressed conservative, he wants Trump to change his spots and, ahem, “be a measured and issues-oriented candidate.”

I recommend Brehm not hold his breath waiting for the transformation of a man he acknowledges is “an undisciplined, erratic and pretty unpopular guy.”

Trump can barely read the telepromptered, issues-oriented text written for him before he veers off to, as Brehm puts it, “the often-brutish” incoherence for which he’s well known.

I’m sure the Harris team hopes Trump ignores Brehm’s earnest hopes.

Hal Davis, Minneapolis

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I actually laughed out loud reading Brehm’s opinion column on how Trump could turn around his flagging momentum in the presidential race. His suggestions were logical, reasoned and strategic. They were also laughably impossible for this candidate to implement — thankfully. A “measured and issues-oriented candidate” who can detail “his position on each of the top issues”? Who is this individual you’re dreaming about? Trump is not interested in, nor could he articulate logically, any of these vital platforms. And that is our best hope for defeating the despot who wants to be dictator. Get real.

Marta Fahrenz, Bloomington

The headline “Israel erupts after six hostages die” (front page, Sept. 2) could be more honestly written as “Israel erupts: Six hostages murdered”: same number of characters, more information delivered. The article states: “The Israeli Health Ministry said autopsies had determined the hostages were shot at close range and died on Thursday or Friday. … [A] military spokesman ... said there was no doubt Hamas had killed them.”

We make such a clamor about deaths in Gaza of so-called militants and innocent civilians in the course of military operations but soft-pedal information about six hostages who were killed by Hamas in pure vengeance or spite or hatred. Let us please acknowledge that one side is defending itself in an existential battle and the other side aggressing to end the existence of its enemy.

While I do sincerely regret the civilian death in Gaza, I also regret that Israelis have lost over 300 soldiers and that citizens from the northern and southern borders are refugees in their own land because of a relentless aggressor funded by our mortal enemy.

Elaine Frankowski, Minneapolis

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Last night I gathered at my synagogue with others to mourn the deaths of the six hostages murdered this week by Hamas. Just now I finished watching the livestream funeral from Israel of one of them, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli-American. So heart-wrenching and tragic. Many of the speakers talked about how “we failed you” in regard to Hersh and not letting his death be in vain. For over 330 days he and five other hostages lived in captivity and then were murdered by Hamas just prior to being rescued.

Enough is enough. This must all end. All governments — Israeli, American, all Arab countries and every country in the world — should be saying enough is enough. The remaining 101 hostages, those alive and those who have died, must be released now. All the fighting in the region must stop. Let quiet, not gunshots and screaming, pervade the region. Let there be peace for all the people. May Hersh’s memory always be a blessing.

Sheldon Berkowitz, St. Paul

In response to Jack Uldrich’s commentary “In praise of quiet competence” (Strib Voices, Sept. 2), I’d like to point out that Labor Day is a holiday celebrating the heroism of organized union members who faced violence, arrest and even death to end child labor and secure basic rights like bathroom breaks, eight-hour workdays, five-day workweeks and safe working conditions for all workers. The example Uldrich gives of four men being underpaid to risk their lives to do a job that multiple engineers said could not be done safely or cheaply is an example of the kind of business greed and disregard for human life that unions fight against every day.

Labor Day is a day that celebrates the heroism and sacrifice of our labor ancestors in the same way that Memorial Day celebrates the heroism and sacrifices of our military predecessors.

If Uldrich wants to thank the multitudes of people whose labor makes his life more comfortable, he could tip his garbage collectors and wait staff generously. He could pay his hardware store in cash so it doesn’t lose money on the credit card fee. And he could hire a union plumber so his wife doesn’t have to do all the repairs while he quiet-brags about being mechanically incompetent. And if he is enjoying his long weekend, he can give proper credit to the people who brought it to him: the labor movement in America.

Julie Quinn, Le Center, Minn.

Twelve days; close to 2 million people; rock, rap and country bands; political booths; long lines on hot days. This sounds like a recipe for disaster. But this was the Minnesota State Fair. I saw no violence, although there was one incident that involved a possible stabbing. I saw a lot of happy people with smiles on their faces and food in their hands. The only complaint was that people were confused about the proper disposal of trash and recyclables, and two people in the Readers Write portion of the paper offered to help solve this problem. Well done, Minnesota!

Bruce Lemke, Orono