Readers Write: Polarization, Harris calling Trump ‘fascist,’ Trump’s rhetoric

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

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I stopped just short of running it over. It was more than just another cardboard box in the middle of the road. Instead, a well-used “Catch-All Gear Bag” (as the catalog describes it) lay on its side, zippers undone and obviously violated. A multi-tool in a pouch inscribed with “NRA” had been tossed aside. I picked it up and carefully placed it into one of the half-dozen pockets.

But not before I paused. And I hate that I paused. I hate that I thought twice. I hate that our country is so divided by hate.

An NRA pouch, a hunter’s bag, a stolen bag on a city street, a “white guy” name on a day log for a suburban tree-trimming company. Older, white, possibly and understandably angry NRA supporter. Did I want this guy showing up at my house to retrieve his bag? With a severely internet-poisoned election just days away, what was I getting into? I placed the bag gently into the back of the car.

I hate that I paused, and I hate that I had to worry that this guy might be pretty angry, and take it out on me. I called anyway. The woman at the tree-trimming service said she’d check it out and get back to me. I waited, wondering. Maybe I should have just left the bag on the side of the road. Too late for that now.

I couldn’t help remembering a half-dozen little incidents over the last dozen years where I was stunned to witness angry guys who looked an awful lot like me ranting at store clerks or slamming their grocery carts into mine or screaming at me while waiting in line for a car wash. That last scene had to be broken up by the attendant, who clearly had seen it all.

Then Bill called. A quiet, calm voice on the other end of the line. Grateful that I had picked up his bag. Not an ogre or madman. Just a guy who’d had a tough day but was doing his best to get through life.

As he picked up his bag he offered me 20 bucks, saying, “It’s not much but …” I shook my head and then shook his hand. Two old white guys offering each other respect and gratitude. I love that we didn’t pause at all.

David Leussler, Minneapolis

In his commentary published in the Star Tribune on Oct. 24, the New York Times’ Bret Stephens registered his disappointment with Vice President Kamala Harris for publicly stating that she thinks that Donald Trump is a fascist (“Harris resorts to name-calling,” Oct. 25).

While I agree with Stephens that this term has been overused in the past and has therefore lost some of its potency, that is no excuse for avoiding the reality of the danger we now face. Establishment politicians and the mainstream media have not displayed sufficient candor or courage about the menace posed by Trump and his movement, in some cases out of fear and often out of a misplaced desire to avoid offending constituents, readers and viewers.

Trump, and the GOP that has become his own cult of personality, check nearly every box that is a sign of a fascist movement, such as the spreading of conspiracy theories, anti-intellectualism, the promotion of political violence, absolute loyalty to the leader and the scapegoating of vulnerable groups.

This is not “name-calling” by Harris, nor is it name-calling when respected leaders such as retired Gens. Mark Milley and John Kelly reach the same conclusion and are willing to go on the record with it. It is an example of the courage to start calling things as they really are, as uncomfortable or inconvenient as it may be.

Ted Sherman, St. Paul

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Harris has stepped over the line with her recent pronouncement that Trump is a fascist and a significant danger to the country. It cannot be lost on her and her staff that we live in a highly charged society. This statement raises the threat level for Trump, who has already survived two assassination attempts. Harris, too, casts a wider net that encompasses supporters of the former president. This labels a significant population of American voters and is far more serious that the Hillary Clinton-era “deplorable” moniker. Why is she choosing to go “dark” with this rhetoric? Is this supposed to reach the independent voter?

Apparently Harris has jettisoned her campaign of “joy,” bringing us all together, “turning the page” and actually defining her agenda, foreign and domestic. Following her “policy statements” leaves me with more questions than answers. Case in point: Does anyone know if she is for or against fracking?

I am not happy with all of Trump’s statements and tweets, but I can articulate his policy statements, foreign and domestic. Does Harris see some hidden traits that point to a rise of racism that Trump’s first term never revealed? Was there some misinterpretation by Kelly that Harris is desperately grasping as a last resort?

Labeling Trump as similar to Adolf Hitler is the lowest of the low. It invokes a painful past that this nation spent considerable blood and treasure to eliminate. For Harris to advance this agenda, given all the issues at stake, should ensure her the defeat that she richly deserves.

Joe Polunc, Waconia

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How does one know when to take a threat seriously or literally? John Rash’s recent column argues that the threat of Trump being a fascist should be taken seriously and literally (“Take Trump’s threats literally and seriously,” Strib Voices, Oct. 24).

Assume you are driving on a two-lane county road at 55 mph and an oncoming car has its turn signal on indicating a right turn — but suddenly at the intersection the car turns left and crashes into you. In this case you made a very unfortunate assumption that the car was going to turn right. Trump has made many outrageous statements, but does his base believe them all? How do they know which ones to believe? His high-ranking political supporters like House Speaker Mike Johnson and U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer seem willing to brush off Trump’s outlandish statements. Listing all of them would require space for the entire newspaper — Trump said he would build a wall on our southern border and Mexico would pay for it, that when he is president the National Guard or maybe the military will be used to take out the enemy within, that bleach could be injected to treat COVID, that he won the 2020 election, that he will be a dictator on Day One ... the lies go on. His political lackeys need to explain how they sort fact from fiction. God help us all, including his base, if he gets elected.

Mike Menzel, Edina

While the Star Tribune had a lot to say about Donald Trump’s comments about the late Arnold Palmer’s genitalia on Oct. 19 (“A golf legend’s family is dragged through the muck,” Strib Voices, and “No genitals. Is that too much to ask?” Readers Write), I didn’t see anything in the Strib about Trump’s remarks the previous day at a campaign rally in Detroit. At the Detroit event, Trump told women to go home and tell their friends to get their “fat pig” husbands off the couch to go out and vote for Trump. He said that the women should slap their husbands around to get them off the couch.

As disgusting as Trump’s remarks about Palmer’s genitalia were, his referring to men whose votes he was seeking as “fat pigs” and saying that their wives should “slap [them] around” were shockingly rude and disrespectful. Even if he thought his remarks were jokes, slapping a spouse is nothing to joke about, and assuming that his female supporters were married to lazy “fat pigs” is belittling to both the husbands and wives. He obviously doesn’t think much of the people whose votes he was courting.

Donna Fredkove, Minnetonka