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Here we go again: accelerating coverage of the former president, once again a presidential candidate. We'll get to read and hear everything he says, and it will worm its way into our brain, if we let it. Mr. T has a real talent for saying provocative things — inflated promises, wounded honor, withering attacks, hyperbolic self-congratulation. Like raw meat, all this is irresistible to a hungry news cycle. He will not be ignored, and so the fire hose of his verbiage will drown us.

His critics will fact-check and tally his "lies." But I don't think he is actually guilty of lying. The liar knows the truth and crafts his lie accordingly. T-man is not so much a liar as a world-class BS-er. He says whatever he wants with no regard whatsoever for the truth. It is pure performance, designed to excite the base and set his critics' hair on fire. News outlets make sure we hear the latest.

But I don't think his BS is actually newsworthy. Performative speech is not real news. It is potentially harmful, however. So, I will refuse to pay attention. I will continue to follow what our past president actually does, but I will turn the page and mute the sound when he is just flapping his gums.

Steven Blons, St. Paul

Andy Brehm lays out the several reasons why Minnesota Republicans have consistently failed at the ballot box with their "current losing political playbook" ("Make the GOP relevant again," Opinion Exchange, June 23). Not to disappoint his political fellows, however, he makes certain to inject familiar slams on the Democrats, with statements like "the dishonesty of many Democratic candidates" and says, "conservatives are angry at what the radical left is doing to our beloved country and once thriving state."

But the inability to win in Minnesota is also Brehm's personal inability to jettison the party's current racist rhetoric. The Republican talking point and line from Brehm speaks clearly to Minnesota voters: "Democrats' weak and woke approach to crime continues to perpetuate lawlessness ..." The injection, and subsequent rejection of that one word — woke — places Brehm squarely among his unsuccessful political peers. In their denial of its meaning — an understanding of institutional racism in the U.S. — they have cast aside the reality of historic and ongoing oppression of African Americans and other racial and ethnic groups.

A Republican "inability" to win office? Yes, but it's more accurately labeled as a "disability" of Republicans (and many of us) who struggle daily with accepting fellow citizens, many who are different from us — except for our shared humanity.

In Republican circles, it would be wise to leave a little room for discussions on "woke understanding." Even more forward-thinking, could we place our lingering racism ahead of all other "disabilities"? Over the lifespan of our nation, it has been and remains the most destructive.

Steve Watson, Minneapolis

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For the most part, American voters have done a less-than-satisfactory job of selecting leaders for this country at the federal, state and even local levels of government. They have believed the mostly generic and often ridiculous promises of candidates about almost every important topic — and I am talking about those made by both Republicans and Democrats. Candidates who promise the moon and deliver moldy cheese should never win re-election, and first-time candidates should have a significantly long and proven track record as a people of integrity in whatever was their former occupation. Nobody should expect perfection from another human being, for everyone has their flaws, but people of integrity acknowledge when they are wrong and determine to not repeat their errors. It is naive to believe any one candidate or political party has all the good ideas about what is best for this country. Use the best ideas of each party, including the unaffiliated, and care not who gets the credit because you did it together for the good of all citizens. Finally, every elected person needs to spend more time working on the pressing needs of this nation rather than spending so much time trying to raise money and get re-elected. I believe the majority of thinking citizens know that any one person getting re-elected is way, way down on the list of the United States of America's most pressing needs. Nothing new about any of this, but we all need constant reminders.

Dave Toner, Brooklyn Park

Middle-school teacher Laura Kimball advocates for more structured learning outcomes ("I'm leaving Mpls. schools over cellphone chaos," Opinion Exchange, June 21). How? In her opinion, cellphone usage in the classroom is out of control and is an impediment to student outcomes. She didn't mention it, but scores for math and reading for her students' age group has dropped alarmingly.

There are studies (McKinsey and Co.) that say it could take a decade or more to make up those losses just from the pandemic.

It's not just pandemic fog, though. Another study from Northwestern University and the University of Oregon found that our national intelligence, after growing for almost a century, has fallen in three of the four broad domains of intelligence since 2006, well before the pandemic. What do the authors hypothesize for the decline? Screen time.

So you see, Kimball's experience with cellphones in the classroom, and the need to provide a learning structure free of them, is spot-on.

She's probably being told she is not using this valuable resource in creative ways, or how helpful it is to students to have information at their fingertips, or about the psychological need for the immediate connection, but as studies are showing, cellphones are not helping but having the opposite effect.

It will not be easy to sell this to students or many parents, but I agree with Kimball: If we care about the future of these students and our nation at large, we have to create — demand — an environment where kids are focused so they move forward.

Anthony Joseph Clouse, La Crosse, Wis.

I'm confused. For months we've read about how dirty and unsavory light rail is. Now we are told that light rail is "clean and efficient" ("It's good to be home in Minnesota," Opinion Exchange, June 22). Which is right?

Irene Senum, Apple Valley

My father was the most patriotic person I have ever known. He was raised the son of poor Black sharecroppers in South Carolina in the 1930s. He was drafted into the Army during World War II. He was one of over 600 Black American men who hit the beaches in Normandy France on D-Day. He was part of the segregated 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion that flew defensive steel-cabled heavy balloons over the battlefield to deter Nazi planes. He spoke casually about Nazi prisoners of war being treated better than he and the Black men he served with by the U.S. Army. He had loud vocal nightmares my whole life growing up because of his experiences in France.

I have memories of white VFW members sitting around our kitchen table in the early 1960s assisting my parents with paperwork so that they could use his veteran's benefits to buy the house we grew up in. He put the flag on our front porch for every major federal holiday. My brothers and I belittled his actions in our teen-angst years ("A symbol of ... what, exactly?" Readers Write, June 19). He never wavered. He and my mom raised four sons. They had elementary school educations. Three of their four sons graduated from college, and one went into the U.S. Marine Corps. Later in my life I realized it was the promise of America that he believed in. When I honor the flag, I am honoring him and others who were like-minded.

Bill Jeter, Minneapolis