Trump all about winning
Donald Trump wants to be elected president, but I wonder if Trump wants to be president. I think winning the election may be more important to him than the job.
Charlie Cameron
Addison
Police pursuit inappropriate choice
I am sorry to read that Craig Cooley, a longtime employee of the Rockport Police Department, is in so stressful a position after the fatal high-speed chase in Union last December. I also am sorry to know that two families lost children in that chase. Sometimes the best choices are made after the fact. Sometimes, that’s just too late. That officer has plenty of company.
I grew up in Rockport and know the terrain covered by both vehicles very well. That chase appears to have started near Mirror Lake in Rockport. Where the deceased driver passed another driver, he was approaching a short uphill section of road with a slow lane to the right and clear view ahead.
Wotton’s Mill Road is comparatively narrow with uneven pavement, uneven pitch and sudden changes in elevation that probably challenged both drivers and their vehicles severely.
Cooley must have recognized it was the same car he stopped an hour before, so it was known to him. There was no cause to think the driver would commit a violent felony because this was a traffic violation. He must have been familiar with the department’s pursuit policy, adopted in 2013, and that a pursuit likely would be a violation.
He made a judgment call, stepping across a line between regard for safety and enforcement. Death is a condition we do not recover from, and cars can become deadly weapons when inappropriate choices are made, regardless of who makes those choices.
Gary Roberts
Belmont
GOP’s principles
Within hours of Justice Antonin Scalia’s death, Republican leaders have said they will not hold hearings to consider any nominee President Barack Obama proposes to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court. Now that the president has selected Merrick Garland, someone eminently qualified, they hold fast to this position. They insist that for them, this is a matter of principle.
But it appears the Republican Party may well nominate for president a man whose rhetoric inflames his supporters and encourages them to violence and who is profoundly ignorant of world affairs and the workings of our government. He is a person whose disrespect knows no bounds, mocking women, ethnic groups, those with disabilities and even former Republican presidential candidates. This man’s behavior demonstrates that he is not grounded in reality and is psychologically unfit to be president.
So where are the Republican leaders’ principles as they face the prospect of Donald Trump as their presidential candidate? How many have spoken out to say that he does not represent the values of their party? Who among them has said Trump is unqualified, that electing him would pose a clear and serious danger to this nation, that under no circumstances will they support him? Until they do, the notion that Republicans are standing on principle as they refuse to perform their constitutional obligations is laughable.
Cecily Warren
Damariscotta
Trump supporters should be ashamed
When Donald Trump announced he was running for president, I laughed. He had no experience and clearly was unqualified. I wondered who would vote for him. Well, now I know.
It appears that in this country there are people who aren’t really interested in solutions or making things better. They just want to scream and shout. They’re mad because things aren’t the way they want them to be and they prefer someone who will say the vulgar things on TV that they can’t.
But as I watch Trump spew vile filth for the entertainment of his hooting fans, I realized it wasn’t Trump I really loathed. He was just the narcissistic opportunist taking advantage of the situation. It was with the people in the audience that I have a problem.
I’m going to say what no politician including Trump is ever willing to say. There is a large portion of the population that doesn’t know what it is doing. These people are gullible, uneducated and willing to believe what they want to be true instead of what actually is true. It is because of these people that Trump has any chance of being president.
Trump’s supporters should be ashamed of themselves. But because I’m certain none of them have the sense for shame, I look forward to them being scammed once again by just another cheap con artist.
Kevin Gardner
Corinth
Trump will make Congress work again
The politicians of both parties in Washington really do not get the picture. President Barack Obama has made a nomination to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court, just as the Constitution outlines. Yet, the Republicans will not consider anyone the president nominates. While Merrick Garland would not get my vote because of his stance on the Second Amendment, he deserves an up or down vote in the Senate.
As a lifetime Republican, I have had it with all politicians of all parties because they always place the party ahead of the country. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republican politicians should know this attitude is exactly why many of us support Donald Trump for president.
We have watched them do nothing for many years and still have no budget process, no immigration enforcement, no common-sense trade partnerships, no tax reform and no accountability from government agencies. McConnell and other politicians’ only effort in life is to get re-elected, collect their huge salaries, obtain free health care and fail to move our country forward with political compromise.
Maine is fortunate to have Sen. Susan Collins, who always places the country first and political party second. But a few good people like these cannot do it alone. I hope that when this country elects Trump we will again have someone who will use common sense to get things done and shame Congress into action. He cannot do it alone, but hopefully he will speak out daily and change the embarrassing inaction of our political leaders.
Jerry Wilson
Houlton