For the past 100 days, the Catholic Church has avoided taking an active stance against the administration’s mistreatment of immigrants, the marginalized and the poor. Sunday sermons have avoided direct criticism of Washington’s pettiness, foul language, mismanagement and lies. Church leaders have been very cognizant of the separation of church and state, so their sermons don’t outwardly criticize President Donald Trump. Instead, the church has responded by doubling its efforts and focusing on Christian ways to counteract these cruel measures.
When hundreds of thousands recently mourned the death of the “people’s pope,” Trump hastened to take advantage of the throngs in Rome to position himself among the other world leaders. This small-minded man then joked that he would like to be pope and posted an artificial intelligence-generated image of him in the papal white robes.
A few cardinals have quietly rebuked Trump for making a mockery of the Catholic Church and papacy, but there has been no united effort by the entire Christian community. It’s time for the people in the pews to express our outrage at this mockery. Along with the prayer services honoring Pope Francis, we should be sending the message to Washington that our church and faith are not to be made the butt of one of Trump’s sordid jokes.
The conclave is keeping the Catholic Church in the news. Letters and calls to our local politicians stating our disgust at Trump’s mockery might remind them of the voting power of Christians and persuade them to reach out to the people that Francis loved and protected.
— Mary Ann McGinley, Wilmette
Donald Trump’s ‘truth’
For those who watched the telecast of Donald Trump’s first inauguration as well as that of his predecessor, it was visually evident that the crowd that gathered in celebration of Trump’s was smaller. And yet he claimed that it was the largest crowd ever!
Throughout his first term and now during his second, he has never allowed any lack of evidence to hinder his multitude of false claims. Most notable is his continuing claim that the 2020 election was fraudulent and therefore stolen from him, but after numerous court examinations, no evidence in support of his claim was found. Since science is based on evidence, we should not be surprised by Trump’s hostility toward science itself. Whether it’s the wide body of evidence pertaining to climate change or the harmful effects of air and water pollution on our health, Trump is quite willing to ignore it, deny it or in some cases to attempt hiding it from us.
Now we have been made aware that under his current administration, people are being disappeared from the country with no evidence of their wrongdoing. During a recent interview with Terry Moran of ABC News, Trump irately insisted that a Photoshopped picture of someone’s knuckles with “MS-13” tattooed on them was clear evidence in support of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s removal from the country. I often have to remind myself that this is the same leader who suggested we inject bleach into our bodies to fight off the COVID-19 virus.
Perhaps most disturbing of all is the fact that millions of the president’s supporters, including many members of Congress, are similarly unable or unwilling to incorporate the need for evidence into their views or decisions. Their beliefs are derived from faith, rather than fact, and are better suited for religion than for politics. But even from biblical wisdom, we learn that “you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
— Vincent Smith, Big Rock
Trump hard at work
There are two kinds of people in this world: There are those who sit back and wait for things to happen, and there are those who are driven and make things happen. Let it be said that President Donald J. Trump makes things happen. And his first 100 days have been a whirlwind of getting things accomplished.
Despite the hateful rhetoric from left-wing Democrats fighting Trump’s efforts, Trump and his dream team won’t back down. Most importantly, the border has been secured.
No doubt, Trump will continue to stand his ground and fight, fight, fight. You can be sure that he will always put America first.
— JoAnn Lee Frank, Clearwater, Florida
Veterans left behind
I am a veteran of the global war on terrorism, and I am also working on my Master of Social Work with a focus on mental health. I share that to explain my frustration and concern at the recent reduction in force to the Department of Veterans Affairs. I won’t sugarcoat my true feelings about my experience at the VA either.
After my last deployment in 2009 from Afghanistan, I went to the VA to seek counseling and mental health treatment. At that time, I was in the National Guard, and my own father recommended I seek help as he could see the difference in me. Unfortunately, my experience at the VA wasn’t what I thought it would or should be. I was asked numerous questions, many of which now seem irrelevant to my struggles. However, what was most lacking was empathy and belief in what I was saying.
Basically, I was told I was having readjustment issues, whereas I knew I was at the start of a full-blown battle with anxiety and depression. I was later able to seek medical care on the civilian side and was treated accordingly. I neither sought compensation from the VA, nor do I really want to. But this is not where my concerns really lie.
I have friends who became gainfully employed with the VA and who have now been terminated through Department of Government Efficiency processes. These aren’t any ordinary friends; these are friends who are veterans. This is a travesty and reflects the images of a soldier being left behind in battle. These are just a couple of personal cases I know of.
In addition to these veterans, there will now inevitably be more veterans waiting for health care treatment in longer physical and virtual lines.
As a country, we state all the time we love and respect our veterans, and if this is the case, then every American should be writing our members of Congress about this issue.
We are taught in the military to never leave a fallen comrade on the field of battle. As I ponder this warrior ethos, I can’t help but mourn for those that are now being left behind.
— Jeremy Stimac, Danville, Illinois
Democrats’ messaging
My father had a blue-collar job. Working seven days a week — half a day on Sundays — he was able to afford a house, two cars, medical insurance and not much else. College wasn’t in the budget, so I paid for it myself, working nights at O’Hare International Airport for an air freight trucking company. It was a union position; I earned an enviable hourly wage of $4.25 an hour compared with the $1.60 minimum at the time. That job plus my meager savings put me through University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where tuition was less than $300 a semester. Today, a year’s worth of textbooks could run at least $300.
I consider myself extremely fortunate because those conditions no longer exist. The cost of housing, new cars, medical insurance and college have skyrocketed. Good union jobs have steadily declined since my nights loading trucks. You can make arguments that both Democrats and Republicans are to blame for the decline in quality of life. Most telling is the inaction of Republicans to pass any meaningful legislation in the last 40 years that they authored/co-sponsored and that was passed with a Republican majority and signed by a Republican president, which benefited working-class and poor people more than it helped affluent donors.
But this is not about Republican indifference. It’s about the Democratic Party that has lost focus and relevance. Until Democrats change their messaging and are laser-focused on speaking about things that matter most to the average person like housing, health care and groceries, I’m not listening. I suspect many people feel the same as I do.
— Jerry Levy, Deerfield
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