Donald Trump is a dangerously failed leader - echo opinion

This opinion letter from Oklahoma was published in Tulsa World:

Letter to the Editor: Trump’s Alabama Sharpie map erodes trust with Americans- he is dangerous.

#Sharpiegate Trump

On Sept. 1, 2019, Donald Trump tweeted a warning that Alabama would be among the areas “most likely” to be hit by Hurricane Dorian. About 20 minutes later, the National Weather Service in Birmingham tweeted: "Alabama will NOT see any impacts from #Dorian." (Hurricane Dorian)

On Sept. 4, Donald Trump gave a (stupiud!) news conference with a map obviously altered with a Sharpie to show that the extended Dorian’s projected cone went into the southeastern corner of Alabama.

This hand-drawn addition indicated the storm would move from Florida into Alabama and made it appear Trump’s Sunday tweet was correct, despite national weather officials and updated forecasts saying otherwise.


There are lives that can be lost if a president does not consider and rely on experts in making decisions and pronouncements.

Everyone makes errors, especially Donald Trump. But, further compounding an error with an obvious misstatement leads one to question whether that president should continue making the momentous decisions needed for the job.

In October 1962, President John F. Kennedy announced we were blockading Cuba because nuclear ballistic missiles were being installed there by Russia. Americans believed Kennedy and stood by him.

If Trump were to make a similar announcement that had grave implications on the continuance of life in America, would you believe him and stand by him? If not, that - in and of itself - is a serious (and dangerous!) problem.

John L. Harlan, Tulsa, Oklahoma