Donald Trump lives in a swirl of anger, retribution and economic fantasies. IOW- Trump is crazy!

Opinion letter published in the Northhampton Daily Hampshire Gazette, by Stephen Armstrong, in Hadley.

In my January letter to the editor, I promised I would not write another Trump letter for four years if he or she would publish that one. But, since then, I have sent two others. The Gazette is forcing me to consider whether I am a habitual liar. Oh, well. Perhaps I am, but nowhere near our 100-day super-president. 

Today, I am thinking about the “real” effects of this man’s economic fantasies, his vaunted worldwide tariffs. We will feel them at the end of May, because by then the number of ships of Chinese goods in American ports will have declined by 30%-40%.

Trump laughs and says that American kids can make do with two dolls, not 30; and isn’t it too bad that American parents will have to spend $2 more per doll❓ (It won’t be $2, by the way: the tariffs- if Trump returns to his fantasy, will be 154% of the value of the doll❗ So much for Barbie.) 

What goads Trump’s fantasies❓ His mental life is simple: he wants to stomp, crush, defile, and run under his feet anyone whom he does not like. Unfortunately, Trump dislikes most of the American public — certainly those who voted against him — many women, most immigrants, and above all China, as impossible as this seems. Trump requires fealty, and China’s only gift of homage to him was Covid, both a personal case where he thought he was Superman to have survived, and a pandemic which claimed 1.1 million Americans, who did not survive.

Anger, aggression, never-ending grievance, and repetitive delusions about his “deal-making” capabilities — these are the powers behind his economic fantasies. In his childish way Trump thinks his fantasies are the “truth.” 

Trump does not care what a doll costs, or how many dolls an American child might want. He thinks of us as though we are over-indulged children, and thus we deserve his lies and contempt.

From Steven Armstrong in Hadley (at least, the name he uses to write letters to the editor)

Trump cult loyalists are playing a zero sum game

Echo opinion letter published in the Massachusetts 

Daily Hampshire Gazette

This imagery will become the #GQO logo

It’s sad to hear people like Jacob Chansley*, the face-painted, horn-wearing “QAnon Shaman” who played an evil image and grossly colorful part in the Jan. 6th, mob riot in Washington, complain that Donald Trump misled him and then failed to pardon him.

Con artists don’t care about people like Jacob; they can’t afford to feel badly for using and discarding them because it would stand in the way of getting power and money, and those are the only things they care about. Jacob and his fellow deluded insurrectionists are a dime a dozen.

On the other hand, Roger (“Dirty Tricks”) Stone got a pardon because he has special skills that will be valuable to Trump in the future. People who still support Trump need to wake up and accept the truth — they were fed a pack of lies.

(Maine Writer- obviously Republicans are unable to even read the lessons taught by the Peanuts cartoon!  Cult loyalty to Donald Trump is a zero sum game for the extremist Republicans.)

And members of Congress, from both parties, need to stand united, proclaim the truth, and hold Trump accountable. Otherwise, he will continue his con game from his gilded palace in Florida and the victims of his crimes, the American people, will never recover.

Susan Grant

Easthampton, Massachusetts 

*QAnon shaman - Chansley, 32, who had been going by the name Jake Angeli, is an actor and activist who was prominent at conservative protests in Arizona.

Prosecutors said Chansley went into the Capitol carrying a U.S. flag attached to a wooden pole topped with a spear, ignored an officer’s commands to leave, went into the Senate chamber and wrote a threatening note to then-Vice President Mike Pence.

Chansley told investigators he came to the Capitol “at the request of the president that all ‘patriots’ come to D.C. on January 6,” according to court records.

Physician Assisted Suicide: New Hampshire opion echo about danger warnings

Echo opinion letter published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette in New Hampshire:

From Jonah Carlson - For years, I had assumed the progressive position on physician assisted suicide was clear. But when I became involved in activism regarding disability rights and justice, several years after becoming disabled myself, I learned more about the issue and ended up changing my mind.

Every major disability advocacy organization in the United States that has taken a position on physician assisted suicide, opposes it. There are compelling reasons why, and legislators and the public can learn from listening to disabled voices about this issue.

Assisted suicide laws make it a legal and normal medical procedure that physicians may prescribe and health insurance may cover for terminally ill people. The biggest problem with legalized, normalized physician assisted suicide is how it interacts with the structural ableism that harms disabled people and disproportionately harms those who are multiply marginalized. 

Misdiagnosis of illnesses as terminal is common.

In Oregon, a model state for assisted suicide, both private and government insurance plans have been documented denying cancer treatment while offering assisted suicide as an alternative.

Data collected from Oregon also shows that pain is not close to being in the top five reasons for assisted suicide. “Loss of dignity” and “feelings of being a burden” both rank far higher, issues which should be addressed by improving support services and creating a culture that values disabled lives, not by a prescription for suicide.

Over 70% of disabled people report experiencing abuse during their lifetimes. Prosecution and conviction are less common when the victim of abuse is disabled. In Oregon, there have been numerous egregious cases of caregiver abuse-involved assisted suicide that resulted in no prosecution, perhaps most notoriously the killing of trans woman Wendy Melcher.

To quote Marilyn Golden of the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, “If assisted suicide is legal, some people’s lives will be ended without their consent, through mistakes, coercion and abuse. No safeguards have ever been enacted, or even proposed, that can prevent this outcome, which can never be undone.”

Please ask our state legislators to take time to listen to disabled voices on physician assisted suicide and to vote against physician assisted suicide. It is dangerous.

Jonah Carlson, Northampton (@DailyHamGazette)