The recent side-by-side commentaries, one in support of Donald Trump and one against, offered quite a contrast in style as well as content. The anti-Trump piece written by Charles Badger was well thought out, coherent and devastatingly accurate ("Clinton calls 'em as she sees 'em," Sept. 14). The pro-Trump opinion written by George Liebmann, on the other hand, was rambling, nonsensical and failed to make any point beyond some sort of schoolyard sour grapes that had all the wit of, "nyaa, nyaa, nyaa" ("In defense of the 'deplorables,'" Sept. 14). It was truly pathetic and not the sort of writing I'm used to seeing from Mr. Liebmann of the Calvert Institute for Policy Research. One can only assume that his commentary was ghost written by Mr. Trump's "doctor" (wink, wink). But I guess it's hard to write something in defense of racism.
The thing that I find truly astonishing about today's racists, however, is this almost fanatical desire to say things that are blatantly racist while claiming that they aren't racist at all. Once upon a time, racists were proud of their racism — indeed, they wore it like a badge, or perhaps more accurately, a white sheet. Think Bull Connor or George Wallace. Now there were some racists who clearly believed what they were saying. But what happened to today's racists? Their defense of their own opinions seems so tepid, so evasively non-committal, that I wonder why they bother having them at all. If they are so ashamed of being racist that they have to hide behind code words and weak prevarications, then they clearly know that racism is wrong. So if they know it's wrong, why harbor those feelings at all?
If you really want to support Donald Trump and all the hateful ideas he stands for, then do it with gusto. Wear that white sheet or that swastika armband. Admit you're a knuckle dragging bigot and be proud of it. Be honest with yourself and the people around you, and maybe you won't be feeling those deeply repressed feelings of anxiety and shame. Be who you are, openly advocate your hate and vote for the orange baboon.
William Smith, Baltimore