John Donegan writes that all the old hippies “must now be Republicans” because they were nonconformists like Donald Trump, or some such vague trivia (“Where are all the hippies?” Aug. 29).
Let’s get serious for a moment.
During the Vietnam War, Republicans re-elected President Richard Nixon. He often demonized war-protesting hippies as un-American traitors. The hippies returned his contempt with interest, justifiably, as it turned out, as he was soon forced to resign for abuse of power and corruption.
Now, similarly, we see Republicans cheering another corrupt president, who spends his time dodging investigations into his conduct in office, sucking up to Russia and North Korea, and dissing our allies or our own State Department, intelligence services, FBI, judges, Congress, and press, along with immigrants and any and all dissenters. I doubt if he’ll get much support from those who were targeted by Nixon.
A bully like Trump needs enemies, and any of us, including his supporters, may find ourselves caught in the crossfire. Ask the farmers who have been devastated by his tariffs.
Trump won’t be happy until he and his billionaire pals have everything and the rest of us have nothing. He belongs in the Big House, not the White House.
Dave Raleigh
San Luis Obispo
This article appears in Sep 5-15, 2019.
TRUMP 2020 because the Dems have no one worth voting for.
You incorrectly assume I am a big fan of Trump. I will address that in my next column. And, in the intervening years since the 1960’s, I realized how corrupt, self-serving and destructive the Democratic party is.