Trump is sowing distrust for the American institutions he is supposed to protect
On trust
Democracy is a very fragile thing.
What makes it work is trust — and trust is a two-way street.
As a voter you need to trust that elections will be fair and unencumbered — and candidates must trust you as a voter as well as the election process.
Meanwhile, as a citizen you must trust that:
▪ Our intelligence service reports are truthful and based upon data and not opinion or conspiracy theories.
▪ Our health agencies’ reports are based upon science and not nonscientific opinions.
▪ Our law enforcement will treat you lawfully with honesty and respect.
▪ You can exercise your First Amendment rights by protesting — with the understanding that you will so in a lawful and legal manner.
▪ When a leader says something, it is true.
When this trust is violated, democracy fails. And who is ultimately responsible for building and instilling trust?
The simple answer is the president of the United States.
But for the first time in the history of our nation, the person who should instilling trust in all of us is instead the person professing mistrust for everything around him.
He is doing the opposite of what he should be doing.
It has become so bizarre that now even the United States Postal Service has become part of President Donald Trump’s “mistrust tour.”
But the truth is this plan was put forth as far back as February 2017 when Steve Bannon, who was serving in the White House as a Trump adviser, said the following:
“I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment.”
President Trump is now carrying out that plan.
Jay Hubelbank, Bluffton
On the Island Packet
Last Sunday was the first Island Packet I have read in the last five weeks: vacationing away from Hilton Head — and camping and traveling through unpopulated areas up north — includes the cessation of most news (both local and national).
But when I walked to the end of my driveway last Sunday morning, I immediately noticed how hefty the Island Packet was — and I first thought that there had to be an earlier edition of The Wall Street Journal stuck in there somewhere.
Nope. It was all Island Packet, with a few weekend sales ads.
I sat down on my back deck with a cup of coffee and began reading — and not for the normal 10 to 15 minutes; I was reading for close to an hour!
One paper does not a permanent change of view make, but it seemed like the news in the Sunday Island Packet was broader in topics and not filled with the standard political hit jobs from The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Associated Press.
Maybe it was only an illusion borne from the absence of any news; only time will tell.
But with the national election only two months away, your readership deserves — now more than ever — fair and balanced reporting of the news.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Brian Thoreson, Hilton Head Island
On ‘Plantation’
I’ve heard that some people don’t want to remove the word “Plantation” from the name of their gated community because they say it is a part of history.
But the Black people who live here on Hilton Head Island have made it clear that they are hurt and offended by the word “Plantation” because of what their enslaved ancestors endured on those plantations in the past.
These things included:
▪ Indentured slavery.
▪ Forced labor.
▪ Rape.
▪ Inhumane treatment.
▪ Murder.
▪ Cruel physical abuse.
▪ Insufficient nourishment.
▪ Arbitrary family separations.
And much more.
The death camps of World War II are a part of history, too. So let me ask you this: Would you ever consider naming a gated community after one?
Of course, you wouldn’t!
It’s too repugnant and offensive to even consider such a thing.
And if that’s the case, why can’t you consider the possibility that keeping the word “Plantation” in a name is equally offensive?
Sue Blake, Hilton Head Island