Letter: Donald Trump, the flag and ‘patriots’
![Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally...](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.newsday.com%2Fimage-service%2Fversion%2Fc%3AMTBlNTg2YjItMzlkYi00%3AYjItMzlkYi00OWJmNzM1%2Ftrump-cropped.jpg%3Ff%3DLandscape%2B16%253A9%26w%3D770%26q%3D1&w=1920&q=80)
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Ariz., Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016. Credit: AP
Donald Trump, the flag and ‘patriots’
This election is no laughing matter when presidential candidate Donald Trump openly supports a foreign dictator who suppresses free speech and purges the military, replacing officers with hawkish generals who do his bidding [“The tycoon and the tyrant,” Opinion, Sept. 11]. Trump claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin is a better leader than President Barack Obama.
It’s one thing to laugh at Trump’s racism, rants, mocking of disabled people and stigmatizing war veterans who have been captured. Even more egregious are the politicians who steadfastly support Trump because of their deep-seated hatred of Obama.
This election must be taken seriously, and we must repudiate every member of Congress who defends Trump while hiding behind the flag of America. In 1775, on the brink of the American Revolution, Samuel Johnson wrote, “Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels.”
Vincent GrabinskyWest Babylon