To the Editor:

I was considering the alleged comments the president made that the countries of Haiti and Africa are “shitholes.” Given the witnessed accounts of his saying this by members of both parties, I believe he said it.

So I wondered how a president felt comfortable making such a statement. Is he so ignorant as to believe all of Haiti and Africa are “shitholes?” He said he’d like people to immigrate from Norway instead. Are there no shitholes in Norway?

Then I got to thinking about where I live here between Altamont and Voorheesville. Do I live in a “shithole” by the president’s standards?

Do only bad people come from “shitholes” or can good people emerge from poverty-stricken areas? Many affluent people used to refer to bad people as coming from the other side of the tracks. Both Altamont and Voorheesville have tracks. Which neighborhoods would be termed “shitholes” by our president?

I think the president is out of touch with the reality of small-town America! His affluence has made him biased against the have-nots. What is his opinion of poverty in America?

There are very poor people living in Voorheesville, Altamont, and the Hilltowns. Would the president exclude them because of where they live if he could? Where is his Christian compassion and sympathy for so-called undesirables?

I know they exist by some people’s definition right here in our communities. I know the president claims to be Christian. Do illegal child immigrants live in our area? Where is the Republican Party’s compassion for these immigrants when they won’t separate the DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] issue from erecting a border wall between the United States and Mexico? The children were brought to the U.S. through no fault of their own. They do not know any other country; this is their country now.

Don’t hinge their freedom on a decision about a border wall. That is unchristian and cruel. I don’t understand the Republicans’ push for a wall.

The most famous statement of their favorite president, Ronald Reagan was: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” Seems contradictory to me. Maybe Altamont, Voorheesville and the Hilltowns should wall off the areas of their communities that the affluent consider “shitholes” so that they can keep out the potentially unwanted.

I love all our communities and I don’t see any so-called “shitholes” but I have to question what my president would say about where we live. I want to state that our president is a bad man. From his family’s perspective, I’m sure he has his good points, but he is, to put it simply, a bad leader for our country.

His behavior has, time after time, proven he is unfit to lead a nation. His vocabulary is limited as is his knowledge of worldly issues. His lack of common good sense is apparent by what he says and tweets when speaking off script.

The sycophants surround him much like the citizens followed the Emperor in the children’s story by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, in 1837, titled “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” The story is about two weavers who promise an emperor a new suit of clothes that they say is invisible to those who are unfit for their positions, stupid or incompetent — while in reality, they make no clothes at all, making everyone believe the clothes are invisible to them. When the emperor parades before his subjects in his new “clothes” no one dares to say that they do not see any suit of clothes on him for fear that they will be seen as stupid.

Finally a child cries out, “But he isn’t wearing anything at all.” This story parallels the support President Trump is getting from the majority of Republicans. They fail to condemn his bad behavior for fear of not achieving their agenda or acknowledging they elected a man who is degrading America.

President Trump’s un-presidential behavior is not denounced by most Republicans, much like the emperor in the story was not told the truth about his public display without any clothes. But it was the honesty of a child publicly crying out the truth about the emperor’s nakedness that brought the emperor’s subjects to their senses and all declared his nakedness.

The president manipulates the truth and the facts. Time after time, we see videos of his contradicting his positions. He has been caught in blatant lying. He is not a clever liar.

His supporters will say others have also lied, which is true, but none equals the impact of the lies told by our current president. His latest lie about what he termed “shithole countries” and that he never said it is an example of his blatant lying.

His own supporter Lindsey Graham stated, “The words President Trump used should not be repeated in front of children.”

I do not like the way he comports himself as president. He will go down in history as a disgrace upon our nation. The Republican Party has lost its principles and our country is losing its moral authority.

Our Democracy is a great way to lead a country and capitalism, kept in check, is a great way for a country to grow and move forward, but when the wealthy capitalists take control of our democracy and serve their needs before the needs of the people, the country becomes divided. America is not great when there is such an imbalance of power.

Historically, whenever greed controls power, nations fall and disappear from existence. Throughout history the lower classes rise up in revolution and tear down their tyrannical governments. This is an indisputable fact. Many facts are distorted or lied about in the current White House. Our president’s behavior is erratic, inconsistent and unstable.

Our politicians — Democrat, Republican and all other people — should attempt these personal qualities, some of which you may recognize from the knights of old England, they are purity of heart, valor, honor, virtue, integrity, sensibility, compassion, and the ability to be reasonable. Our president replies to the question of his intelligence by tweeting to the world that he’s “like really smart.” Are you joking?

The guy’s a jerk on so many levels.

“All that’s needed for evil to take place is for good men to do nothing.”

Have the courage to speak up against tyranny. To quote President Abraham Lincoln, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” President Trump is the most divisive president in modern times!

Timothy Albright

Meadowdale