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Letters: In the U.S., it’s about the money

Dear Editor, Re: “Filter bubbles may be why I don’t get it,” Opinion, Nov. 5 I can easily relate to Eve Edmonds’ comments about having Trump-supporting family members and finding their ways of reasoning entirely unfathomable.
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U.S. President Donald Trump is cracking down on birth tourism

Dear Editor,

Re: “Filter bubbles may be why I don’t get it,” Opinion, Nov. 5

I can easily relate to Eve Edmonds’ comments about having Trump-supporting family members and finding their ways of reasoning entirely unfathomable.

Half my family are Americans and many of them are also “Trumpites” as I call them, and, as is the case with some members of her family, it is also impossible to have an open-minded and objective conversation about social, economic, religious or political issues with some members of my family because they are totally closeted inside their intractable certitude that what they believe is the only legitimate and justifiable point of view to hold.

But unlike Eve Edmonds, I am not confused about why my family Trumpites hold fast to the opinions and beliefs and support Donald Trump’s agendas as they do.

It is about money — making as much money as possible and protecting it from those who would take it away from them.

Morals, ethics, integrity, honesty, truth, respect and trustworthiness are irrelevancies in the face of the need to accumulate wealth, and that is why Trumpites so readily ignore Trump’s multitude of failings and sins and point to how well the economy and their investment portfolios are doing rather than getting involved in worrying about distracting issues such as racism, poverty, social injustice, political corruption or environmental degradation.

I am more concerned about how our addiction to and reliance on social media have diminished our concerns for meaning in language to the point far too many people are now inclined to declare “truth” is what they want it to be or say it is, rather than what it is proven to be.

That’s Trumpism in a nutshell, and a new form of totalitarianism that strives to strip the free press and all news media of their power to keep us well-informed, well-educated and capable of separating the liars from the truth-tellers.

But, as one of my relatives would likely say: “But my stocks are doing so well!”

Ray Arnold

RICHMOND