Readers React: Don’t blame the media for its negative reporting on Trump — the president provides plenty of material

To the editor: Jonah Goldberg states that one of the reasons Republicans are sticking by President Trump is because of the “increasing partisanship of the media.”

The mainstream media are not biased against Trump; they are simply reacting to the constant barrage of material that he provides. This is a president who has made more than 3,000 documented untrue or misleading statements since he has been in office. Because he does this on nearly a daily basis, the press reacts, as it should, on a daily basis.

To a staunch Trump supporter, the constant reporting of negative information comes across as an attack on Trump — when it is really just good journalism.

Shari O’Connell, Santa Monica

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To the editor: As Goldberg notes, the only way Trump’s voters felt they could express their dissatisfaction with the status quo was by selecting the candidate who “stuck out the middle finger” to the ruling elite. The gesture is a sign of frustration over their powerlessness.

Trump’s people don’t trust the affluent, educated, secular leaders who watched as jobs fled the nation and wages stagnated. They view those decades of increasing helplessness as betrayals. Helsinki, the Russia investigation, trade wars — none of these matters. Only Trump does, and his enemies are their enemies.

A Democratic election strategy based on anti-Trump rhetoric is no path to victory. Candidates should show that they are not the enemy by recognizing the grievances of all voting groups and proposing honest remedies.

Zoltan Lucas, Carlsbad

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To the editor: Goldberg got it right: The latest polls greatly overstate Trump’s actual popularity among Republicans.

Pollsters should conduct a survey once Trump has filled the vacant U.S. Supreme Court seat with an ultra-conservative justice. Then, Trump will have accommodated the GOP’s two highest priority objectives: huge tax cuts for the wealthy and a high court dominated by conservatives.

Thus Trump will become politically expendable; even his most outwardly loyal supporters may seek a replacement for 2020. One of his last tweets as president might be, “Et tu, Mike Pence?”

Aaron Mills, Solana Beach

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