Donald Trump is a liar and a criminal, Modesto readers say. Don’t trust him | Opinion

Trump tantrum

“Why many in US support Donald Trump, despite criminal charges,” (modbee.com, Aug. 3)

Donald Trump’s case against CNN was thrown out just like 50-plus other cases brought to perpetuate the lie that the 2020 election was rigged. Trump lies when he says that criminal charges have been brought against him because he’s a presidential candidate. He broke laws.

The past president, in a fit of rage, threw food against a wall. This mirrors a raging child in a high chair, throwing food on the floor. Yet Trump had access to a nuclear button to start a war. Many Americans will still vote for him, and, as lemmings do, follow him over a cliff of no democracy. Lemmings are small rodents that blindly follow a leader, savaging other lemmings who might get in the way.

This is human mob hysteria. Trump supporters are so infected with emotion they fail to see their demise or wrongness. They overlook criminality and childish emotions to vote for someone so emotionally unbalanced.

Diane Kroeze

Modesto

MAGA master

“Why many in US support Donald Trump, despite criminal charges,” (modbee.com, Aug. 3)

The forces of evil are at it again. Donald Trump has laid out a plan that turns the presidency into a one-man dictatorship. If elected, his dystopian plan will decrease powers of the legislative and judicial branches of our government, creating unlimited, unrestrained executive powers for the newly elected president. All of this leads to one conclusion: Trump will turn our constitutional democracy into a one-man, despot-controlled state.

Read the history of fascist Germany and Italy to see what awaits our country if Trump is elected. Germans and Italians paid dearly for their misplaced zealous loyalty to Hitler and Mussolini. That same manic loyalty for Trump has created not unification but divisive camps between democracy and autocracy — neighbor against neighbor, brother against brother.

Trump supporters should research what motivated German and Italian citizens to embrace fascism. This newfound knowledge will enable them to cast off their diseased MAGA shackles, allowing them to become productive, proud U.S. citizens once again.

Brooks Judd

Turlock

Opinion

Religion and morality

“Religion Digest | Modesto Bee,” (modbee.com)

Regarding a recent article titled “Americans’ dismissal of religion doesn’t bode well for the republic”: This article repeatedly conflated religious belief with morality. This is a fallacy. Vlad the Impaler, The Crusades, the Inquisition, the 9/11 attacks and thousands of other examples show that morality, in the modern sense, is not an inseparable part of belief in a god.

Over time, the Bible has changed its moral code. In Exodus, the punishment for working on the sabbath was death. Today, almost everybody works seven days a week. In Deuteronomy, the faithful were commanded to stone non-believers to death. Has God changed his mind? No. In reality, gods only exist in the mind of people. Morality only exists in the mind of people as well. But unlike gods, morality is not a personality; it is a fundamental understanding of a person’s relationship with other people. It answers the question, “Am I more valuable than others?” If a person’s answer is “yes,” then their morality permits them to disrespect others and the laws that protect their rights.

If the answer is “no,” then their morality will tend to conform to “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Each of us is responsible for the fabric and texture of their morality.

J. Jason Gale

Riverbank

Applause for Turlock

“Latest Turlock California News,” (modbee.com)

The mayor and city council members told voters that Turlock would meet the challenges of our time. Let’s look at the record: The city emergency reserve fund, which had shrunk to dangerous levels, has been fully restored to over $18.5 million, an increase of over $10 million.

Our public safety services were facing potential layoffs. Since 2020, however, our police and fire departments have seen a significant increase in budgeted positions. The current challenge is to find qualified applicants to fill them.

Turlock, like most cities during COVID, had an issue with employee retention. That problem is now gone. And the city council itself, while dealing with controversial issues, stays the course. Dialogue is exchanged respectfully. Solutions are sought. Disagreements don’t become feuds.

Turlock’s city government, from its mayor and council to its city manager, city attorney and city department employees have earned a loud “well done” from its residents.

Mike Lynch

Turlock

Believe in climate change

“Here’s how hot and extreme the summer has been, and it’s only halfway over,” (modbee.com, July 31)

Lately, the weather seems to be changing: unprecedented loss of Antarctic ice; heat domes over the midwestern and Atlantic states; and an expanded wildfire season on the West Coast. If these are only anomalies in the long-term weather pattern, then climate change can be safely ignored. On the other hand, if climate change is real, the future looks exceedingly dim.

We can choose to believe that climate change is a liberal hoax. Should this prove to be true, we can enjoy the sight of liberals shamefacedly scurrying back to their holes. If, on the other hand, climate change is real, then what we have to look forward to is an increasingly dire struggle for survival. The alternative is to believe that climate change is not a hoax. Here, it isn’t necessary to agree that humans are causing it. If climate change is real, the payoff is that we might be able to mitigate the damage that’s happening.

William Bishop

Modesto