From David G. Deininger

Monroe

To the Editor:

According to pollsters and pundits, only a tiny percentage of voters are undecided on the 2024 Presidential candidates. If you are a committed Trump voter, you will not accept what I am about to say; if you are a Never-Trumper you already do. For the handful of voters who are still truly undecided, I offer my thoughts.

I understand that there are many big issues on people’s minds this year — the economy, immigration, reproductive rights, to name a few.  But the President is only one player among many who will impact these issues in the months and years to come. The U.S. Congress, the Federal Reserve, state governors and legislatures, all play major roles in determining how these issues are addressed.

There is, however, one arena in which the President’s power and decision-making is pre-eminent, and that is our nation’s security. As a proud Navy veteran, I am dismayed by the former president’s comments about veterans and military service. His expressed disrespect for a decorated fellow Navy veteran, John McCain, was bad enough, but calling those who fought and died in the service of our country “suckers and losers” is simply appalling.

More worrisome is the fact that numerous flag officers and national security and defense officials who served under Trump have publicly stated that he is unfit to be Commander-in-Chief. His own Vice President Mike Pence has expressed a similar sentiment.

I genuinely believe that a second Trump presidency is a threat to our national security. I fear that he will undermine U.S. participation in important alliances, like NATO, and that he will allow his professed admiration for Putin and other dictators to blind him to their ambitions and the threats they pose to us and to democracy around the world. I am also concerned, based on his recent comments about “enemies within,” that he will attempt to use the U.S. military against our own citizens.

To those who cannot envision a woman as our Commander-in-Chief, I can only point to the many women who have ably served in combat and have ascended to top leadership roles in all branches of the military. Kamala Harris is a tough, experienced national leader who deserves your vote to be the next President of the United States.