Dundalk’s inexplicable love affair

The front-page news piece on Eastern Baltimore County and its seeming attraction to Donald Trump was disconcerting (“Trump finds support in former Democratic stronghold in Maryland,” Aug. 21).

While I know full well that not all Trump voters are racists or xenophobic in the way that his campaign has been, it remains that in order to vote for Mr. Trump, citizens have to believe at least two things that, on the face of it, make no sense: first, that this alleged billionaire who wouldn’t recognize a Dundalk resident or voter if he fell over one is the likely promoter of a resurgent working class, one with the ability to bring back industries and jobs that, by his own admission, he never supported in the past and for which he has no clear policy proposals. And second, voters who support Mr. Trump and suggest that they don’t want a “third Barack Obama term” seem unaware that President Obama, so widely respected abroad even if not in his homeland, provided our nation with an intelligent, dignified, hard-working president who is not only a role model for the young but also acted to drag us out of a Republican-induced recession while encouraging the creation of millions of jobs.

What will we get with a President Trump? Dignity? Intellect? Fairness? Policies that promote working people’s best interests? Look at his history and his record: bankruptcy, bigotry, misogyny, divisiveness, self-aggrandizement, racism and a host of other negative characteristics that even the sensible in his own party find repulsive. So, yes, vote for Donald Trump — ignore the warning signs, ignore history and ignore your own self-interest. If by some mystifying chance you do elect him to the White House, keep in mind that the rest of us won’t be able to fix it when you have buyer’s remorse!