It’s journalism, not partisanship

Re “Don’t trust the polls on Helsinki,” Opinion, July 24

Jonah Goldberg states that one of the reasons Republicans stick 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 is an attack on Trump, but it’s really just good journalism.

Shari O’Connell Santa Monica

As Goldberg notes, the only way Trump’s voters felt they could express their dissatisfaction by selecting the candidate who “stuck out the middle finger” to the ruling elite.

Trump’s people don’t trust the affluent, educated, secular leaders who watched as jobs fled the nation and wages stagnated. 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

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. Then, Trump will have achieved the GOP’s two highest priority objectives: huge tax cuts for the wealthy, and a high court dominated by conservatives.

Thus Trump will become expendable. One of his last tweets as president might be, “Et tu, Mike Pence?”

Aaron Mills Solana Beach