In Congress, both parties have failed the people

Both political parties are evaluating the results of the election. The Democrats are saying their party needs to be better connected to the voters. The Republicans say the election is a mandate from the people to follow the direction that Donald Trump campaigned on. The truth is that they are both very wrong.

During the past eight years, Congress turned into an adolescent schoolyard brawl. Democrats felt empowered and pushed legislation of their choice without including the Republicans or considering their concerns. The Republicans dug in their heels and refused to consider or support any of the Democrats’ initiatives. We all know the result — absolute gridlock. Both parties felt righteous and blamed the other. Therefore, nothing happened. Government stopped functioning.

The American voters became so fed up with both parties that they looked outside of Washington and wanted a completely new direction. They saw Mr. Trump and said, “I don’t know whether the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. But I know that it is brown on this side!” The election wasn’t a vote for Mr. Trump or a new leader. It was a vote against the existing Congress.

But Congress just doesn’t get it. The vote was a mandate all right. It was a mandate to eliminate the infighting and start working toward improving the country and helping the people. Everyone I know was repulsed by Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell and the majority of Congress and their uncompromising attitudes.

If they don’t get the message and change their childish ways, there will be a voter rebellion that could doom both parties and allow Mr. Trump to lead the country into chaos. DONALD MILLER

Irwin

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was sow pessimism to win power. And in the countries where power was attained, the lower-class “proletariat,’’ who are always the leftists’ base of support, have suffered each and every time.

Think of the countries where leftists have ruled and you’ll see extreme poverty and often death, i.e. Russia, Cuba, China, countless African and South American countries, Eastern Europe, etc., with the base “voters’’ as the primary victims. The irony would be comic if it weren’t for the tragedy of the whole thing. Where leftism breeds, totalitarian regimes seem inevitably to follow. STEPHEN M. SOKOL

Mt. Lebanon

In response to Charles Krauthammer’s Jan. 14 column, “What Happened to the Honeymoon?”: Mr. Krauthammer has become a partner of those he used to stand apart from. He began the column by analyzing the failure to allow Donald Trump much of a honeymoon. His rationale was reasonable, yet he couldn’t resist closing his analysis with a rather underdeveloped, spurious slam at President Barack Obama.

The “green-eyed monster” of envy toward the popularity of President Obama is evident (approval rating of 57 percent now)!

Mr. Krauthammer’s belief that “Yes We Can” was not successful because Mr. Obama could begin and end with the same theme is quite one-dimensional. Let’s see if “Make America Great Again” holds up as well. ELLEN M. SHAR Bethel Park

Matthew Burk (“Media Despicables,” Jan. 17 letters), like so many hard-line rightwingers, is attempting to chastise the media as undermining Donald Trump’s qualifications for the presidency. However, putting aside the numerous arguments for his disqualification, let’s remember the live TV displays of Mr. Trump’s rude, juvenile behavior, e.g., when he crept across the stage at a rally to belittle Hillary Clinton for having pneumonia, or made ugly, distorted faces while mocking a journalist with a disability.

The media couldn’t have scripted a better portrayal of Mr. Trump’s “despicable” behavior. CARLA A. NELIS Wilkins