Streep’s speech criticizing Trump hit close to home

We all need to feel sorry for the person who will, for better or worse, become the leader of this country in a few days. He has to have the thinnest skin in the world. If anyone makes a criticism of him, he can’t just let it go. He has to get on Twitter and make a very predictable response: The person making the criticism is invariably overrated, doesn’t know him and has other problems that, even if true, have nothing to do with the criticism. I think it’s time we stop criticizing him — it’s too easy.

Michael Fischer, El Cerrito

Good for Streep

Good for Meryl Streep. During the Golden Globe Awards, Meryl Streep called out Donald Trump for ridiculing a disabled person at one of his rallies. Streep reminded us that Trump’s appeal was and is to America’s base instincts. “Make America Great Again" really means taking America back to a time way before the Civil Rights Act, when discrimination against black people was rampant, women knew their place, all Muslims were terrorists, the mentally ill were locked away, the physically disabled were kept out of sight and homosexuals knew enough to stay in the closet.

Trump did not capture a majority of the popular vote but got a majority of the Electoral College vote. No one who has studied Trump’s background or paid attention to what he did and said during the campaign can really believe that Trump is the answer to the low-paying working person’s real or perceived woes or make America great again in any positive sense of the word “great.”

Ralph Stone, San Francisco

Lecturing elite

I am disgusted with the political and “politically correct” positions so many actors took at the Golden Globe Awards. For one example, Meryl Streep spoke of the diversity and inclusiveness of the entertainment industry, as if that industry did so out of the goodness of its heart. However, the bottom line in that industry, as in most, is money (e.g. ticket sales).

In most cases, the entertainment “elite” got where they are because of an ability to attract audiences and bring in revenue. Lectures such as Streep’s are actually demeaning to those “diverse” actors whose success was earned and not bestowed upon them by a benevolent industry. It is easy for these “lecturing elite” to ignore reality and take credit away from where it is due.

Anne Finigan, San Francisco

Actor didn’t rant

Regarding “Winners take backseat to Streep’s Trump rant” ( Jan. 9): In reporting Meryl Streep’s lifetime award acceptance speech, you highlighted it as a “rant.” I object to choosing such a pejorative word for her articulate and heart felt words. A news report isn’t supposed to be an opinion piece. Reporters should keep their own prejudices and opinions to themselves.

Nancy Bartell, Berkeley