Symptoms suggest President Trump is ill

It’s my belief that President Donald Trump is mentally unfit and a danger to our country. My reasoning?

Extreme narcissism is a recognized mental illness, and if one investigates its symptoms and behaviors, one finds that Trump fits not just some of them, but nearly all.

In 2017, at least 27 mental health professionals determined they also had a “duty to warn,” and did so in a series of essays (“The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump”).

In addition, some time ago I saw signs of dementia in this president. That is a subject I and many others have personal experience with, and the early signs can be very subtle. In his April 9 USA Today op-ed, Dr. John Gartner called for Trump to be evaluated for dementia.

I know most Trump supporters will ignore this as “Trump Hysteria,” but, when a recent supporter’s letter to the editor invited us to Google the president’s 200-plus accomplishments, I did so as my duty to be fully informed. I would ask that his supporters do the same concerning Trump’s mental fitness.

Upon his election, the president was found to be very healthy and “aced” his mental health screening. But my husband, in his early 80s, also was deemed very healthy, and he, too, “aced” the same or similar mental health screening. He died last year from a battle with Alzheimer’s/ dementia.

Carol Grasselli, Reynoldsburg,

Bailing out industries undermines free market

In October 2008, President George W. Bush, bailed out the U.S. banking industry with $700 billion of U.S. taxpayers’ money under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act. In December 2008, Bush bailed out the U.S. auto industry to the tune of $17.6 billion from the Trouble Asset Relief Program.

Fast forward to May 2019 and the federal government is bailing out the farmers of this country because of the losses they are suffering due to tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump in his ill-conceived trade war with China.

If, in the United States, we truly operate under a capitalistic economic system, shouldn’t market conditions be allowed to play out and let the chips fall where they may for these corporations?

Tim Carty, Dublin

Council dragged feet on hazards of pond

The July 11 commentary by Theodore Decker, “Father, son latest to die in pond at apartments,” was excellent. Decker’s direct style and the slow accumulation of detail in his piece served to heighten the perception of this tragedy. He built to a sickeningly effective conclusion with serial condemnations of:

• Pontius Pilate-style judicial disdain and impotence: “... a judge in a civil suit brought by the mother of the boy who fell through the ice noted in his 2016 decision that the pond complied with state and local laws” despite being deep, poorly marked, lightly protected, slick-sided and close by as it was to families with small children.

• Studied incompetence, and either a lazy or corrupt lack of follow-up on the part of Columbus City Council members who seem habitually to let the owners of Hartford-on-the Lakes escape serious consequences time and again: “The city sued the complex owner last year to correct health and building code violations. The case ended in a settlement.” Probably that is why there was a chicken wire fence installed recently around this wet sucking chest wound on the body of our city.

Eight deaths and counting in the past few years would qualify the pond at Hartford-on-the-lake as a “death trap” were common sense our guide.

What would Columbus City Council and our mayor do if the victims were not people of color?

I am a Democrat. I live in Columbus. I am white. I vote. I am sad and angry. I have a great memory. Robert Downey, Columbus

Columbus needs better, more equal health care

In his Saturday op-ed column “Central Ohio could open doors to homeownership” on the affordable-housing crisis, Chris Berry said one of Columbus’ strengths is a “world-class” health care system.

For many in the city, however, the health care system is also extremely inadequate.

Columbus’ infant-mortality rate has been far above the national average for years, with some neighborhoods having rates at levels of third world countries. The city government’s website describes the situation as a “crisis” and says the rate is much higher for black babies than for white ones.

Moreover, the Oct. 17, 2018, Dispatch article “In 2 parts of city, life ends way early” reported on a study showing that Franklinton and the Hilltop are among the four communities having the lowest life expectancy rates in the state, with the poor and African Americans being among those hardest hit.

Life expectancy in Franklinton is the state’s lowest at just 60 years, and in the Hilltop it’s 61.6, while the statewide average is 77.8.

Further, at Columbus City Council’s public hearing on campaign finance reform in January, two of the speakers were Ohio State University medical students who decried Columbus’ health care inequalities. One said the city has “extreme disparities in many health care measures — some of the worst in the country . ... I sit on the medical school admissions board, and many applicants from all over the country express their shock at learning the level of disparity in Columbus . ... Such severe inequality should be a source of shame.”

None of those considerations are consistent with Columbus having a worldclass health care system. They show an urgent need for a major focus on making the provision of health care much better and more equal in the city.

Joseph Sommer, Columbus

Followers can support WCBE with donation

In response to Jim Hutter’s Wednesday letter “WCBE fills musical niche.” I am one of the “others” he speaks for. I would like to add that the station depends on listener donations and it holds a spring and fall fund drive yearly, but one can donate anytime on its website or call

the station.

Just to have commercialfree programming is money well-spent. Also, there is one other program I enjoy: “Toss the Feathers,” hosted by Anna Oscard on Saturday afternoons 4-6 p.m. She plays some awesome Celtic music.

Keep on keepin’ on, WCBE!

Rita Stattmiller, Columbus

Woman can gather votes to be president

I respond to the New York Times article “‘Can a woman win?’ hovers over Democrats” in the July 7 Dispatch. How quickly we forget.

Hillary Clinton won the popular election in 2016 by almost 3 million votes but with our winner-take-all Electoral College system in various states, 77,000 voters in Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania canceled out those 3 million.

So, can a woman be elected president of the United States? We’ve already proved the answer is yes.

Linda Elick, Upper Arlington

Congress has lost its standing with Americans

The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress. Do these people even understand that the large majority of Americans are in contempt of Congress?

With an approval rating below 20%, it is very clear that Congress would be better served by setting aside their all-consuming hatred of President Donald Trump in favor of attending to America’s problems. As our late, great Sen. John Mcclain put it: “country first,” and to that I add “politics last.”

William Babbitt, New Albany