A lot of Trump voters were ‘bamboozled’

Columnist Bret Stephens wants to have his cake and eat it too (“Bret Stephens: Biden’s speech delivered with malice toward quite a few,” Sept. 12).

On the one hand, he criticizes President Joe Biden for conflating MAGA Republicans, whom he deplores, with ordinary Americans who may be misguided but are sincere in their doubts about the last presidential election. On the other, he acknowledges that many of those ordinary Americans, despite their sincerity, have been “bamboozled” into harboring their misguided beliefs.

Sadly, millions of ordinary Americans were bamboozled into electing Donald Trump president in 2016, and the nation has been in turmoil ever since.

Stephens was eloquent in elaborating Trump’s abject failings as both president and ex-president, but he failed to acknowledge that Biden’s critique was directed at the many non-Make America Great Again Republicans who have been bamboozled and whose votes could well return Trump to the Oval Office.