Why liberals are keeping score

Re “Trump’s narcissism has taken over the country,” Opinion, Sept. 29

Ann Friedman’s complaint about the widespread liberal tendency to judge President Trump’s actions on a good-for-him versus bad-for-him basis, because this buys into The Donald’s narcissism, is well meaning but misses the point.

Keeping score does not amount to playing the Trump card at the expense of the issues involved. It serves significant psychological and political purposes, helping to maintain sanity in the face of the president’s recklessness, and gauging the odds of crippling Trump come 2018 and — if special counsel Robert Mueller doesn’t get to him first — defeating him in 2020. Vincent Brook Los Angeles “Who cares what’s good or bad for Trump? What matters is whether his decisions are good or bad for the rest of us.”

I for one could not care less about what is good for Trump. He has shown us all who he is, and I knew what he was long before he ever campaigned. He lies, bullies and is concerned with himself. Those who believe he is leading the country to greatness are sadly deluded.

Trump does or says nothing that has no benefit to himself. He has no interest in helping our country, the sick, the needy, the homeless, the refugees. He has exhibited bigoted tendencies. He is completely unfit for office.

I don’t give a fig about what Trump thinks. Scott W. Hughes Westlake Village

If I were president, this is how I’d address the nation:

“My fellow Americans, those of you who have knelt, I understand your pain, your great disappointment that we still treat our brothers and sisters unequally. We still haven’t achieved those exalted ideals for which we strive, but many Americans are trying to ameliorate those existing inequalities.

“Know that our flag and our national anthem stand for those ideals and for our better nature — that we are a work in progress, that our task is as yet incomplete, so when you salute the flag and sing our anthem, you are honoring what we stand for, what we hope for and what we inexorably will achieve. Let us come together to improve our country.

“Know that we are all Americans, imperfect to be sure, but trying hard to reach our dreams.” Jack Salem Los Angeles