To the Editor:
Re “A Furor Erupts Over President and War Dead” (front page, Sept. 5):
Over the past several years, I have felt anger and disgust at countless comments made by President Trump. But after reading a report that he disparaged soldiers killed in combat as “suckers” and “losers,” my reaction was a deep sense of grief.
I am the mother of a former Marine who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. My politically liberal and economically advantaged son did so in the belief that service was vital and that his privileges shouldn’t relieve him of the need to serve. I was fortunate that he returned safely from his deployments.
But my son, then still in his 20s, attended more funerals than I ever have: of Marines killed in combat as well as those who returned home and were lost to depression and suicide.
I want to hear Republican leaders repudiate this president now, in loud voices, without caveats or excuses. Maybe, just maybe, their repudiation of Mr. Trump’s behavior will lessen our grief and fury.
Joan A. Lipton
New York
To the Editor:
Re “Trump’s Ex-Chief of Staff, at Center of Report on President’s Remarks, Keeps Silent” (news article, Sept. 5):
John F. Kelly’s unwillingness to comment on President Trump’s reported remarks about military service can be taken as an expression of his respect for the military remaining outside of politics and an unwillingness to be used as a weapon in the campaign. I consider Mr. Kelly an honorable man, and his unwillingness to denounce the accusations as false and slanderous provides a thunderous ring of truth to the charges.
Michael Caplow
Seattle
To the Editor:
Regarding John Kelly’s silence about the report in The Atlantic, he might read the words of John Lewis: “When you see something you believe is unfair or unjust, you have to say so. Silence is not the answer.”
If President Trump did not utter the words attributed to him, Mr. Kelly owes it to the president to say so. But if the president did utter those words, Mr. Kelly owes it to the country to say so. “Silence is not the answer.”
James Scheuer
New York
To the Editor:
I abhor nearly everything that President Trump stands for and has done and, based on his past record, tend to believe the statements anonymously ascribed to him denigrating American military members as “suckers,” “losers” and the like. But it is reprehensible for The Atlantic to cite these unnamed sources for such serious accusations and equally inappropriate for The Times and other media to report them without attribution.
Although the remarks certainly sound like the president’s, the fact that they are a few years old and only surfacing now, a couple of months before the election, makes them suspect. While maintaining confidentiality of sources is sometimes necessary, such as for whistle-blowers, hiding behind a cloak of anonymity makes the purveyors of these presidential comments as cowardly as the individual to whom they are ascribed.
Marshall H. Tanick
Minneapolis
To the Editor:
The way to counter President Trump’s statements that captured and dead U.S. military service members were “losers” is to make him a loser on Nov. 3.
Peter Hanson
Nesconset, N.Y.
The writer was a captain in the U.S. Air Force.
To the Editor:
Re “My Son Knows His Father Wasn’t a ‘Loser’ or a ‘Sucker,’” by Dana Canedy (Op-Ed, nytimes.com, Sept. 4):
This president has inflicted so much pain in the last three years that I feel as though I have been trapped on a roller coaster of emotions ranging from anger to unthinkable sadness. Ms. Canedy’s heart-wrenching article about her teenage son’s reaction to the president’s reported denigration of our troops brought me once again to tears, but yet was oddly uplifting.
Jordan’s father was killed in Iraq when his son was six months old. Ms. Canedy reminds us of the unselfish heroism of our troops and the immeasurable sacrifices of their families, all in support of our democracy, and gives us hope that like-minded selfless Americans can rescue our country from the hands of our self-seeking president.
Patricia L. Collins
Pacific Palisades, Calif.