A note to Jay Ambrose

Today the Morning Call ran a column by Jay Ambrose, a conservative commentator.  Mr. Ambrose said that Donald Trump did not cause the shooting in Pittsburgh, and claimed that the man who shot up the synagogue could have just as easily taken a shot a Trump.  Then he noted that Trump has a high approval rating in Israel, a non sequitur of the first magnitude.

Since Mr. Ambrose listed his email address, I sent him the following reply:

Dear Mr. Ambrose,

I read your column on the Pittsburgh shooting in the Nov. 3 edition of the Allentown Morning Call.  In my view (and experience) the rhetoric of violence and hatred certainly has increased in the last two years.  The recent Trump rallies are exercises in promoting racial hatred, and the chants of “lock her up” during the 2016 campaign were frightening.  When tragedies do occur the President seems incapable of expressing heartfelt sympathy or concern for more than a few hours.  The President gives permission to insult minorities and women, and his supporters follow his lead.  You must be aware that the political climate in this country has changed for the worse.  I have an “Impeach Trump” bumper sticker on my pickup truck, and my friends are worried that someone will take a shot at me.  I’m pretty sure if I had had an “Impeach Obama” sticker, I would not have been threatened.

Two things in your column I found particularly offensive.  Anyone who knows American history is fully aware that we don’t need to refer to “this European-style experience of hell."  We have our own versions.  And please don’t use false equivalency.  You compare a guy beating a guy with a stick to a massacre.  That doesn’t work.

I’ve noticed that I never get a reply to my letters and emails.