Readers sound off on Trump’s financial backers, mass deportations and Haredi enlistment

To know Trump’s real support, follow the money

Manhattan: Last Friday, I had the experience of spending time with a millennial Donald Trump supporter. It felt like I was listening to a YouTube conspiracy video. I listened to them ramble on with RFK Jr.’s rants that HIV doesn’t cause AIDS, and that somehow circled back to fluoride in the water poisoning our brains.

Then the CIA came into the conversation as having “murdered RFK’s uncle or dad, something like that,” right before “we are witnessing the systematic destruction of the two-party system because voting is an illusion and Trump is going to show us all, including the Epstein list“ (verbatim).

There was more in the same vein, and this leads me to one thing about what this poor, brainwashed soul said: Voting is not an illusion, it’s just all about the money. There has to be an extraordinary financial benefit for the wealthy — not for Trump’s average supporters, who seem to think they’re going to get checks in the mail from that man becoming president. I’ve been watching that buffoon for the last three decades and this is literally a joke. His crimes are proven. His racism is proven. His incompetence is proven. Yet, here we stand.

I’m a firm believer that when there is a mystery, follow the money. I’m interested to see who profits from this farce, perhaps billionaire Peter Thiel. I’m sure the influx of replies are inbound, but please reread that I never said the election was stolen. You guys are a little predictable. T.S. Fallani

Unworthy options

Liberty, N.Y.: I agree with Voicer Joan Kraft. I did not vote. The choices were very poor. America has to have better candidates. I wonder how many more bowed out. No one earned my vote. Loretta Guido

Pro-choice

Belvidere, N.J.: I take issue with Voicer Joan Kraft’s logic. If a registered Republican or Democrat is “ashamed” of their candidate, that’s no reason for sitting out this monumental presidential election. Even if Kraft is a registered Independent, she reveals a bigger disdain for Kamala Harris when she labels her a “progressive feminist baby-killer.” Personally, Trump is a moral mess, but he will uphold the Republican Party platform of protecting our religious freedom in all aspects of society. If elected president, Harris would have had pro-life medical doctors perform abortions against their conscience and their religious beliefs. Kraft could have included “Communist” in her description of Harris. Dan Arthur Pryor

Birthright citizenship

Olivebridge, N.Y.: A woman’s right to her own body moves into the Trump-era crosshairs. Two considerations: In what trimester does a fetus become an American citizen? If the answer to that is a fetus is not an American citizen, then there is only one citizen to consider when an American woman is pregnant. My conclusion is that the government (federal, state) needs to absolutely respect the decision of the American citizen. Second consideration: For those who refer to a fetus as an “unborn child”: We will each die at some point – that’s one of the few certainties these days. Therefore, using the same verbal gymnastics, are we all then “undead corpses”? Warren Davis

Esteemed stature

St. James, L.I.: The election decided the next president and the vitriol continues between the respective camps. The infantile besmirching of President-elect Trump must cease. I have abhorred the references to Hitler, fascism, dictator, “orange man” and many other labels thrown his way. The office of president must be respected. You may not respect the occupant of the Oval Office, but the office itself must be respected. The occupant of this sacred office is the constitutional leader of our country and is considered the leader of the Free World. I do not respect the person named Donald J. Trump. I do, however, respect the president of the United States, duly elected by the people of this great country. Carmine E. Esposito

Beholden to Big Oil

Brooklyn: Every time I open my mail, there is a plea from some environmental group to save the wolves or the Arctic wilderness or some other truly worthy cause. Now that Trump is going to be president, I anticipate a total war on the environment. There may soon be oil rigs in our national parks. The oil industry funded his campaign and it will expect to reap the benefits. His administration will vindictively dismantle every regulation that stands in the way of big business. The electric and hybrid car innovations the Biden administration fostered may soon be rescinded along with the jobs they created. This may not be what voters wanted, but it’s what they’ll get. Ed Temple

Stand against a roundup

Roosevelt, L.I.: Let us protest President-elect Trump’s mass deportation plan. It is senseless family separation on steroids. It must not be tolerated no matter how popular Trump is. The mass deportation of 11 million immigrants is extremely harmful. All immigrants are not criminals and must not be discriminated against with Trump back in the White House. Hard-working immigrants must be celebrated and appreciated, not eliminated to keep Trump’s campaign promise, built on lies. Yes, those who have committed crimes must pay the time. That includes Trump. You reap what you sow, and what happens in the darkness will come to light. Dangerous double standards of mass deportation could backfire on America. It creates devastating costs to American citizens in terms of our economy, national debt and budget. Arthur L. Mackey Jr.

Stripped of scapegoats

Sebastian, Fla.: After all the immigrants are deported, who will you blame for all the crime? Kevin Keppenheimer

Out-of-place emotion

Monroe, N.Y.: Re “Jimmy Kimmel gets choked up reflecting on Trump win” (Nov. 7): I’m sorry, I must have missed the tears Jimmy Kimmel shed for our wonderful, loyal troops who lost their lives evacuating our citizens from Afghanistan during President Biden’s tail-between-his-legs blunder of an evacuation. Mike Ryan

Overqualified

Brooklyn: Reading about the proposal by Councilmember Pierina Ana Sánchez to require using a licensed plumber to install some appliances that right now come from the store ready to plug into the outlet (“Repairing what isn’t broken,” editorial, Nov. 17), I would like to know if that proposal includes the task to put a new roll of toilet paper into the holder, or do we have to call a plumber or a councilmember to do it? Francisco J. Castillo

Join the fight

Chirnside Park, Victoria, Australia: If Israeli Muslims can join the Israel Defense Forces voluntarily and fight and die bravely alongside their Sabra and other Jewish brothers and sisters in arms when defending Israel, I’m sure there must be close to 250,000 Haredi Jewish men out of the world’s almost 2 million Haredim who could fight for Israel’s — and ultimately, the rest of Judean-Christian-based Western society’s — very existence! And any “we do not fight” Haredim having doubts should lock onto the fact that apart from Israel’s hundreds of millions of traditional Middle Eastern enemies, it faces the combined might of ever-tentacle-spreading, totalitarian Red China, despotic Putin-led Russia and third-generation-crazy-coot-led North Korea; all so very greatly aiding and abetting said hundreds of millions of traditional enemies of tiny Israel. Howard Hutchins

Asking too much

Milford, Pa.: Gov. Hochul wants to unpause congestion pricing. No surprise there. She’s now proposing a $9 fee instead of $15. That’s supposed to make people feel better? All this to fund the black hole, aka the MTA. The agency has already requested $63 billion for its capital plan — $63 billion? The mere request is the height of hubris. They shouldn’t get a dime of drivers’ money until the books are audited and we see where all that money is really going. The MTA wants more money? Raise the fare and stop fare-beating, then we’ll talk. Until then, not a cent! Robert K. Greco

Licensed liabilities

Staten Island: I have one question we could all agree upon: When is the NYPD going to start to patrol the city’s highways and pull over and ticket these reckless drivers? Along with insurance companies gouging consumers when it comes to insurance premiums, these are the clowns that also push the premiums higher. Enough is enough. Dennis Pascale