Opinion: Trump’s disgraceful speculation about a false-flag operation against Jewish centers

To the editor: President Trump’s reprehensible statement Tuesday blaming the epidemic of bomb threats against Jewish community centers and desecrations of Jewish cemeteries on a possible “reverse” (false flag) operation suggests that he cannot distinguish fact from fiction. (“More bomb threats at Jewish schools and community centers, and another Jewish cemetery is vandalized,” Feb. 27)

Presidential inaugural addresses often set the theme for a presidency. Thomas Jefferson, extolling American liberty, lauded “the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.” Abraham Lincoln, facing civil war, asked Americans to be guided by “the better angels of our nature.” Franklin D. Roosevelt, defying the Great Depression, insisted that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

Trump, by contrast, evoked “American carnage.” His improved tone in Tuesday night’s speech didn’t moderate the message.

Stephen A. Silver, San Francisco

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To the editor: The point is not that Trump is anti-Semitic. It is that he enables it, accepts it in his supporters and thus spreads it and other forms of bigotry.

Paul Malykont, Los Osos

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