A Republican Governor’s Plea to Stop the Personal Attacks

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Credit…Thalassa Raasch for The New York Times

To the Editor:

Re “My Fellow Republicans, Stop the Trash Talk,” by Christopher T. Sununu, the governor of New Hampshire (Opinion guest essay, Aug. 2):

I agree with Mr. Sununu’s point that personal attacks should have no place in American politics. However, his party has been employing these tactics for much longer, and much more effectively, than Democrats have over the last few decades.

I also agree that voters want to hear about real policy solutions to the serious problems that face the country. But those discussions need to happen in real (and realistic) policy terms.

Whenever I hear Donald Trump talk about solutions, it seems very unserious and unproductive. Something along the lines of, “When I’m president interest rates will be zero, inflation will be zero, the number of immigrants crossing the border will be zero,” etc. Those sound like solutions that might appeal to voters, but obviously completely detached from reality and devoid of any specific policy prescriptions.

I would love to see our political discourse revolve around serious discussion about public policy. Unfortunately, I don’t see that happening any time soon.

Michael J. Hogan
Fort Collins, Colo.
The writer is an associate professor of sociology at Colorado State University.

To the Editor:

I’m a lifelong progressive who grew up in New Hampshire. I find many conservatives’ priorities and policies misguided and worse. Yet I can understand that many working people feel that progressive policies have done nothing for them, that things are going in the wrong direction, and that another Democratic administration would make things worse. I can even understand and appreciate conservative elites’ views that are sometimes diametrically opposed to mine.