Letters: Toomey should heed his advice for Trump

ISSUE | CAMPAIGN 2016

Toomey should listen to voters

Sen. Pat Toomey's self-serving attempt to avoid collateral damage from Donald Trump's impending Republican presidential nomination consists of "listen more and talk less" ("Advice to Trump: Seek to unite and listen more," Sunday).

How well does Toomey follow his own advice? Two-thirds of Americans want the Senate to conduct confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, according to a March 25 CNN poll - but not Toomey. Three-quarters of Americans support increasing the minimum wage, according to a Hart Research Associates poll - but not Toomey. And 66 percent of Americans support raising corporate taxes, according to an April 2014 Gallup poll - but not Toomey.

Toomey's priorities are out of touch with ordinary people. Perhaps he'll finally get the message in November: Not Toomey.

|William Kavesh, Philadelphia

Two peas in a GOP pod

Sen. Pat Toomey asked voters to separate Donald Trump's positions from his own and wrote that Trump wasn't his "first, second, or third choice." Our senator clearly wants a divorce from the Donald, but it won't work. Toomey's party has embraced a buffoon, and his name will appear alongside Trump's on the November ballot. As such, Trump and Toomey are indelibly linked, like Abbott and Costello.

Pennsylvania is better than this. I want no part of a Trump-Toomey ticket.

|William Dunham, Bryn Mawr

President Trump

The headline "More GOP leaders abandon Trump" (Saturday) reflected the panic that has infected the media and a few of the elites in the Republican Party. Neither the Washington Post writers nor the handful of politicians quoted have the slightest clue what the majority of Republicans, most of whom have voted for Trump, are thinking. Virtually no one in the Republican base cares what former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush or Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina thinks - we rejected them when they were running for president.

The article called Trump's positions on Islam and immigration "extreme." Actually, they are realistic and designed to address a major problem rather than parrot the usual political correctness.

Some advice: President Trump - get used to it.

|Joe Bowers, Phoenixville

Uphill fight without leaders' backing

A veritable "who's who" of Republican leaders have rejected Donald Trump as the Republican presidential nominee, including former Presidents George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush, 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, and House Speaker Paul Ryan. If Trump can't get his party's leadership behind him, how can he be expected to win the presidency?

|Kenneth L. Zimmerman, Huntington Beach, Calif., kennethzim@aol.com

Trump needs Ryan in his corner

Donald Trump thinks that being presidential is as easy as slipping into one of his thousand-dollar suits. As in just about everything else, he's wrong.

In his first act as the presumptive GOP nominee, he decided to throw down with House Speaker Paul Ryan ("Ryan 'not ready' to back Trump," Friday). That was a mistake. Ryan is the heart, soul, and brains of the real GOP, not the Trumpified aberration. Ryan doesn't need Trump; Trump needs Ryan. Ryan has a substantive GOP agenda in his pocket; Trump's thousand-dollar pocket has lint.

|Kenneth M. Foti, Malvern

Media is unfair to the Donald

It's amazing how negative the reporting and editorials about Donald Trump have been compared to the reporting about Democatic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Like him or not, Trump has drawn more new voters than any other Republican. Can Clinton say the same about new Democratic voters?

The Republican Party narrowed its field from 17 to its presumptive nominee, while Clinton is still sparring with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Trump will fine-tune and define his platform if the media give him a fair chance. As for Clinton, we await word from the FBI and the Justice Department about their investigation of her private email server.

|Mike Woloshin, Medford