America' is 'infected' with Trump once again
The patient — the United States — contracted COVID-19 — Donald Trump — because her immune system was weakened by polarizing politics, overconfident Democrats and parties headed toward the extremes rather than the middle.
The patient and party in power at the time, the Democrats, dismissed the symptoms and underestimated the significance of the infection — the viability of Trump's 2016 campaign — until it was too late and Trump was elected.
The vaccine — Joe Biden and Kamala Harris — many anticipated was developed and put in place solely to prevent subsequent infection , i.e., a Trump reelection. While relatively safe, it did have some serious side effects — inflation, illegal border crossings — and it wasn't as effective as promised since the vaccine uptake was lukewarm. As a result, the patient has been reinfected with Trump.
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If we're lucky, the patient developed herd immunity, and the infection will not be as bad as many anticipate, especially if Trump does what he said during his victory speech — serve all Americans and unify, not act like the vengeful, petulant child he's shown us to this point. However, the risk of long COVID — Supreme Court appointees, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reversing decades of health-related science, unqualified loyalists serving in Cabinet positions who will use the Constitution as toilet paper — lingers. Hopefully, the patient survives (and thrives) rather than succumbing to reinfection.
In all seriousness, I hope our politics move more toward the middle, become less polarizing, and our leaders act like leaders instead of making insults, name-calling and revenge the core of their being.
Rob DiDomenico, Lemont
Republicans should be ready to deliver
The political pundits should not waste our time with their overcomplicated postelection analysis. American voters, for the most part, voted their wallets and safety concerns.
I believe Maslow's hierarchy of needs is applicable to this recent election. Maslow's theory is that human needs can be represented by a pyramid, with each level from bottom to top representing a different distinct level of need.
Humans move through the levels based on actual or perceived needs. Most Americans are probably in the following levels:
Physiological needs: The most basic needs, such as food, water, shelter and sleep (inflation impact)
Safety needs: The need for security, stability and freedom from fear (street crime and/or uncontrolled immigration)
No one is willing to deal with other things until these levels are satisfied. Republicans should not overplay their hand. If these levels are not alleviated in the short term (less than 18 months), they will be out in the next midterms.
Warren Rodgers Jr., Orland Park
Feeling ill
Last week I was "nauseously optimistic" about Tuesday's election. Now I'm just nauseous.
Dan Lauber, River Forest
Glass ceiling remains intact
I was listening to my favorite morning radio show on Wednesday when the host read this social media post: "Stop telling your daughter that she could be president someday. She can't." Because 72.6 million of our fellow Americans would rather put a monster in the White House than a woman. I'm heartbroken.
Susan Lovell, DeKalb
Policies, not gender or race, sway my vote
Those who whine about Kamala Harris losing because she is a woman and person of color ignore the real causes for her defeat. I gladly would have voted for Nikki Haley, a woman of color, based on issues that had nothing to do with ethnicity or gender.
Mike Cook, Bourbonnais