I was profoundly disappointed in the Tribune Editorial Board’s endorsement of Joe Biden over President Donald Trump. Like the board, I wish Trump would not “punch down” and get personal with people. It is beneath the dignity of the office. However, the strengths of Trump comes at a time that makes this election more important than most. China is on the rise, and if you analyze their behaviors and look at them in aggregate, you get a sobering picture. China is putting people in camps. It is making territorial demands on its neighbors. It is expanding its military capabilities. Then of course, there are the issues with trade and economic ethics.
The next administration must not blink in foreign policy. We must not make “let’s be friends” gestures or offer “reset buttons” that might be construed as weakness and lack of will. The foreign policy of Barack Obama and Biden enabled the return of Russia and China to aggressor nations. A blink by a President Biden could result in the military occupation of Taiwan and the loss of freedom to millions of people. The downstream impacts of such a catastrophe with Southeast Asian countries and Australia are scary to contemplate. Trump is not going to blink. Biden-Obama blinked over and over during their time in office.
— William Bloom, Le Claire, Iowa
Toothless criticism of president
My husband threw down the Sunday paper in disgust after reading the Tribune Editorial Board’s endorsement page — not because the board endorsed Joe Biden (“Our case for Joe Biden over Donald Trump”), but because the board ran it as a small afterthought under its endorsement of Patrick O’Brien (“Pat O’Brien for Cook County state’s attorney”). While the state’s attorney race is very important to Cook County, the presidential race is a battle to regain the America we ought to be, of far more import than a local fight.
I was more disgusted by its content. The board’s argument for Biden was essentially that he has nicer manners. The only time it mentioned COVID-19 was to talk about how great the unemployment numbers were before the virus killed over 200,000 Americans — due to Trump’s lies, mismanagement, and mockery of science and precautions. Then again, the editorial board also endorsed Libertarian Gary Johnson in 2016 for president, dismissing Hillary Clinton’s candidacy due to “serious questions about honesty and trust.” Why did the board have no interest in these topics when writing an endorsement against the incumbent this year?
— Kelly M. Ercoli, Downers Grove
Endorsement renews faith
At least I don’t have to be embarrassed about the editorial board skirting the issue again when it comes to an endorsement, because we are at a very serious crossroads in our country, and after having devoted 20 years of my life to working at the Tribune, I don’t want to be embarrassed again.
I want to believe all those quotations I read every morning as I entered the halls of Tribune Tower.
I want to know those truths that were embedded in my work ethic stood for something real. I want to know that my country will survive the hypocrisy of this administration and return to the just democracy I was always part of.
Thank you, Tribune Editorial Board. You have restored my faith.
— Judie Anderson, Chicago
Americans need a decisive leader
I have never felt compelled to respond to an editorial, but this one was special. In the editorial board’s endorsement of Joe Biden, it did not mention one thing that Biden stood for. It explained all of the great things President Donald Trump has accomplished without pointing out one policy change that Biden has suggested that the board felt would improve our country.
Instead, we read what a nice guy Biden is and that he will not be divisive. The board said Trump did not act to heal the country as the media were helping to tear it apart. If we have learned at all from the past, we need leaders who are not afraid to make decisions in the face of adversity.
As Winston Churchill said, “One man with conviction will overwhelm a hundred who have only opinions.” I do not necessarily think Trump has handled communication with the humility we would all like to hear. But he is the best man for the job between these two choices.
— Douglas Palmer, Yorkville, Illinois
Genial personality not enough
“Our case for Joe Biden” set out some very good points. The editorial board correctly noted the achievements of the current president while noting his destructive personality. It identified Biden as a “unifying figure.” Fine. But the board didn’t state any plans Biden has for the nation. Serious omission, it seems to me. There is more to being president than being genial.
— Dianne Kinzer, Springfield
Pandemic response cost many lives
The editorial board’s endorsement of Joe Biden was disappointing. It mentioned Trump’s accomplishments, followed by some of his minor failings, but neglected to mention his biggest failure: taking the COVID-19 pandemic seriously until it began spreading on the West Coast and across the country. Then he pushed fake cures and said it would magically go away, always trying to appease his base and mocking people who wear masks. The list is long of his failures, including fulfilling his constitutional duties as president of the United States.
— Barbara Blades, Evanston
List of damage runs long
I am pleased to see the editorial board’s Joe Biden endorsement, but it seriously downplayed Donald Trump’s damage by merely emphasizing his juvenile tweets, boorish behavior and partisan, divisive behavior. He inherited an economy already in recovery because of Obama administration actions after the last Republicans drove us off a cliff. All he did is not screw up what was already underway. His tax cuts largely benefited the wealthy and exploded the deficit, usually a big concern of Republicans and the Tribune Editorial Board when Democrats are in power.
Regulations should be regularly reviewed and changed as facts dictate, but this administration has basically abandoned any environmental concerns. The board says nothing of how his insulting and denigrating our allies while being friendly and “falling in love” with dictators has diminished our standing in the world while abandoning the leadership position we have held since World War II. He regularly promotes conspiracy theories and refuses to condemn groups like QAnon because he hears they like him.
He will not condemn heavily armed right-wing self-proclaimed militias while raging on about antifa. Most egregiously, he utterly failed to provide leadership to control the COVID-19 pandemic and is responsible for many of the 200,000 deaths we have suffered.
These are just a few of the serious issues that should be highlighted to deny an incompetent and dangerous wannabe dictator a second term.
— Douglas Nyhus, Frankfort
Argument for Biden not compelling
You have got to be kidding me! The Tribune Editorial Board endorses Joe Biden for president of the United States because the opposing candidate is petulant. According to the dictionary, that means his opponent is unreasonably irritable or ill-tempered. In all my years of reading the Tribune’s editorial endorsements, I have never read one as weak as this.
The board tells me that Biden’s selling point is that he is a common-sense man of decency. Nothing about policies or past accomplishments, nothing about what he would do differently during his tenure to lead this country. Just simply he is a more decent man.
The board mentions in its editorial President’s Donald Trump’s accomplishments, namely his approach to the economy resulting in the lowest unemployment rate in decades and his advancement of regulatory rollbacks, all of which were necessary because of the policies that Biden was a participant to by being a member of the previous administration, which so badly handled our economy.
Give me an ill-tempered president any day who can set forth policies that lifted wages for all and reduced inequality over the Biden policies that put income redistribution first that led to slow growth and greater inequality. That stood up to China and brought factories home, that induced European allies to pay their fair share of defense, that restored funds to Black colleges, and his new law, which allowed thousands of nonviolent offenders to gain early release from prison.
I’ll take those accomplishments any day over a candidate of whom the best that can be said is that he is a decent man.
— Michael Harrington, Elmhurst
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