To the Editor:

In a failed attempt to defend Donald Trump, Mr. Van Eck’s recent letter is more of a distraction than a real defense of Trump. The American people do have reason to question Trump’s intelligence, ignorance, judgment, and morals as well as his policies.

Trump is unquestionably ignorant, or more gently, uninformed. He has repeatedly made statements that demonstrate that he lacks an understanding of the Constitution and history. Stating that Andrew Jackson was distressed by events unfolding more than a decade after his death displays ignorance. He compounded this by stating that no one had asked why the Civil War happened is another. Van Eck actually illustrates that ignorance by discussing speculation on the topic. The fact that Trump appears not to learn from his gaffes suggests a deficiency of intelligence — or a lack of introspection at best.

On the issue of morals, we have a self-described sexual predator. This is supported by about a dozen women who claim to have been groped by Trump. If that is not enough, contestants in Miss Teen competition complained that Trump had a tendency to walk into dressing rooms when they were undressed. Then there are the lawsuits won by individuals who claimed that Trump had defrauded them. These cases involved contractors as well as Trump University enrollees.

Now we find that Trump shared top-secret information with the Russians when we had not shared that information with allies. The information was so sensitive and secret that it was not even available to those with high-level clearance in our own government. The information apparently can be used to discover the source of the intelligence and may likely endanger our operatives and allies. This is one of the most serious lapses in judgment imaginable and is likely to jeopardize our ability to get intelligence information from other countries.

Regarding policies, Trump’s healthcare and budget proposals tend to benefit the super rich at the expense of the middle class. The upper 1 percent get a huge tax break paid for by denying healthcare to 24 million Americans. The budget tax cuts will enlarge the deficit and saddle subsequent generations with even greater debt. Then there are the executive orders that attack protection of the environment.

No matter how you cut it, Trump is a disaster for the middle class and the entire country. We are likely to see irreparable damage to the country compliments of Mr. Trump.

Norman Hoffmann

Waynesville