One of last week’s letters began with, “Another devastating week for Democracy!” Actually, America is a republic, governed by the Constitution, but we’ll defer that for now.

The letter proceeded to excoriate President Trump (and, by association, his supporters) with accusations, name-calling, and faulty assertions. Letters to the editor are a means of expressing one’s opinion. I’ll take that opportunity to express my opinion on a few points.

As is the case with many of those with successful business careers, President Trump is capable of multi-tasking. Issuing a pardon for Sheriff Joe (after what many consider was in large part a politically-motivated prosecution for doing his job enforcing federal law) on the eve of a hurricane did not hinder the administration’s response to the hurricane. Objective reports from Texas and Louisiana support the idea that local, state, federal and private disaster relief has been delivered very efficiently and effectively, despite the massive scope of the damage.

I attended the Trump rally on Aug. 22, so I have direct knowledge of its content. Much of the mainstream media characterization of Charlottesville and of the president’s response to it failed to acknowledge objective video evidence which showed ANTIFA protesters were also a source of violence in Charlottesville. At the Phoenix rally, President Trump reiterated his comments and “called out” the media for its edited (and to many objective observers, biased) reporting.

The media is free to “speak.” Does the president not have that same right and responsibility?

Lastly, the letter describes the president as “divisive” and “vengeful.” I heard nothing of the sort in the president’s remarks, yet I do recall the curious absence of media outcry on several occasions when our past president made comments which quite objectively denigrated police and others with whom he disagreed. Double standard, anyone?