Readers share thoughts on Donald Trump, Black Lives Matter, editorial cartoon

Armstrong, Trump

Fifteen years ago, many Americans were fans of professional cyclist Lance Armstrong. He was brash. He was tough. He was driven. He was dominant. He won races.

Many people admired his accomplishments, even though there were rough edges and ugly questions of what really drove his success. Lance worked hard, but there were persistent questions of performance-enhancing drugs, until the truth finally caught up with him.

It is amazing how quickly Americans’ opinion turned against Lance Armstrong when they saw and understood what he truly was.

Today, many Americans are fans of Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump. He is brash. He talks tough. He is driven. He dominates the media and wins Republican primaries. Some people look to his wealth as an accomplishment.

But many question his rough edges and the realities of his proposals. Trump does work hard, but there are increasingly ugly undercurrents to his tone, his hyperbole and his bullying.

I wonder when the opinion of the American public will turn to realize that Donald Trump is a political, modern-day Lance Armstrong.

John Murphy

Belton

Black Lives Matter

It is a shame that Black Lives Matter is not an inherent value in black communities where black-on-black rapes, drug deals and homicides occur with no regard for those black lives, which seem not to matter day in and day out.

Just whites knowing and caring that Black Lives Matter is never going to solve the black community’s problem.

Maria Coughlin

Kansas City

Offensive cartoon

How dare you publish an editorial cartoon comparing presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to a Nazi (5-31, Commentary, “Off the Easel”). No matter your politics, this is extremely offensive.

Are you so desperate for content that you have to stoop to using Chan Lowe with the Tribune Content Agency?

Helen Bushman

Leawood

Legislators’ take

Enough is indeed enough. The front-page May 29 story, “Part-time work, full-time reward,” tells of the goings-on in Topeka. The whole Kansas elected state government is a disgrace.

Could any of the group defend what is going on?

Leo J. Sweeney

Overland Park

Candidate Trump

My desire is to have Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump spend three hours with a mental-health professional. My amateur diagnosis is that he has a borderline personality disorder.

It is impossible for him to apologize. This goes along with his projection of what he perceives as strength.

He’s dangerous as a candidate, not to mention as the next president. I don’t understand how so many people can support this behavior.

He avoids issues by changing the subject, then switching to his bravado mood.

What we need now is Katie Couric.

Connie Cowley

Raymore

KCI convenience

We recently returned from a two-week trip to Europe. We traveled through airports in Chicago, Dublin, Frankfort and Milan.

Malpensa Airport in Milan appeared to be the newest. It is spacious, with nice restaurants and shopping areas near the ticket counters. After we checked in and had supper, we headed for the security area. It was chaos.

There appeared to be 400 to 500 people trying to get through. All the lines were clogged. Passengers were frantically trying to make their flights.

After finally getting through that ordeal, we started on what turned out to be an extremely long walk to our departure gate. We passed through block after block of beautiful shops. The shops were lovely.

But we dearly missed the convenience of Kansas City International Airport.

Donald Brown

Liberty

Brownback’s plan

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is not reckless. He has not made mistakes. He is not ignoring the financial bloodbath.

Rather, he is actually cunning and has been able to pull off a stunning victory without people really paying attention. Brownback’s plan all along has been reductions in state services and educational payments.

As outlined in “Dark Money” by Jane Mayer, Brownback is following the path of a true libertarian masquerading as a Republican.

It’s an amazing, horrific, sad transformation of a state.

Anne Wagner