I think columnist Don Roberts kind of misses the point (”Trump robbed of a fair chance,” Jan. 28). There are many Americans who do not want Trump to succeed in implementing the reactionary, right-wing, science-denying, post-literate agenda he has promised since the beginning days of his campaign.

Roberts uses numbers in an attempt to prove Trump won in a landslide and thus should be supported, but the numbers he avoids are these: Clinton received almost 3 million more votes than Trump, and barely 25 percent of eligible American voters chose Trump. Herein lies the vast human material that will fuel the Trump resistance.

Most Americans do not have the advantage Roberts enjoys with his regular allocation of editorial page space, and must look for other ways to voice their opinions and concerns. Those Americans know they have the right, even the civic obligation, to speak out. I am personally proud of the millions of patriotic Americans who have already gathered in the public square to express their concerns about the health, and even the survival, of our American republic.

Robert’s view that Trump’s “business acumen is unquestioned” is not universally shared. Trump is experienced in filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcies (six times, per The Washington Post), and he has bragged about not paying income taxes for many years.

It’s not clear how this leads Roberts to his starry eyed expectation that these behaviors promise good things for America. Nor is it clear why Roberts believes that unfettered capitalism will lead all to the promised land. merica has lived that life several times in her history, and it has not been pretty. We do not, “once and for all,” need to try it again. It might, indeed, prove to be “once and for all.”

Ralph Record

Wayne