I believe that character, competence, discipline and stability are important requisites for the presidency of the United States. These transcend political beliefs. By these measures Donald Trump is not qualified to be president. He is simply unable to get beyond his own ego and narcissism.
He has little curiosity and has admitted that he does little to no reading. He does not have the patience to learn about the complexities of governing, believing that his gut instincts will be adequate for the job, no matter how difficult the problem. Simple answers to complex problems is not a sound leadership attribute and ultimately can lead to disastrous results.
He was elected by people who feel left behind, and in many respects their grievances are legitimate. He was also elected by people who feel the nation has been moving too far to the left, and there are some legitimate arguments for that view. However, they did not understand nor take into consideration the basic character of the man. He often displays a deep ignorance of how our system works and, more importantly, an ignorance of the shared values of our society. And his erratic behavior is creating, almost daily, large amounts of anxiety within the nation and around the world.
However, for his supporters to change their strongly held belief in him would be pretty tough. It is now known that for nearly everyone the ability to accept contrary information about a strongly held belief most often results in the strengthening of that belief. The reason is that to admit to error is pretty hard for anyone to do.
PAUL BIDWELL
New London