To the editor:

I would like to take this opportunity to respond to the outrageous letter written by Peter Pfluger of North Fort Myers published in the July 15 edition of the “Neighbor.”

Of course Mr. Pfluger lives in the USA and despite the many “lefty” attacks on free speech, he is still lucky enough to have the right to freely express his opinions, because that is his constitutional right.

Mr. Trump actually made in three years more good progress to Make America Great Again than Mr. Obama did in eight years.

The healthcare system in the USA is the best there is despite Mr. Obama’s failed effort to socialize it. I have lived and been part of the healthcare systems in Canada, France, UK, Hungary, and Norway. I will take the USA any day of the week.

As for foreign policy it is not true that the USA has been alienated from world leaders. To the contrary, we have made great progress in righting so many wrongs the list is too long to mention but NATO, the UN and the WHO are some examples. Many of the leaders who you claim are alienated are not, but for sure they are dismayed and frustrated that they cannot any longer count on the USA to keep paying what they should be paying for!

A good part of the wall has been built despite the House that is Democratically controlled and refused to provide funds to pay for the wall. And Mexico is paying with increased security measures that they should have done years ago, and with the renegotiated NAFTA trade agreement.

As for draining the Washington swamp, Mr. Pfluger is right; Mr. Trump is working very hard but it’s not a job that can be done with a magic wand. The swamp grew over many decades and bureaucrats are thrashing as the swamp is draining, trying to protect what they think is their right while forgetting they work for the people and not for themselves.

Turning now to the Middle East. We had about 65,000 troops in the Middle East on January 2017 and we have about 60,000 now. This includes Afghanistan. President Trump never ever promised to pull out all troops from the Middle East. With the clear threat of Iran, that notion would be incomprehensible. However we did now sign a peace agreement with the Taliban this January and if they keep their commitments the number of troops in Afghanistan will be down from the current level of about 8,500.

As for COVID-19 and Mr. Trump’s “disaster, slow and sloppy leadership” the death rate in the USA as of today due to COVIT-19 is 430 people per million. That is lower than Chile, Spain, UK, Italy, France, Sweden and Belgium where the average is 593 per million representing 281 million people (we have 331 million). I don’t think that the leaders in these countries where the death rate is much higher, would like to classify their response as a disaster, slow and sloppy!

Regarding “annoying and pathetic” commercials, I agree with you that I must be brainwashed, weak and un-intelligent but than again I, along with many other Americans who got President Trump elected in 2016 have been called worse like a “basket of Deplorables”

I won’t go into the letter writer’s analysis of living in “Lee County” and having Jefferson and Washington as our President’s being symbols of racism “plain and simple.” The US is the most diverse, the most advanced and racially best integrated country the world has ever seen. Are we perfect? No.

Comparing Mr. Trump to Hitler and twisting the word “defund” is not worth a response.

I think the American people will re-elect Mr. Trump in a landslide.

The constant criticism, the daily mental abuse being dished out by the Left makes Mr. Trump a super human hero in my eyes, and it is beyond my understanding how he can take all this and still work practically 24/7 to advance the case of America and keep it away from allowing us to slip into socialism.

Just think of “Russian/Trump collusion,” think about Ukraine, think about the wasted energy to remove him from office by the failed impeachment proceedings, think about the circus around the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Neil Kavanaugh. I don’t think the left has a chance of preventing our President Trump a second term. The Left has dug its own grave.

Tom Krieser

North Fort Myers