Letters

If you are a little along in years, like me, you should know that Donald Trump is not your friend.

This won’t take long. There are only two points, you know all about them already, and they should be totally convincing all by themselves.

The first point is the president’s abysmal, criminally negligent failure to do the job of a president in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. There’s no need to elaborate here; the willful ignorance of the facts, the childish assertions that “it will all go away,” and the baseless claims that we’re beating the world in our handling of the crisis are all too familiar and all too outrageous.

The connection, lest we forget, is that older people are much more likely than others to suffer and die from the virus — but that’s not Boy Donald’s problem, because Boy Donald never grew up.

The second point is Social Security, which Trump has had in his sights for a long time. One way or another, he has continually sought to diminish or destroy our retirement by undermining our pension system.

The current attack is part of Trump’s phony coronavirus aid package, the “payroll tax” part that would demolish Social Security by stopping the current payments, which fund our benefits now, just as we funded the benefits for our elders when we worked. He has signed an executive order suspending payments until year end and says he’ll eliminate them entirely if reelected. Bye-bye, Social Security.

So what it comes down to is that Donald Trump doesn’t care if you die from coronavirus — but if you should survive that, he’s perfectly happy to see you lose Social Security and starve, or live out your sunset years in poverty.

No, Donald Trump is not your friend. Or mine.

Fortunately, the solution is even easier to state than the problem: Vote the scoundrel out! Joe Biden has shown he’ll make a great president. That vote is a double win — you get Biden and you get rid of Trump. What could be better?

Early voting starts on October 24, and absentee ballots will be provided to those who choose not to go to the polls for fear of infection. You don’t have to be sick; just apply and check “temporary illness” on the absentee ballot application.

However you do it, stand up and vote.

George Lynch

Quiogue

Mr. Lynch is treasurer of the Southampton Town Democratic Committee — Ed.