German Power … May be at it greatest height in power since WWII.

"Tear down that wall, Mr. Gorbachev," utters Ronald Regan. Thus, East Berlin and West Berlin make for a united Germany: A Germany that during WWII almost controlled the entire world with its weapons of mass destruction: V2 Rockets, Jet aircrafts and almost creating the Atomic bomb.

Then there is Great Britain: In 1917 the family renounces its German roots and George V renames it the "House of Windsor." In 1947 Elizabeth marries Prince Philip. He is a member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg. However, with the coming of the Second World War he abandons his titles before he marries.

And today we have Donald Trump:  His father "Friedrich Trumpf." His last place of residence is "Kallstadt," country of birth as "Germany." Later the name Trumpf becomes "Trump."

Thus, we have Germany, Great Britain and the United States with German leaders, shrewd with patience. It is German power at its best!

It is true there are similarities to the way Germans respond to Adolf Hitler as they do Donald Trump: Germany and its people were in great need of a leader to take them out of poverty, as many Americans are out of work. It is true many Americans chant similarities to a chant "Heil Hitler, Heil Hitler" shouting, "U.S.A., U.S.A." and sometimes Donald raises his arm similarly as Adolf Hitler does during WWII.

However, it is a long cry to call Donald Trump a "Fascist." To compare him to Adolf Hitler whom murdered millions of unarmed innocent Jews is insane. To compare him to Adolf Hitler whom is responsible for WWII saying, "WWI never ended" is also insane. Hitler is responsible for thousands of lives or millions murdered.

Let's give Donald Trump as President (as we gave Barrack Obama) a chance to prove if he is a Fascist or not before we condemn him. To me Barrack Obama is the worst President in my life time. He is inept, socially a divisive racist, with ill informed Moslem influence, who almost fundamentally changed America to a completely Socialist country.

Disclosure: I campaigned for Donald Trump, voted for him and believe in him. If he fails me then I am a "Deplorable" and I will have to live with the consequences. But Hillary Clinton as President, is a "NO BRAINIER" decision, with her many lies, with her shady dealings, with her many continuing policies of Barrack Obama.

Sincerely,

Larry Gary

Gibson, PA

The term "post-truth" has been named the Word of the Year by the Oxford English Dictionary.  I couldn't think of a more appropriate one, with fake news and conspiracy theories eclipsing fact.  Sadly, we are (ironically) living in a post-truth "reality".  For many people, truth is not what can be definitively established.  Truth is whatever I choose to believe, facts be damned.  Or to the more conniving, truth is whatever I can get enough people to actually believe.  "Enough" being defined as a critical mass that can make a difference, particularly in the area of character assassination.

But where's the morality in this?  During the recent election season, there were any number of people busy online spinning utter lies.  And the absurdity of these lies doesn't matter.  People will believe what they fancy.  ("Nobody fact-checks anymore", confessed one of the worst offenders.  Then Trump booster Nell Hughes conceded, "There's no such thing anymore as facts.")  One such absurdity was the claim that Hillary Clinton and John Podesta were running a child sex ring out of a pizzeria.  Really!  Then on December 4th, an outraged "moralist" named Edgar Welch, who chose to believe this, went from NC to the DC pizzeria and shot it up with his trusty AR-15.

It's all fun and games, until somebody gets hurt.

I can't help but notice that the practice of spinning outrageous lies is pretty much exclusively a right-wing phenomenon.  They've actually been at it for many years.  Recall how the Clinton haters invented all sorts of libelous nonsense about him, from wholesale trafficking in cocaine to a string of anonymous murders to impregnating a Black prostitute.  They even did a DNA test on the lad, which may be the last time the post-truthers bothered to fact-check anything.  (Maybe that's why they've stopped.)  But in 2016 the lies have reached a new level of psychosis and popularity.

And remember the W. Bush Administration's dismissal of reality itself.  "We create our own reality," said Karl Rove.  And Christie Todd Whitman, upon resigning from it, complained, "In meetings, I'd ask if there were any facts to support our case.  And for that, I was accused of disloyalty!"  Is it any surprise when Donald Trump can claim, utterly without evidence, that 3 million illegal aliens voted in the past election?

The Right Wing, who have created the new fake reality, are the people who are so famously obsessed with morality.  Amazing how they can overlook "Thou shalt not bear false witness", when issuing a criminal allegation, without any basis whatsoever is precisely that.  Right-wingers have chosen to place hate at the heart of their being, and it trumps every other consideration.  Especially morality.

Sincerely,

Stephen Van Eck

Rushville, PA