Editor’s note: A reminder to writers of letters to the editor — As has been the case for many election cycles, Oct. 19-20 marked the cutoff for our publication of political letters. That was meant to give us a two-weekend break before the general election. Political letters can resume with submission after the Nov. 6 edition.

However, due to an organizational error on our part, the following letter, which was submitted in time to beat the deadline, was not published on that weekend.

On my 18th birthday, I enlisted in the Navy. Perhaps I was a bit naive, but I believed in the right to live free, to think and read what you want, and say what you think was worth fighting and dying for. I’m an old man now — 84 years old, still feel the same, can’t do much, but I can speak out and I can vote.

I love this country dearly and have voted in every presidential election since I was 21 years old and consider this a sacred right.

I’m at a loss for words as to understand what is going on in America today. I think that in the greatest country in the world to have a man as the nominee for president in one of our two major political parties who has been convicted of sexual assault, who is a 34-times convicted felon, was impeached twice during his first term of office and is facing criminal charges on three or four more indictments is absolute insanity. His power worship of foreign dictators makes me want to vomit. Yes, I’m talking about Donald Trump. I could fill an entire page of this newspaper on things this man has done or said that proves he is unfit to be our president.

Most Americans should be exhausted after nine years of his incendiary rhetoric and lies. He has no filter between his brain and his mouth, if it is in his head it comes out of his mouth. Words mean something, especially when they reflect character.

But putting aside everything above, what bothers me the most about Trump is his contempt for Americans who serve in the military. And in case you may have forgotten, his denigration of war hero John McCain, his refusal to visit the graves of American soldiers in France because it was raining, refusal to be seen in the presence of military amputees because it didn’t look good for him and worst of all saying to his former chief of staff John Kelly, whose son was killed in Afghanistan, that they were “suckers and losers” for giving their lives for our country.

Apparently this doesn’t matter to millions of Americans, but it matters to me. I’ve told you everything you need to know why Kamala Harris will get my vote for president on Nov. 5.

Gary Cochran

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