Letters | Trump’s skewed world view revealed once again, this time on US currency
As with every other Barack Obama initiative, US President Donald Trump has made it a point to delay or stop this from happening. He has called it an act of political correctness and suggested that her image should be on a US$2 bill instead. (The US$2 bill has not been removed from circulation, but the Federal Reserve System does not request the printing of that denomination as often as it does the others.)
Now, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has announced that he is focused solely on the security features of the currency revamp and that what the currency would look like would be left for a successor. In his words: “It’s not a decision that is likely to come until way past my term”. By that, he meant 2026 or even as late as 2028.
Surprising or not, I still think the president’s attitude towards one of the most courageous and influential freedom fighters in our country’s history should be called out for what it is. Trump is not pushing back against political correctness, defending the reputation of a US war hero, or safeguarding our nation’s currency. The president is, put simply, expressing and enacting an overtly racist agenda.
George Cassidy Payne, Rochester, NY
Trump more at home with world view of colonial Britain
If one undertook a guided tour of Shanghai today, one would hear that in the 1920s the height of the tallest building in Shanghai was practically decided in London. A sign on the bridge to the British enclave said “no dogs, no Chinese”.
But 2020 is not 1920. No Chinese-US trade agreements which echo and repeat previous Chinese humiliation will or should occur. The US is not colonial Britain and China is not a third-rate country but a world power.
Everyone in the world knows this but Donald Trump. He is more at home with the world view of colonial Britain than the world of the 21st century.
Dr Sidney Weissman, Chicago