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GregStevens,Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIALBOARD How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@ redbluffdailynews.com Fax: 530-527-9251 Mail to: P.O. Box 220, 728Main St., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS Everyone knows I'm not a Trump supporter. He's personally embarrassing. He has embarrassed the Republican Party. He has embarrassed the country. He's right about many things. And he did much better at the second debate. But it doesn't matter. Unless there's a miracle, he's going to lose to Hillary. He's going to be defeated by the weakest, most unlikable, least trustable candidate the Democrats have nominated since, well, her husband. It's notjustHillarywe'llbe stuck with for four years, by the way. It'll be a two-fur. We'll also get four more years of her dirty old man, Bill, who singlehandedly did more to debase and embar- rass the office of president than anyone. America is already in big trouble. I'm 71 and I won't live to see it, but it's going to get worse before it gets better. It really makes me sad to think about what's happen- ing to the country, or why. Most young people — the millennial voters everyone's trying to please — don't have a clue what's going wrong now because they don't know anything about history. They don't know how America got to be great, or how much better off they are than their parents or grand- parents — or why. They don't know where their great country came from, or who built it, or why immigrants came here, or why the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. For them, American history started with the iPhone, Barack Obama and Bernie Sanders promise of free college. I was talking to my 38-year-old son the other day. He's got a 9-month-old daughter and he's worried about her future. So am I. What kind of country is she going to find after four or — God forbid — eight years of a Clinton co-presidency? Everyone who reads this col- umn knows how I feel about Donald Trump. Trump knows how I feel about Trump. My father in heaven knows. I'm embarrassed. My father would be embarrassed. My mother would be em- barrassed. My stepmother would be embarrassed. And rightly so. Trump is no conservative, no Republican, no gentleman, no policy wonk, no answer to America's prayers or needs — at home or overseas. Trump is Trump, and al- ways will be. He has been as embarrassing as he is now since the day he started to run. The purists on talk ra- dio and in the conservative movement, and the GOP es- tablishment— the chickens who let Trump steal their party instead of their ideas — are jumping ship like rats. Trump isn't perfect as a human being or a Republican and never will be. But I'm willing to be em- barrassed by him for four years if that's what it takes to stop Hillary. America can't afford to have her in charge for one hour. Her bad economic ideas, her dishonesty, her corrupt politics, her slimy friends, her Supreme Court choices and her phony family's fam- ily values will start us down a path that will lead to the destruction of the American way of life. That scary thought far out- weighs any concern — and embarrassment — I'd have voting for Donald Trump. MichaelReaganisthesonof President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant, and the author of "The New Reagan Revolution" (St. Martin's Press). Send comments to Reagan@ caglecartoons.com. Follow @ reaganworld on Twitter. Michael Reagan Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump; evil vs. embarrassment Cartoonist's take Donald Trump's misogy- nist tapes have surfaced result- ing in the desertion of a size- able amount of his GOP support- ers. Therefore it may be difficult for some folks, our local Tues- day columnist for example, to have time early this week to collect his thoughts and rearrange his priorities. He did have time this week to challenge my assertion that Trump's tax exemptions were in conflict with his duty as a citizen, let alone as a potential President. Don asserts that any prudent businessman will avail himself of such exemptions. True, but does not the magni- tude of Trump's deductions, in view of his multiple bankrupt- cies, suggest his hanky-panky with the tax code? In any event, I offer the Tues- day columnist a little space at the end of this, my Friday col- umn, to pontificate on the of- fensive nature of his candidate of choice. It should not be diffi- cult for the otherwise reflective and sober conservative Mr. Pol- son to acknowledge that Donald Trump is an oaf, pure and sim- ple, and that the man would be a disaster as a formulator of pol- icy for our country. But if he is willing to find sanity in Trump's madness, he may be my guest. As an illustration of his oaf- ishness, television viewers were offered the spectacle of Trump trotting out several women, prior to the second debate, for inspection by the audience. They were allegedly abused by former President Bill Clinton. The reason for the display is un- certain. It might have been to underline the concept that, be- cause of bad behavior by males in high office, it is time for a fe- male President. More likely it was Trump's method of saying, "You see? All of us famous mar- ried guys hit on women." ••• Speaking of the candidate, the New Yorker issue of Sep- tember 26 by Evan Osnos ti- tled "President Trump…What Would He Do?" speculates on his obtaining his ultimate goal, and concludes, "Trump has en- couraged supporters to regard him as a work in progress. 'Ev- erything is negotiable' he says, and the ambiguity has ush- ered him to the threshold of power. In the candidates' book 'Trump: Think Like a Billion- aire' he included a quote from Richard Conniff: 'Successful alpha personalities display a single-minded determination to impose their vision on the world, an irrational belief in unreasonable goals, bordering, at times on lunacy.' Trump's vi- sion, even his 'irrational be- lief in unreasonable goals' was never a charade. His victory would not be a failure of imag- ination but, rather, a retreat to it…the magical thought that his Presidency would be some- thing other than the campaign that created it." ••• Sightem: There is a Trump/ Pence campaign sign appropri- ately on the Republican head- quarters building on the corner of Main and Pine, but to see one such sign in a planter a block away sets off an alarm. Doesn't the perpetrator know that this toxic sign might kill the shrub in the planter? Or perhaps burst into flame like a faulty battery in an Samsung Note 7? ••• Thomas Merton wrote, "By reading the scriptures I am so renewed that all nature seems renewed around me. The sky seems to be a pure cooler blue, the trees a deeper green. The whole world is charged with the glory of God and I feel fire and music under my feet." However, another writer puts it differently: "Man is a reli- gious animal. He is the only re- ligious animal. He is the only animal that has the True Re- ligion…several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his theology isn't straight. He has made a grave- yard of the globe in trying his best to smooth his brother's path to happiness and heaven." This writer being Mark Twain. ••• When the Giants-Cubs base- ball game ended Tuesday eve- ning, I thought of Rhett But- ler's famous and final remark in "Gone With the Wind." By evoking that classic line, the missus and I agreed that we had enjoyed the efforts of the Giants to salvage a disappoint- ing season, but the game had held our attention a bit too long and it was time to get back to recorded installments of Mas- terpiece Theatre and other dra- matic stuff on the telly. We shall now wait for spring training which will hopefully notify us that the Giants have secured a closer. We were somehow de- nied this nicety in the Giants recent season. You noticed? As a side bar to the game, I hear manager Bruce Bo- chy respond to questions with, "Yeah…well…." However, KNBR commentator Mike Krukow re- sponds with simply "Well." It is necessary to note these lit- tle distinctions. Of course ei- ther response is better than the standard "Ya know." Far better. ••• Plans for the new Tehama County Library indicate space in the south west corner desig- nated "future achieves." How- ever, investigation has revealed there are no funds currently for this much needed repository for old photos, film and documents that tie the present with the past of our fair city and fair county. Recent discussions have proven to be beneficial. All it will take to outfit said space with lighting, painting and carpeting plus ma- chines for display of said mate- rial reduced to CDs, DVDs and other methods of preservation already in the works, is money. If all goes well, studies will indi- cate what sums will be needed, and a fund drive will be set up to bring this project to fruition. ••• In Texas there is a town called New Braunfels, where there is a large German-speak- ing population. One day, a local rancher driv- ing down a country road no- ticed a man using his hand to drink water from the rancher's stock pond. The rancher rolled down the window and shouted: "Hallo! Nicht das Wasser trinken. Die Kühe haben geschissen darin." Which means: "Hey! Don't drink the water. The cows have been pooping in it." The man shouted back: "I'm from New York and just down here campaigning for Donald Trump. I can't understand you. Please speak in English." The rancher replied: "Use both hands." Robert Minch is a lifelong resident of Red Bluff, former columnist for the Corning Daily Observer and Meat Industry magazine and author of the "The Knocking Pen." He can be reached at rminchandmurray@ hotmail.com. I say Further evidence of Trump's oafishness Sounding off A look at what readers are saying in comments on our website and on social media. For the last 25years, the Republicans have thrown as many false accusations at the Clinton's as possible. Nothing has ever risen to the place of guilty. No charges, just frenzied attempts to destroy. Pat Johnston: On Don Polson's column: Camping over — the contest starts I don't know what pack of Neanderthal men Les Wolfe is referring to but all the men I know le that kind of disrespectful speech regarding women on the locker room floor in about the 7th grade. I have no idea whether Mr. Macho Wolfe is married or not, but I feel extremely sorry for his wife, and daughters if he has any. Randy Bettis: On Wolfe's defense of Trump's comments about unwanted sexual advances Robert Minch StateandNational Assemblyman James Galla- gher, 2060 Talbert Drive, Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 895-4217, http://ad03.asmrc.org/ Senator Jim Nielsen, 2634 Forest Ave., Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 879-7424, senator. nielsen@senate.ca.gov Governor Jerry Brown, State Capital Building, Sacramento 95814, 916 445-2841, fax 916 558-3160, governor@governor. ca.gov U.S. Representative Doug La- Malfa, 507 Cannon House Of- fice Building, Washington D.C. 20515, 202 225-3076 U.S. Senator Dianne Fein- stein, One Post St., Ste. 2450, San Francisco 94104, 415 393- 0707, fax 415 393-0710 U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, 1700 Montgomery St., San Fran- cisco 94111, 510 286-8537, fax 202 224-0454 Local Tehama County Supervisors, 527-4655 District 1, Steve Chamblin, Ext. 3015 District 2, Candy Carlson, Ext. 3014 District 3, Dennis Garton, Ext. 3017 District 4, Bob Williams, Ext. 3018 District 5, Burt Bundy, Ext. 3016 Red Bluff City Manager, Rich- ard Crabtree, 527-2605, Ext. 3061 Corning City Manager, Kristina Miller, 824-7033 Your officials Her bad economic ideas, her dishonesty, her corrupt politics, her slimy friends, her Supreme Court choices and her phony family's family values will start us down a path that will lead to the destruction of the American way of life. That scary thought far outweighs any concern and embarrassment I'd have voting for Donald Trump. OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, October 14, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6