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Sen. Ayotte should renounce support for Donald Trump and his policies

To the Editor:

At what point will Sen. Kelly Ayotte renounce her support of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Mr. Donald Trump? She has stated that she supports him but that she does not ‘endorse’ him. I think that there are many of her constituents, just like me who are having trouble understanding the difference.

I would find it helpful if she could simply answer yes or no as to whether or not she supports the following positions Mr. Trump has announced:

? That it is okay to pay women less than men for the same work as his campaign has reportedly done. (Boston Globe article June 2016)

? That it is okay to increase the number of countries that possess nuclear weapons as when he said that maybe Japan and Korea should develop a nuclear capacity. (Interview with Fox News April 2016)

? That our country should deport all illegal immigrants estimated at 12 million and build a wall across the entire southern border without answering some basic questions such as how these people will be identified and deported with what legal process, how families with legal children will be handled, and how the costs will be paid.

? That judges who have an ethnicity that is different from Mr. Trump can’t be impartial or able to participate in legal proceedings.

? That reporters who disagree with his positions or question the accuracy of his statements are ‘slime’ or ‘dishonest’, should be barred from press conferences, or prevented from doing their job. This happened to multiple reporters from many news organizations after writing articles questioning Mr. Trump’s veracity or stories about his campaign that he didn’t like.

? That when confronted with past statements that differ from current statements it is okay to just deny you said what you said even in the face of actual documentation. Examples would be Mr. Trump’s many statements about his opposition to the invasion of Iraq which he was on record of supporting or his opposition to engaging in Libya to remove Muammar Ghaddafi which he is also on record of supporting at the time.

Does Sen. Ayotte support these policies of Mr. Trump? Do these policies represent her values and will she support legislation to pay for them as our Senator? This is what I need to know as she runs for reelection.

Simply making a statement that Mr. Trump should ‘take back’ what he said after he has said it doesn’t change what he really thinks. When will she say if she agrees or doesn’t agree with him on these policies? And if she doesn’t agree then how can she support him for the position of President of our country? I hope that she admits that Mr. Trump does not represent New Hampshire’s values and she will not support him as a candidate for President.

Richard B Friedman, MD

Bedford