#Letters to the editor — Jan. 21, 2021

The Issue: Joe Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday as the 46th president of the United States.

After a tortuous four years under President Donald Trump, it’s a new day in America.

Our long national nightmare is over. Say what you will about President Biden, we can all agree that he is a fundamentally kind and decent man. We can also all agree Trump was not.

Biden, unlike Trump, would be the first to tell you that he’s not a perfect man, but arguably, he’s the perfect person for this fragile moment in our republic’s history.

If anyone is capable of uniting us and healing the searing wounds that have unraveled the fabric of our society, it is Biden.

He’s a uniter, let’s give him a fair chance to do so.

Ken Derow

Swarthmore, Pa.

Biden mentioned racism and white supremacy in his inauguration speech. I was waiting for a word or two about the Antifa and Black Lives Matter people. They torched cities, looted, assaulted and murdered Americans, occupied buildings and terrorized hundreds of thousands of citizens, but he never mentioned them.

Then I remembered he was hiding in his Delaware basement for all of 2020 and probably didn’t have the TV on. He missed seeing all the carnage and horrors that occurred on a daily basis.

Myron Hecker

New City

It will be fun to watch Trump’s persecutors in the White House press corps suddenly become Biden’s poodles.

Dennis Rhodes

Naples, Fla.

Like him or not, many of Trump’s achievements all but guaranteed him a second term. Then along came COVID-19.

The Biden campaign exploited the pandemic by convincing seniors and others that Trump’s “mishandling” of it caused many Americans to die and that, as president, Biden would handle it correctly.

The only problem is that President Biden’s policy on immigration is in conflict with his promise to handle the pandemic better.

Biden says “we will welcome immigrants in our communities” but makes no distinction between those who can legally enter our country and those who can’t.

Harold Netkin

Phoenix, Ariz.

I have been voting for 58 years, and I’ve never witnessed such vitriol. This transition of power is nothing to be proud of in any regard. The country remains bitterly divided.

Friends and families are more estranged than ever before. And the world from which we get our news is equally divided. There is, as they say, lots of blame to go around.

We are holding grudges against each other simply because we do not agree on the merits of one policy or another. Violence has replaced debate.

Phil Serpico, Queens

As one might expect, Trump’s “farewell” was all about Donald Trump. Lacking magnanimity to the end, he displayed zero grace, class and dignity. People can debate his policies and “accomplishments,” but there can be no doubt he is among the most abhorrent, vile figures in US history.

Trump did prove one thing: In today’s America, there is no limit to how far a master con artist can go.

M. Berkowitz

Philadelphia, Pa.

The substance of your editorial (“Biden Ditches ‘Unity,’ ” Editorial, Jan. 19) leads one to the conclusion that the new president and the Democrats are outright liars. Biden says he wants unity, but he doesn’t really want it.

His new administration has already proposed actions from Day 1 of his presidency that will result in greater disunity between the citizens of this nation and could lead to civil unrest greater than that forced on the previous administration.

Richard A. Ketay

Newark, NJ

If Biden is supposedly the most popular presidential candidate ever elected, then why did the Democratic Party have to use the presence of roughly 30,000 US troops to intimidate and frighten the good people of this country into accepting his presidency?

Bryan Carty

Jensen Beach, Fla.

Biden’s inauguration was wonderful to see. It was nothing but positive energy. No anger, no hatred, just good stuff.

Kreg Ramone

Manhattan