I read in your Nov. 16 edition, the “Divided We Stand, Divided We Fall” editorial page submission by a very youthful Joseph Catrone, and couldn’t help but wonder how this “self-proclaimed rational thinker” concluded that anyone who voted for Donald Trump, did so with the “basest and most reprehensible emotions of white America.” 
As one of those reprehensible voters I’d like to respond to this young man’s concerns, and more directly to his core beliefs that anyone who voted for Trump is inherently a “racist, sexist, homophobic and xenophobic.”
Mr. Catrone, first let me tell you that many of us who chose to vote for Trump did so in part as a result of the actions and character flaws we’ve come to learn about your “most qualified candidate in history,” Hillary Clinton. She has a very long list of indiscretions that in almost every case has led to some form of official investigation, from Whitewater to the most recent missing and deleted State Department emails on her private server. Character does matter, and you believed, “both candidates were equally flawed.” Many of us “older Americans” know firsthand the actual character flaws Hillary Clinton has displayed over her long political history. You never mentioned a single one of hers in your article, perhaps because of your youth, but you were resplendent with all of the things you see as wrong with Trump. You never once mentioned Hillary’s inability to tell the truth and lying to the families of the four Americans murdered in Benghazi, telling them that a video caused their deaths—and not a terrorist act. If she lied to America and the families of four murdered Americans about Benghazi, how then could anyone trust her to tell the truth about anything? Your own words were right on point about her failures to tell the truth when you ended your article with “saying anything necessary to get elected. You know—like a politician would.” I know you were referring to Trump but those words are precisely what Hillary did, and these are facts, Mr. Catrone, not beliefs like those you shared in your article.
Trump voters are not inherently racist as you seemingly believe. If that were the case how did Obama get elected? Mr. Catrone, let me assure you that I am not a racist, sexist, homophobic nor xenophobic, and your insinuation that any Trump voter is, is just deplorable. Yes, I said deplorable.
Despite your belief that Hillary Clinton had an “infallible right to the oval office,” she was not the right Democratic candidate for that office. You were also right to say that the her campaign was based on bashing her opponent and not on the issues that Americans wanted to hear about from their candidates. Yet you did exactly that in your article by labeling Trump voters with name calling and insulting rationalizations like racist.
Clearly your candidate of choice lost this election. How that happened is simple, it’s called the Electoral College. This process allows all 50 states equal input into who will lead this nation. It’s inclusive so that everyone’s vote counts. That was the rational thinking of our Founding Fathers and it has been working for more than two centuries.
So to you and those millennials who received participation trophies and never learned that there are winners and losers, welcome to the real world where many of us voters pay taxes, rent, mortgages, and work hard to make ends meet to raise a family here on Long Island. We voted for a new direction, and can only hope it is better than it’s been for the past eight years.
I hope I’ve helped answer your question of “how could something like this happen?” God Bless America.
—Kevin D. Hassett
