Regarding the Nov. 18 online video report “‘Quiet, piggy.’ Trump insults reporter for Epstein question”:
On Nov. 14, President Donald Trump took questions on Air Force One. In a lull following a Trumpian weave, in which he encouraged the public to focus on Bill Clinton and Larry Summers, Catherine Lucey, who covers the White House for Bloomberg News, attempted a follow-up. Trump, clearly tired of the Epstein topic, barked, “Quiet, piggy.”
It’s easy to laugh at Trump, to hear him invent mangled nicknames like “Ron DeSanctimonious” and “George Slopadopoulos” and briefly think, how destructive could a silly man like this be? Those quips are part of his appeal. He is a successful politician because, in a sea of class presidents, he is the class clown.
But on Tuesday, I felt the same chill down my spine that I felt when I heard Trump on the “Access Hollywood” tape. I was 13. I didn’t understand how anyone could vote for a man who so vulgarly objectified women. Since 2016, I’ve tried to give Trump supporters grace. It does no one any favors to dismiss people based on who they vote for. Yet in moments like this, when my heart stops for a woman I’ve never met because she has been publicly humiliated just for trying to do her job, I’m reminded of how thoroughly Trump has normalized misogyny.
Funny nicknames and viral clips cannot erase decades of harassment, degradation and abuse. Until the United States reckons with this reality, we are living in a space where threats to women’s safety, dignity and humanity are not disqualifying but mere quirks.
Amelia Letson, Washington
On murder and martyrdom
The Nov. 19 editorial “‘Things happen’” and David Ignatius’s Nov. 20 Thursday Opinion column, “For a ‘future king’ in Washington, past and future each weigh heavily,” were righteous in their indignation over President Donald Trump making excuses for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who, the CIA has concluded, ordered the 2018 assassination of Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi. No one should be targeted for murder and chopped into pieces inside a diplomatic mission — an act that defies both law and conscience.
And yet, the world has spent years memorializing Khashoggi as a saint, ignoring the complexity of a man who spent most of his career defending the powers that would later destroy him. He was a loyal regime insider: friend and adviser to Saudi princes, media handler for Saudi intelligence and early supporter of the catastrophic Yemen war.
America’s seven-year ritual of turning Khashoggi into journalism’s untouchable icon — while quietly partnering with killers — is rank hypocrisy. His death became the perfect moral shield: big enough to signal virtue, small enough never to halt the arms sales or fist bumps.
Khashoggi wasn’t a villain. But the selective sainthood dishonors him and insults the countless forgotten victims.
Todd L. Pittinsky, Port Jefferson, New York
Breaking bread — and tradition
This year, let’s flip the script and make sure to discuss politics at Thanksgiving. If we can’t teach our children to have a respectful conversation about important and controversial topics, how can we expect Congress to do so? Set time limits, set rules, but don’t exclude difficult subjects. Civilizations crumble when respectful debate ends. Just some food for thought.
Bill Donellan, Rockville
Who Jeffrey Epstein was
The Nov. 15 editorial “Trump’s hoaxy-pokey on Epstein backfires again,” asked, “What did Epstein mean in 2011 when he wrote that Trump is ‘that dog that hasn’t barked’?” Jeffrey Epstein was making a reference to Arthur Conan Doyle’s short story “The Adventure of Silver Blaze.” A famous racehorse disappears, and the trainer is murdered. When Sherlock Holmes is informed that no one heard the watchdog barking during that night, he concludes that the murderer was not a stranger but someone the dog recognized. This explains why the dog didn’t bark. The implication of Epstein’s comment is that Donald Trump said nothing about the sexual assaults Epstein was committing because he already knew about them.
Paul Turner, Severna Park
The Nov. 15 editorial referred to Jeffrey Epstein as a “playboy financier.” That description seems more apt for Thurston Howell than for a child sex offender.
Judith Trott Guy, Saxe, Virginia
Drive-through inflation
A Nov. 14 news article reported that “White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that key inflation and jobs data for October will ‘likely never’ be released due to the government shutdown.” May I suggest an alternative inflation measure until we get some hard data? From time to time, I go to a McDonald’s drive-through in Rockville and order the same meal: a small hamburger, small Coke and small fries. The price since Donald Trump took office:
- March: $6.33
- August: $6.44
- November: $6.55
So in eight months, the price rose 22 cents. This amounts to an annualized inflation rate of 5.3 percent.
Unless the administration can show otherwise, I suggest we use my Hamburger Inflation Index (HII) in the interim.
Michael Nardolilli, Arlington
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