Your editorial on religious tolerance (‘We Are a Nation Built on Religious Tolerance,” February 23, 2017) expresses outrage and your support of Trump’s statement; however, you completely failed to address the “elephant in the room.” We have suffered a spate of bomb threats against Jewish institutions and the desecration of two cemeteries (St. Louis and Philadelphia). Two Indian-American men were assassinated and wounded in a bar in Kansas. The central question is, what has changed in our national ethos in the past year that has allowed these demons to emerge from their subterranean depths and spread their venom? We have had our president state that he “would not be politically correct.” We have a presidential advisor who ran a platform for the “alt right.” Why were neo-Nazis gathered in DC compelled to raise their outstretched arms in the Nazi salute while joyously chanting “Heil Trump”? Does Bannon’s use of the phrases “globalist” and “corporate elite” ring true to those in the know with past terminology referring to the conspiracy of “cosmopolitans” and “elite bankers?” What does Trump’s use of Stalinesque language referring to the press as the “enemy of the people” portend? It is certain that the atmosphere created by our leaders and their language percolates throughout our society. Trump’s nourishing of extreme nationalism is now bearing fruit and his meager attempts to reverse this appear to be in vain and much too late. We are all compelled to unite to combat the fostering of intolerance in all its forms and by all of its supporters.

Earl Sandor

Teaneck