LETTER: Taking Donald Trump seriously

I was taken aback by the following line in your July 31 editorial regarding the president’s suggestion that the November election be postponed. You write that “it’s hard to know whether to take this fusillade seriously or whether to treat it as just another effort by the man in the Oval Office to troll the gullible Resistance.”

This moderate conservative and former Republican would like to know where you draw the line between trying to get into the president’s head to determine if he should be taken seriously and risking being labeled as laughably “gullible” simply for taking him at his word? And when did your editorial board decide to condone, even mirthfully embrace, the notion of a U.S. president routinely trolling, baiting or otherwise toying with the American public?

While President Donald Trump is known to be a habitual liar, if we aren’t ever to believe he has any serious intentions, are we to just ignore his many rants, assertions and threats? Even as we witness him and his enablers often following through — or attempting to — with increasing boldness, chipping away at this country’s rule of law and undermining the Constitution?

To be sure, Mr. Trump is not a serious president. But to not take him seriously is at this country’s peril.