Editor, Times-Union:
If you are a potential Trump voter, justifiably angry at being left behind economically and socially in an America that is no longer great for you, and if you haven’t already decided that God has anointed Trump to be the next president, I urge you to consider the potential for a Trump win to lead to shredding of American values we take for granted and to diminish peace and tranquility at home and abroad.  
Trump has emboldened the KKK by refusing to repudiate their odious un-American ideologies. He encourages his followers to fear all Muslims, whether terrorists or parents of American soldiers who died fighting for our country, and to support a religious test to enter our country. Our great America was founded on and for religious liberty. Religious tests are unconstitutional and un-American. Some anti-Muslims lump in Sikhs, Hindus and other darker-skinned non-Christians and are willing to use violence against them. And these white supremacists and anti-Muslims have guns.
He has encouraged violence against political opponents. “Lock her up.” “Beat them up.” These are things that happen to political opponents in South Africa (Nelson Mandela), Burma (Aung San Suu Kyi), Russia and China, not in our great America.
He encourages disbelief in official government statistics and says the unemployment rate is being manipulated. It is not. Our great America relies on government statistics for economic forecasts, weather forecasts, tracking of the Zika virus and birth defects, deciding where and when to build new schools – all manner of important and necessary non-partisan data that helps businesses and local governments assess and plan. Trump is undermining faith in those numbers.
He has encouraged followers to monitor polling places in “certain areas,” i.e., minority areas in big cities. Will his untrained and un-vetted followers ask non-white voters for their registration cards and driver’s licenses? This is a frightening intimidation tactic. And what if Trump’s poll vigilantes bring guns to the polls? I am so proud that the Republican and Democratic party leaders in our county worked together to assure voters that our election will be fair.
Perhaps most alarming is Trump’s refusal to agree to accept the results of the election and to instead announce ahead of time that the election is rigged. In our great America, we have had peaceful transfer of power after each election, even in 2000 when the final result came down to fewer than 400 disputed votes in one state. There was a lot of anger, even outrage, but Gore conceded and Bush was inaugurated without a shot fired and no one was locked up. Will Trump concede if he loses, or will he enflame his followers to resist the result?
Trump has emboldened Vladimir Putin who can hope for an American president who will look the other way when he invades Ukraine or beyond and further destabilizes the Middle East. And Putin has not only guns but nuclear weapons.
Think hard about America’s future. We are stronger together.
Jennifer Seiffert
Warsaw, via email