Dear Navy Man,

I usually do not respond to criticism, implied or actual, but when I received an anonymous letter from you, a 27- year Navy retiree, and you asked me to respond to a variety of points you raised, I think I should. After all, I owe you deepest gratitude. If it were not for you and your confreres, I probably wouldn’t have the freedom today to be writing any opinion. Thank you, sir.

I must begin with the thought of how it is that you are a Trump supporter, given his denigration of military service. In 1999 as Mr. Trump contemplated running for President on the Reform Party, he attacked Republican John McCain, whom he saw as a potential rival in the general election. In response to an interviewer’s question about McCain’s survival for 5 years as a POW, Donald Trump responded “Does being captured make you a hero? I don’t know I’m not sure” (CBS). Years later, he unequivocally stated that McCain was a loser (as a presidential candidate) and in a follow-up, when Republican “moderator Frank Luntz interjected, “But he is a war hero," he responded, “He’s not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured." I think that is awfully cheeky for a man who avoided the service by having a doctor whose office was owned by his father, write a letter that he had a bone spur so couldn’t serve.

For the record, Senator McCain’s awards included the Silver Star, Legion of Merit (2), Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Medals (3), Purple Heart (2), and the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (2). In 2015 now Trump supporter, Senator Lindsay Graham (R) tweeted, “At the heart of [Trump’s] statement is a lack of respect for those who have served. A disqualifying characteristic to be president.”

ISSUE 1. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rips up Trump’s State of the Union speech. I agree that was poor form as was President Trump’s refusal to shake her hand during the same televised speech.

ISSUE 2. $30 million spent to prove Russian collusion and the 17 democrats (on the impeachment panel) came up with zero. Special Prosecutor, Robert Mueller indicted 34 individuals and 3 Russian businesses ranging from computer hacking to conspiracy and financial crimes. Besides Mueller, the entire national security teams found Russia tried to influence the election. Mr. Muller stated that he didn’t exonerate Mr. Trump of obstruction of justice and a recent bipartisan Senate report concluded that Mr. Trump did know about Russian involvement and that he lied twice in his written answers about such knowledge.

ISSUE 3. 90 percent of the mainstream media is owned by liberals and 92 percent of what they report is negative about Trump. Studies show that newsrooms do tilt liberal. Talks shows are overwhelmingly conservative and television may be biased by the corporate owner. Hopefully, standards of journalism keep personal bias in check and, fortunately, there are a variety of watchdogs to combat bias by fact-checking.

Other issues you raised like Democrat Senator Robert Byrd being the grand leader of the KKK which Reuters and others debunked but I appreciate your raising racism because the accusing finger points at all of us.

Arlene Violet is an attorney and former Rhode Island Attorney General.