Richard Nixon and Donald Trump: a reviled president can win re-election

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Supporters cheer as President Donald Trump speaks on trade at Granite City Works Steel Coil Warehouse Thursday. | AP Photo

Neil Steinberg, in his Friday column, could be right in predicting President Donald Trump’s re-election in 2020. President Richard Nixon also was very controversial. The Vietnam War dragged on after he first was elected president. There seemed to be no peace or honor. Protests erupted across the nation, including on college campuses, and culminated in the tragic shooting deaths of four students at Kent State University.

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Yet, despite the scandal of Watergate, Nixon prevailed in the 1972 election, crushing his Democratic opponent, George McGovern, by winning 49 states. He won the Electoral College 520 to 17.

Larry Vigon, Jefferson Park

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The Granite City steelworkers live in Illinois. When was the last time the state of Illinois went Republican in a presidential election? I’m glad they’re back to work, but let’s be real here. — Denise Fricano

Trump is spending money we don’t have. He started a trade war mess with the European Union that is costing American farmers. Now he wants to bail them out. We probably will borrow from China for that. And then the re-negotiation with the EU will just put us where we were before Trump started the tariffs. This is all going to end up like life after Ronald Reagan — higher taxes for working stiffs to bail out Uncle Sam. — Linda Lewandowski

Much of downstate Illinois, which most Chicagoans consider to be anything south of Champaign, like President Trump just because it ticks off everybody from Chicago. For years, they have felt slighted by the city. If you look at the city’s schools and other tax-dollar-dependent facilities, you’ll see why. — Shell Corum

What’s the tab for expressway marches?

The Rev. Michael Pfleger led a protest march that shut down the north-bound lanes of the Dan Ryan Expressway earlier this month. Now, Rev. Gregory Livingston has planned a march for Aug. 2 down Lake Shore Drove and to Wrigley Field, just about when a Cubs night game starts.

The obvious question that no one wants to answer: How much did it cost taxpayers to provide law enforcement and other security measures for Pfleger’s march?  And much would it cost taxpayers to do the same for Livingston’s march?

Dennis M. Dohm, Oak Lawn

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