Open letter draws reactions from many, but not Trump

So our editorial board penned an open letter to President Donald Trump this week. Maybe you noticed it. We ran it on the front page, so it got more attention than our usual editorials.

Reaction, predictably, was mixed.

'It was the highlight of my day today,” gushed one voice on my voicemail. She also called it 'extremely well-written.”

'So incredibly insulting,” insisted another less enthused caller. She also called it 'unbelievable,” 'disgusting” and 'condescending.”

'Thank you, for the clearheaded, thoughtful piece in which you laid out the realities of this presidency so far,” wrote one reader.

'Not sure what dullard wrote that piece of (beep), but typical of the haters,” wrote another.

One email commenter appreciated our 'ability to take a stand and state your point with no insults or jabs. Progress is not made with insults.”

On Facebook, a commenter had a different view. 'Hey Gazette. Shut up. Your antiquated voice is diminishing, as are your subscriptions.”

Shutting up is not what we do. Ink and gigabits by the barrel, etc.

In this case, we saw the president's visit as an opportunity to press Trump on a series of issues critical to Iowans. We also took issue with the fact the president still is in full-arena campaign mode nearly eight months after winning Iowa and the election. We asked him to do less rallying and much more detailed explaining of his plans and careful listening to Iowans affected by his potential policies.

The piece was pointed, but polite. Insistent, but not insulting. It was a classic newspaper editorial, urging an elected official to take a better, in our view, course of action. Its front page placement, and the attention it got here and across the country, made it unusual.

Former editorial page editor Jerry Elsea tells me the last time The Gazette ran a front-page editorial was on the cover of an extra printed in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. My own dig through the archives found four others since 1961.

In that year, we printed a front-pager praising community response to flooding. In 1992, we ran two amid a state budget crisis, urging readers to contact lawmakers. In June 1995, we took to the front page to drum up support for an effort to appoint a charter commission in Cedar Rapids and avert a swift summertime vote on the form of government.

That editorial included a copy of a petition seeking a commission. It ran on Friday. By Monday, 300 readers had signed that petition copy and sent it in, helping put the effort over the top.

That's a powerful editorial. Our open letter, however, must have gotten lost in the mail.

The president didn't take our advice. Details were scarce. He talked much, bragged plenty and received the full-throated cheers of 6,000 supporters who gathered at the U.S. Cellular Center. But the concerns of Iowans regarding his evolving policies were lost amid the noise and spectacle.

He talked about fixing the nation's infrastructure, but failed to mention Cedar Rapids' long-stalled effort to gain federal funding for flood protection.

We urged him to directly address the worries of thousands of Iowans faced with losing health insurance coverage, either through the repeal of the Affordable Care Act or deep cuts in Medicaid. His words were anything but direct.

'I think and I hope, I can't guarantee anything, but I hope we're going to surprise you with a really good plan,” Trump said. 'I've been talking about a plan with heart.”

What about the heart of your plan? And, surprise, the Senate GOP plan unveiled Thursday still leaves thousands of Iowans worrying they'll lose health coverage.

We asked the coal-loving president to consider the fact a large percentage of Iowa's energy is generated by wind and other alternative sources. Instead, Trump seemed to mock wind power.

'I don't want to just hope the wind blows to light up your homes and factories,” Trump told his rally audience. 'As the birds fall to the ground.”

He did float the idea of putting solar panels on his border wall.

Trump called for more investment in rural broadband, which is a good idea, and he pledged to defend ethanol. He talked about trade and his desire to renegotiate trade deals, but said little about how that would affect markets Iowa farmers depend upon. Nor did he address proposed cuts to crop insurance and other agriculture programs.

'I'm not a farmer, but I'd be very happy to be one. It's a very beautiful world to me. And it's a truly noble American profession,” Trump said during a stop at Kirkwood Community College.

So maybe the president didn't get our message. But we do know our letter reached Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Jeff Kaufmann, who offered a critique at Wednesday's rally.

'Anybody catch the open letter to Donald Trump on the front page of the Cedar Rapids Gazette?” Kaufmann asked the crowd. 'Come on folks, that's bush league.

'So here's the Republican Party's open letter to the Cedar Rapids Gazette editorial board. Donald Trump won this state. The citizens of Iowa gave him that victory. If you don't like it, tough,” Kaufmann said, drawing a standing ovation and chants of 'USA!”

After listening to the ovation, with a very satisfied smile, Kaufmann continued. 'And by the way, Cedar Rapids Gazette, if you want to be objective, I suggest you put that little standing ovation in your paper tomorrow.”

It's Kaufmann's job to defend Republicans and rev up the faithful. It's our job to hold elected officials accountable. So I guess we were all on the job this week.

And what would be truly 'tough” is living in a nation where it's considered inappropriate and unacceptable for a newspaper in the middle of the USA to use its front page to implore a president of the United States to responsibly govern. That would be nothing to cheer about.

l Comments: (319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com