To the editor:

Last week saw the worst of America:  a pipe bomber targeting media and Democratic-associated leaders, murder of 11 people in Pittsburgh in the nation’s worst anti-Semitic attack, and a killer targeting African American shoppers in Louisville. A straight line needs to be drawn from Donald Trump’s rhetoric to these violent actions. On a daily basis he shouts conspiracies and lies that have real consequences. His newest distraction is a group of Honduran families walking toward our border. Conspiracies and lies abound – mysterious Middle Easterners hiding in the group (nonsense), and infestations of smallpox (eradicated decades ago). He intends to distract the American public from our nation’s unmet healthcare needs, decaying international alliances, voter suppression, and Russian manipulations. It is time for ALL politicians to denounce the rhetoric coming from Donald Trump.

John Kalamarides