Readers Write (July 23): Donald Trump, nominee; ideology and values; fighting sexual harassment, and talking about the weather

Donald Trump says he has the answers that will assure us of safety, but apparently he will share those answers only if he is elected. Much of the violence that concerns Americans today is caused by our own citizens, not by illegal immigrants. If Trump has a plan to stop that violence, please share it with us now. Let's not wait another day to put that plan into action. If he also has a plan to end the threat of international terrorism, let him explain that plan and how it differs from the knowledge and experience of our military leaders. Trump doesn't have to tweet his secret plan to the world. He could deliver his plan personally to President Obama (or to me and I will pass it along), and we could then end this international threat now before any other innocent lives are lost. Apparently, Trump has given these solutions a lot of thought, but has been saving them even though the world continues to suffer. Please, Mr. Trump, I beg of you, don't make us wait until Jan. 20, 2017. Tell us now so we can sleep and be safe.

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The banner statements of Trump's acceptance address were a frighteningly demagogic statement that on Inauguration Day "you will be safer" and his demonstrably cynical pledge to protect the LGBTQ community from prejudice.

The first was an insult to every law enforcement officer in the country. Crime is primarily managed at the local level — not by the president. That's the way it was envisioned in order to make control of the police local, not with the national government. The national crime levels are very low compared with the Nixon years, when "law and order" became a political cover for race-baiting. Unless Trump plans to declare martial law and abrogate our Constitution — his model, Turkey? — his boast is built on myth, fearmongering and his incredible ego.

On national security, his claims about the lack of a vetting process for immigrants are complete gibberish, as are his implications that he alone can stop terrorism. He thinks we should give up our Constitution to gain some additional deceptive illusion of security, while insulting billions of people across the world.

His appeal to the LGBTQ community was pure hypocrisy. It was given to a political party with the most gay-unfriendly political platform you can imagine and was a huuuge abandonment of his socially ultraconservative evangelical base. Their support for him is puzzling, unless they know he doesn't really mean it.

While he read his teleprompter's speech reasonably well and very, very slowly, there was a lack of any detail on how he will do what he says, which brings a further fear, because how he would actually govern stays as hidden as the truth about what he claims.

No point "fact-checking" the Trump speech. Many will do that. I just want to point out that while Trump promised to restore the jobs of steel workers and coal miners, he said absolutely nothing about global warming and the environment. And, to their shame, the PBS commentators I was watching did not notice or did not care to talk about this omission.

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Say what you want, but a father can't instill values in his children that he doesn't have, and from our introduction to Trump's children at the Republican National Convention, they are a sterling reflection of the type of father/husband/brother/son/friend that he is.

Donald Trump doesn't need this job. Who does? But I truly believe him when he says that he sees something he loves that's terribly broken and that he wants to fix it. And I also believe that he's one of a handful of Americans with the character and skill set to do it. Perhaps the only American.

He does what other people say can't be done — he's proved that many times over — and he knows how to pick the best people and then get the best out of them. If we put him in the White House, I doubt he'll surround himself with the thin-skinned crybabies that he beat to win the nomination. And I think history puts certain people in certain places at certain times, and that's what we are looking at here. I hope for the sake of America's future that as a nation we make the right choice.

Much has been said about how terrific Trump's kids are due to how he has raised them. Is it possible their mothers Ivana and Marla had a part in their upbringing?

Cass Sunstein's July 22 commentary about Jonathan Haidt's five moral foundations (plus liberty as the sixth) is clearly missing something as he applies them to Republicans ("Democrats, mock Republican ideals at your peril"). The surface descriptions of these foundations lead one to think that just because they are embraced by Republicans, they must be right. Of course, more in-depth learning reveals that the foundations certainly can be filled with all sorts of things that should not be part of our culture.

There are flaws in what Haidt and Sunstein point out. Respect? Republicans have had a clear disrespect for President Obama and any other leader who is not of their party. Certainly, they have not demonstrated any outrage when people have threatened the president or used hate speech against him. Purity? Does this also include ejecting people who are different from them from the country? Loyalty? How has the GOP voting record helped vets? Haidt forgot to add foundations seven and eight: hate and fear. The Republicans embrace these two more fully than the other six.

There is a difference between mocking Republican speeches and pointing out that what they say is truly alarming. And the Republican convention this week was full of those last two foundations. It is clear that these are the motivations that will move the party's supporters from now through November (and unfortunately beyond), and we must remember that we, as Americans, are better than that.

"Where all the women are strong … ." Gretchen Carlson has proved Garrison Keillor's point. She has spoken truth to power and brought down a tyrant ("Roger Ailes resigns as head of Fox News," July 22). Wonderful irony that it happened exactly as the fruits of the political discord he sowed with Fox News came to fruition in Donald Trump becoming the Republican nominee. Hats off to Gretchen Carlson. Beauty, brains and courage strike a blow against the rape culture.

The weather, for better or worse, is one of the most talked about daily topics around the planet. Stay cool and stay safe.