Readers Write (Nov. 11): Aspects of Trump's victory, including protests, appointments, leadership style

I am amazed by all these protests … well, maybe not. This looks like a group of people who don't know how to live within a democratic system. Or like a bunch of schoolkids saying if I don't get my way I'm not going to play. It's time to grow up and to participate to make our country the best it can be. There was an election, and Donald Trump won. Obviously the popular vote went to Hillary Clinton, but our system uses an Electoral College. The same geniuses who set up the rest of our political system thought this was a good idea. I did not vote for Trump, but now that he's in office, it's time to pull together and remember that living in a democracy does not promise that we always get what we want. But it should lead to a peaceful transition of power and the opportunity to do it differently in four years if the result is not what we planned.

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I watched with awe and admiration as young people spoke out across this country in protest of the election of Trump as president. They recognized him as a man who used fear, ignorance and bigotry as his major campaign tools. They see him as the antithesis of the values that are enshrined in the Constitution of this great country.

They, as I did almost 50 years ago protesting against an illegitimate war (Vietnam), needed to express their vehement opposition to this man who won a minority of votes cast for president and fewer than Clinton. They needed to say: "This man is not us; he is not my president." They dismissed Clinton's advice to give this man a chance to lead, have an open mind. They dismissed Trump's expressions of conciliation when he gave his victory speech. They had listened to his words for 18 months — they (and I) knew a very different truth about his words and motivations.

So I say this prayer to you protesters: Thank you — our country needs your voices. Please be peaceful. May God bless you and keep you safe.

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During their conciliatory meeting today, President-elect Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan agreed on a plan to, as Ryan put it, "turn this country around." When President Obama took office in 2009, the country needed turning. The auto industry and Wall Street were dealing with bankruptcies, bailouts were needed everywhere and the stock market was in doldrums. Today, unemployment is low, the economy is strong, the stock market is at record levels and our nation's course is straight-on. The last thing we need is "to turn our country's course around."

"Trump's America"? (Front-page headline, Nov. 10.) Last time I looked, America belonged to all its citizens. Trump was elected president, but we didn't give our country away.

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I voted for Barack Obama in 2008. I voted for Trump in 2016. For those of you who assume that Trump supporters are racists, you cannot have it both ways. You can't have a voter who votes for a black man in 2008 suddenly become racist in 2016. Believe me, there are plenty of us who voted this way. For the people who believe that Trump supporters are racist, take a second to think about economics, about safety, about immigration and about a hundred other issues that people vote on that had nothing to do with racism. We all got so caught up in character during the election that we forgot about policy. There are real reasons why Donald Trump is now the president. Take a second to think about it.

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The prevailing thought in the political world, is that Trump does not have the experience to exercise his duties as president of the country. As the CEO of a major business operation, he was responsible for the management of a large group of employees and the performance of that company, be it positive or negative. Contrast that to the experience of President Obama when he was elected. He was a senator with limited management experience, and before that he was an organizer at the local level. Good managers hire bright and competent people who do their job and help contribute to positive results.

To you Trump voters who heard and counted on Trump's promise that he was a "businessman" and not a "politician," I heard the first reports of possible Cabinet members in a Trump administration: Chris Christie, directing the transition and most likely a cabinet appointment; Rudy Giuliani, attorney general; Newt Gingrich, secretary of state, and Sarah Palin, secretary of the interior. Looks like the "politicians" are going to be running his administration, all of them well-known, longtime politicos from whom we thought we'd heard the last, with Trump as the figurehead. Good luck with all those promises you hope will be fulfilled.

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This might be a good time for those unhappy with Trump's election to bring to mind the age-old axiom "actions speak louder than words." Recall that Harry Truman was known to make disparaging comments regarding Jews and African-Americans, yet once in office as president he was a strong advocate for the state of Israel, and he integrated the armed forces of this country. Both Hillary Clinton and President Obama have made numerous pronouncements regarding the right of a woman to earn the same pay as a man and the rights of African-Americans to equal treatment in the job market. Yet neither have done anything to bring about these worthy goals.

There can be no doubt that Trump has made numerous disparaging and harmful comments that are clearly racist and misogynist in nature. Time will tell if his actions as president match his rhetoric, or whether he, like Truman, will see himself as the president of all the people, and adopt policies that benefit everyone, regardless of race or gender.

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Democrats who are still in Congress after the inauguration should not be afraid to hold the title of obstructionist. The Republicans used it fairly successfully. The example that comes to mind for them, at that time, is to follow McConnell's dictum from earlier this year, that the next president should be the one to appoint a justice to the Supreme Court. I understand that it only takes one senator to hold up a nomination. We probably can live with eight, or fewer, justices for the intervening eight years.

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I'm trying to absorb and understand the massive vote against the DFL Party in rural Minnesota, so I returned to a Star Tribune article published in July: "Meet the one farmer in the DFL delegation to the Democratic National Convention."

What does it say about the DFL that it would send just one working farmer, Debra Hogenson of Nobles County, to its national convention and then expect that farmers statewide would feel they are being listened to and respected by the DFL?