In the column, "Is Donald Trump Right?", Fulcrum Executive Editor, Hugo Balta, wrote:
For millions of Americans, President Trump’s second term isn’t a threat to democracy—it’s the fulfillment of a promise they believe was long overdue.
Is Donald Trump right?
Should the presidency serve as a force for disruption or a safeguard of preservation?
Balta invited readers to share their thoughts at newsroom@fulcrum.us.
Brenda Marinace from Maryland shared these thoughts...
I found this article disappointing. The Fulcrum standards aim to expand their reach, remove personal bias, avoid vilifying any party, and build bridges through a solutions-based approach.
This article seems more like a challenge than an honest request. I cannot imagine any Republican even reading the Fulcrum, much less responding to your challenge. It appears to dismiss the 77 million Americans, presuming them to be wrong and defying them to come up with support for President Trump. It’s not inviting at all.
I have spent years working toward returning respect across the country, imploring our legislators to lead the way as self-serving rhetoric only builds anger and violence and enables retribution. The Fulcrum has published several of my articles. Without respect, without open dialogue, we cannot bridge build.
Please accept that others have a right to their beliefs as well. My career was in protecting Florida’s unique environment. We could have hated and vilified those paving our lands. Instead, we chose inclusion. Civil engineers helped develop wetland protection. Developers helped ID sensitive areas, thus freeing others for development. Our government included us in land use planning. In fact, Elliott Mackle of the famed Mackle Brothers, who developed several cities in Florida, was once elected our President. We respected each other, and Floridians benefited from it.
I will not take the bait regarding whether President Trump is right. I do not know, and neither do you. That’s the point. How about honestly interviewing and presenting unbiased viewpoints? Making him the enemy, making 77 million Americans the enemy, humiliating or excoriating him and them is not inclusive. My Republican friends want democracy saved as well, and some believe Democrats are the problem. I fear your mindset will not permit other such viewpoints, however.
You included many reasons why you feel the way you do. I, too, am a granddaughter of an immigrant who raised me. Of my six married grandchildren, five are married to recent immigrants from various countries. I was also a columnist for a major newspaper, with columns in five or six other fourth estate venues. My husband was a New Yorker, and we lived in the Chicago area for 10 years recently, with a daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter still living there.
We desperately need respect returned. As I wrote this, I glanced up to see a brawl break out among some National League football players. The lack of respect, sportsmanship, is so overwhelming.
Please help the Fulcrum lead the way to understanding and grace.
We invite you to read the opinions of other Fulrum Readers who accepted Hugo's invitation.
An Independent Voter's Perspective on Current Political Divides
Trump's Policies: A Threat to Farmers and American Values
The Trump Era: A Bitter Pill for American Renewal
Federal Hill's Warning: A Baltimorean's Reflection on Leadership
Also, check out "Is Donald Trump Right?" and consider sharing your thoughts at newsroom@fulcrum.us.
The Fulcrum will select a range of submissions to share with readers as part of our ongoing civic dialogue.
We offer this platform for discussion and debate.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a“ Steel Across America” event ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11th attacks on the Ellipse near the White House on Sept. 8, 2026 in Washington, D.C. President Trump welcomed 9/ 11 first responders to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation’ s“ Steel Across America” event featuring a 16,900- pound, 21- foot steel beam recovered.
For Trump, even 9/11 is an opportunity
There was a reason organizers of the 9/11 ceremony in Manhattan told President Trump he could not speak at this year’s memorial service.
A good one, it turns out.
Because in a speech he gave on Tuesday in Washington, he did exactly what they were presumably worried about — he made it about himself.
According to The New York Times, Trump had wanted a speaking role at the service, but the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum, which oversees the site, said no, as they’ve maintained for the past decade-plus that the venue and event should be nonpartisan.
Trump has long used awful tragedies to either puff himself up, trash political opponents, or sell lies to the American people.
He blamed a deadly plane crash at Washington National Airport last year on diversity, equity and inclusion policies. He blamed Puerto Ricans for the devastation they endured after Hurricane Maria in 2017. He reportedly considered withholding disaster relief after the California wildfires based on the way affected regions voted. In an interview on Fox News meant to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, he used the occasion to slam former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi…with graves of the dead behind him.
And now, as we approach the 25th anniversary of what many New Yorkers consider the darkest day in modern history, Trump has done it again.
He told a rambling, nonsensical story — one he’s told before — about going to Ground Zero just after terrorists flew two commercial jets into the twin towers. In the story, which no one has been able to verify, despite multiple attempts, he says firefighters had to carry him out of One Liberty Plaza, also known as the U.S. Steel Building, because they thought it was about to collapse.
As CNN fact checker Daniel Dale notes, there’s no evidence Trump went into this building, especially at a time when NYPD and NYFD had locked down the area. There’s no evidence that building was collapsing — in fact, it was deemed structurally sound and reopened within two months of the attacks. There’s no evidence he was carried out of it by firefighters.
But the lie isn’t even the worst part. Pretend it was all true — why would the leader of our country, and a New Yorker, decide to make that tragic day about himself?
Because that’s who Donald Trump is. He’s a malignant narcissist.
He’s also, incidentally, a terrible and ineffectual president, who’s made ill-fated decisions that he has to keep defending, and there’s nothing he won’t do to make himself look and feel better.
Within the first two minutes of his speech, he was cravenly using 9/11 to justify and promote his dumb war in Iran — two events separated by 25 years and 6,000 miles.
“And I will tell you, we’re right now fighting because we have a certain nation that wanted a nuclear weapon, they were very close to getting it, and now they have no chance at getting it. They will never have a nuclear weapon. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. And they’ve been punished greatly. As you know, we’ve really taken it to them.”
As a New Yorker who lived through 9/11, still one of the worst days of my life, I’m utterly sickened by Trump’s crass, political, and self-promotional framing of that awful day.
And I’m relieved he won’t be given a platform to do it again on Friday’s anniversary in lower Manhattan.
Because for Trump, everything is his for the taking, and absolutely nothing is sacred.
S.E. Cupp is the host of "S.E. Cupp Unfiltered" on CNN.