NPR interview on 4/23/20

Dear Lucinda:

You mentioned in your interview with Mary Louise Kelly that the topical nature of your new recording, “Good Souls Better Angels'” had drawn one particularly critical response from someone accusing you of a “lack of compassion” due to your displeasure with President Trump’s actions and leadership abilities. First off, anyone familiar with your elegiac “Sweet Old World” would know better than to question your feelings for the truly afflicted. But then to blame you for having no empathy is the height of irony. After all, you, I, and millions of our fellow citizens have observed Trump’s ignoring the warnings from intelligence officers and White House senior officials in January about the dangers to the U. S. of the COVID-19 virus, leading indirectly to the death of nearly 50,000 Americans; recommending that people sick with the disease or fearful of it take untested drugs; being accused of and bragging about sexually assaulting 19 women; calling white supremacists “nice people”; hearing a mountain of evidence supporting accusations that, after withholding military funding from an ally under attack, sought help from it in acquiring alleged dirt on a political opponent; and spending a lifetime uttering words of hate and contempt for anyone who criticized even mildly his unbounded narcissism and manipulation of others. So you were only justifiably pointing out truthfully Trump’s lack of compassion, and I believe you have nothing for which to apologize. Thank you, Dave Witham, Bangor, ME