Readers sound off on papal politics, the Merchant Marine and bodega panic buttons

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

63% : Yes, Trump does make things happen.
60% : He has made steep cuts to child care, disease research, renewable energy and peacekeeping abroad.
59% : Trump "got really lucky" and was never drafted.
59% : Trump plans to revive the U.S. maritime shipbuilding industry, including levying tariffs and fees on Chinese ships entering American ports.
59% : Now Congress must pass the SHIPS Act, which will increase our shipbuilding capacity and hopefully the size of our Merchant Marine.
54% : The pope's highly publicized statement occurred on Feb. 18, 2016, only two days before the South Carolina Republican primary on Feb. 20, which was a defining primary in the 2016 nominating process, as Ted Cruz had won the Iowa caucuses and Trump had won the New Hampshire primary.
50% : It is safe to say that Pope Francis lashing out at Trump drove many voters over to his side and gave him a decisive victory, as many Protestant voters in South Carolina did not want a Catholic pope trying to dictate policy.
49% : In 2024, Trump was able to win without his help!
48% : Trump was by no means a sure thing to win in South Carolina, as the Christian evangelical vote there was key and Cruz's father is an evangelical pastor.
47% : He has cut staff at the IRS, Social Security Administration (causing offices to close and an inability to reach anyone), Health and Human Services, CDC, National Institutes of Health and the Department of Education.
43% : If you factor into the equation the number of people who opted to sit the election out, approximately 86 million voters, Trump only received 32% of eligible votes of the entire American electorate.
43% : The police catch them, but when ICE comes to check them out to possibly press federal charges and initiate deportation proceedings, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch states, "The NYPD doesn't aid in civil deportation efforts"!
38% : My grandson David was particularly insightful in explaining what Trump was talking about when he was asked questions about Alcatraz.
35% : Sorry to burst your fact-free bubble, but receiving less than 50% of votes cast -- in Trump's case, 49% of votes cast to Harris's 48% -- is not by definition an "overwhelming mandate," as you and Trump propagandize.
26% : While Trump should not have done this, it is no big deal.
24% : Returning from a trip to Mexico during which he visited the border, Pope Francis said to reporters on a plane that candidate Trump was "not Christian" for wanting to build a wall at the border to keep out illegal migrants.
18% : Trump has called veterans suckers and losers.
12% : Donald Moskowitz Overstated overwhelm Philadelphia: To Voicer Charles T. Compton: You promote another Trump election lie, this time stating, "Trump was elected overwhelmingly with a decisive mandate" in the 2024 election.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.