To the Editor:

The hate trump crowd that includes the media ringleaders keeps trying to denigrate President Donald Trump any way they can. In the March 13 edition of The Smoky Mountain News, the article “Constituents of Color” uses Rep. Mark Meadow’s exchange during the Michael Cohen, convicted felon, congressional hearing to do harm to the President. Rep. Meadows — in a sincere attempt to refute Cohen’s claim that Donald Trump is racist — used logic for his argument. The SMN article turns Meadows remarks into racism mainly to support the claim that Trump is a racist. This was just another attempt among many to use any means to denounce Donald Trump.

The chosen interviewees, biased against Trump since the 2016 election, speak of hate in their comments while proceeding to vilify Meadows in this astonishing hit job published by the SMN. In their racist comments the writer and interviewees mock a black Trump employee who willingly attended and subsequently defended her appearance at the hearing. They ridicule Meadows who rightly took offense to racist accusations by a member of the committee. They scoff at Meadows reference to his bi-racial family while one interviewee lauds her own bi-racial family. 

Meadows declaration about his 300 private meetings with the President where there was never any racist comments or indications by the president is brushed aside as some kind of joke by another interviewee.

The article then goes on to claim concerns that Rep. Meadows cannot represent constituents of color in a gerrymandered district that favors him. There are no facts to support the claim because it is false. In the end an interviewee sums up the whole purpose of the article by stating, “ I think he could have done it better by not trying to come to the defense of the President.” Once again we see the purpose here is to harm President Trump. Will the hate-Trumpers ever get over the fact that their preferred candidate lost the election in 2016?

Shirley Slaughter 

Cashiers