DEAR EDITOR:

On Thursday, Sept. 18, in the wake of the Jimmy Kimmel issue, Donald Trump made the following statement while being interviewed on Air Force One: “And if [broadcast outlets] are 97% against — they give me only bad publicity or press — I mean, they are getting a license. When you go back and take a look, all they do is hit Trump. They’re licensed. They’re not allowed to do that.”

The next day, I submitted a question via their websites to our two U.S. Senators from Ohio and the U.S. Representative from the 6th District. I reproduced the above statement, and asked each if they agreed with Trump’s last sentence. I welcomed them to be as expansive in their answers as they chose, but stated firmly that the first word of their answer must be “Yes” or “No.”

Here are the results:

• Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Husted did not send a reply.

• Republican U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno sent a brief boilerplate letter that made no reference whatsoever to my question. Instead, it contained meaningless drivel such as “I am committed to listening to your concerns …” Apparently, he’s committed to listening to concerns but not answering them.

• Republican U.S. Rep. Michael Rulli’s reply did not begin with “Yes” or “No,” but instead included long rants about Charlie Kirk, “cancel culture” and the like — none of which my question to him involved. It also contained this gem: “I cannot comment on every single announcement or tweet coming from the Executive Office … I will not speak on behalf of his office.” Of course, he conveniently ignores that I was asking him to speak on his own behalf, not the president’s.

It’s obvious that none of these so-called “public servants” has any intention of living up the oath he swore to the U.S. Constitution when taking office. On the contrary, their responses (or lack thereof) are about as un-American as it gets.

Readers who voted for any of them or will do so in the future are absolutely in that same un-American category. If you fly the American flag from your home, you should take it down immediately.

MICHAEL GREENFIELD

Youngstown