Opinion: Why do liberals keep score with Trump? To stay sane and prepare for 2020.

To the editor: Ann Friedman’s complaint about the widespread liberal tendency to judge President Trump’s actions on a good-for-him versus bad-for-him basis, because this buys into The Donald’s narcissism, is well-meaning but misses the point. (“Trump’s narcissism has taken over America,” Opinion, Sept. 29)

Keeping score does not amount to playing the Trump card at the expense of the issues involved. It serves significant psychological and political purposes, helping to maintain sanity in the face of the president’s recklessness, and gauging the odds of crippling Trump come 2018 and — if special counsel Robert Mueller doesn’t get to him first — defeating him in 2020.

Vincent Brook, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Friedman is right on the money in her final paragraph: “Who cares what’s good or bad for Trump? What matters is whether his decisions are good or bad for the rest of us.”

I for one could not care less about what is good for Trump. He has shown us all who he is, and I knew what he was long before he ever campaigned. He lies, bullies and is concerned with himself. Those who believe he is leading the country to greatness are sadly deluded.

Trump does or says nothing that has no benefit to himself. He has no interest in helping our country, the sick, the needy, the homeless, the refugees. He has exhibited bigoted tendencies. He is completely unfit for office.

I don’t give a fig about what Trump thinks.

Scott W. Hughes, Westlake Village

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