It’s appalling how Donald Trump shot off his tough guy mouth about how, after the Orlando massacre, he’s got the answer, belligerently stating that when he becomes president, Muslims will not be allowed to enter the United States. His rhetoric lacks contemplation and is ignorantly impulsive.

Trump is feeding on people’s fears and base emotions to nurture his campaign. Democrats and many Republicans are disgusted by this. The demon who committed this Orlando slaughter was a U.S. citizen born in Queens, N.Y.

President Obama and Hillary Clinton were quick to point to Trump’s lack of insight, but are they using his idiocy to further their score?

One has to be careful and not get sucked into promises from candidates during such fearful times. We are at war with an enemy with many faces and volumes of technological methods to spread its tyranny. We must be brave and not let this madness derail our ways of life.

If fear is allowed to control our lives, the enemy has won a decisive victory. Remember, peace blossoms from love, never from hate.

And don’t forget when President Franklin Roosevelt observed, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”

Steven A. Birt

Groton