Syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts continues to seek racial motivations behind Donald Trump’s victory last November (“Sadly, I told you so – voter racism and bias were big factor in Trump’s victory,” May 17). I believe that Republicans cast their ballots for a much more fundamental reason: He wasn’t Hillary Clinton.

There were four outcome scenarios to the election:

• In the first scenario, Mrs. Clinton would win and bring in enough new congressmen on her coattails to gain control of Congress, including and especially the Senate. This would be abhorrent to Republicans and conservatives, with a particular concern for implications for the Supreme Court.

• The second scenario would have Mrs. Clinton the victor, but unable to gain control of Congress. This would only continue what we saw for the remaining years of Barack Obama’s administration: Nothing gets done, and people become increasingly angry.

• The third scenario would have Mr. Trump win and the Republicans would maintain control over Congress. However, few, if any, Republicans owe their job to Mr. Trump, in which case there would be the potential for some adult control over the White House.

• The fourth scenario would have Mr. Trump win, but lose control of Congress to the Democrats. This would not have happened in 2016, but it could happen in the 2018 mid-term elections. See Scenario No. 2 for the outcome.

Anyone who voted for Mr. Trump based on his business acumen was badly misinformed. Mr. Trump is a showman, but a look at his business record shows a long list of bankruptcies and defaults. While Warren Buffett has made many people rich over the decades, Donald Trump has made only one person rich – himself. However, as Mr. Pitts notes, economics did play a role, and it was those who saw Mr. Trump the businessman who put him over the top.

Michael A. Smith

Wells