I listened to the NPR interview with Joan Baez on May 22. As a person who lived through the Vietnam War, I admired Joan Baez’s political activism against the Vietnam War. I don’t think many people today would argue that Lyndon Johnson’s staged Gulf of Tonkin event, that thrust us into this war, was a mistake. We were lied to by Johnson and McNamara and many military and political leaders.

At one point the interview with Baez turned to the protests going on today on college campuses. Baez said she was proud of these protesters and was without reservation in her praise. I found it surprising that she didn’t mention that Jews were being assaulted, spit on, threatened and verbally attacked with vile antisemitic hate speech.

Baez then turned to Donald Trump and said something to the effect that maybe climate change will kill everyone before Trump has a chance to employ his death camps and kill everyone. Hitler killed millions, Stalin killed millions, Mao killed tens of millions in their death camps. Baez draws a line, a comparison from these mass murderers to Trump.

People can dislike Donald Trump for many reasons and not resort to this kind of unintelligent and unrealistic comparison. In so doing Baez minimizes real mass murderers, discredits herself and gives fodder to Trump supporters.

Tony Palanza
Standish