Dear Editor: In response to Kenneth Farley (April 1), I will avoid remarking on many of the points he makes in his letter, presented with sophisticated rhetoric, but no researchable citations for the “facts” he puts forward.

What I will respond to is his remark that the press “claimed” that Mr. Trump “called Mexicans murderers and rapists when he actually said that the Mexican government had been complicit in aiding their criminals…”

During this Presidential campaign and in the months after the election, I have made a conscious effort to watch and listen to as much different media as possible, even when I found what I was hearing difficult and disturbing. I watched and listened to Donald Trump as he gave a campaign speech in which he, indeed, said the Mexicans were “murderers and rapists.” He followed that with, “I’m sure there are some good ones.”

I remember that, because I sat there open-mouthed, and thought that he had just committed political suicide. Now, it may well be that if one pieced together the rest of what he said, one could infer that his comment about the Mexican government sending us their criminals is what he really meant. However, it can’t be said that those words didn’t come out of his mouth.

Language is important. My deepest concerns about Mr. Trump lie in the fact that he has no governmental experience or knowledge, and believes the bullying tactics he uses in business deals can pass as diplomacy and leadership.

My other concern is that those who agree with him and hate the press argue with the same “fake news” against which they are railing. He said what he said. To report differently is as damaging to truth as prejudicial reporting by the media.

In full disclosure, and to avoid being written off as some radical youth, or uninformed bleeding-heart liberal, I would like to report that I am a Catholic, educated, professional woman in her 70s, raised in the Church of the 1950s. I raised my own three children as Catholics and they make me proud every day in how they’re raising my grandchildren.

I have learned to focus on my life as a Christian first, and try not to allow myself to become jaded about the human institution that has been so important in my life.

CHRISTINE NAPOLITAN

Park Slope