Opinion: Will environmental destruction be President Trump’s lasting legacy?

To the editor: Americans have naively come to think of our political leaders as thoughtful individuals who want only the best for our country and planet, even if we don’t always agree on how to approach that objective. (“Trump stumbled on healthcare and immigration, but he’s been ‘a wrecking ball’ on the environment,” April 29)

That does not seem to be the case with President Trump. Rather than a friendly elephant draped in red, white and blue, his version of the Republican Party seems best represented with a huge dollar sign. Reversing any and all policies designed to protect our environment for the benefit of mineral and oil extractors and other profit seekers serves almost exclusively the wealthy.

It seems to me that the Republican Party should reconsider its support of a man who appears more than willing to trash our global good standing, the international peace for which generations of men and women fought, and the clean environment that we expected to pass on to generations to come.

Gloria J. Richards, Simi Valley

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To the editor: How like this administration to try and manufacture its own world, and how baffling that it chooses to.

We live in a reality where solar energy could be a new American energy boom, where we, the U.S., could seize the moment to push a new global wave of clean and green that could revolutionize — and save — the world. We could come out of this looking like Big Damn Heroes again, and in the process we could generate energy jobs that can’t be outsourced and guarantee non-reliance on the fluctuations of foreign oil markets.

What’s to lose?

The administration’s bizarre determination to squash climate change discussion is an example of identity politics at its worst. I question whether Trump and his people have thought through the situation at all — and if they have, how they have failed to come to the economically sensible conclusion.

Considering their many entanglements with oil companies, I’m afraid of the answer.

Anna Gooding-Call, Salem, Mass.

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To the editor: The demolition derby has begun.

Trump and his team have come on like a wrecking ball to dismantle hard-fought environmental protections that were designed to make our world cleaner and safer for all living creatures. And they seem to experience great glee in doing so.

I think it would be more authentic if they just went ahead and changed the name of the EPA to the Environmental Plundering Agency.

Joanna Ryder, Hermosa Beach

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