Opinion: Calculating crowd size: how, but also, why?

To the editor: This is another example of President Trump playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers.

Guess who is wasting resources on something that is meaningless? It’s not the president.

( “The trouble with how crowd size is calculated,” Back Story, Jan. 24)

Stop underestimating this man.

Steve Stillman, Redondo Beach

::

To the editor: Your paper has spent a lot of time reporting about Trump’s temper tantrums and his false statements.

What should be addressed is the new statement by Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway that Trump’s tax returns will never be released because we “litigated this all through the election ... people didn’t care.”√ During his campaign, Trump repeatedly promised to release his tax returns.

I can assure you, the millions of Saturday’s marchers care very much.

This information could explain his bromance with Putin. If he has nothing to hide, why the secrecy?

Carolyn Birnbaum, Laguna Beach

::

To the editor: I don’t know why Trump’s staff is so defensive about the crowds attending the inauguration. I don’t know why the media are intent on comparing the size of the crowds from inauguration to inauguration.

Trump’s win came from voters in the rural areas — far from urban transportation hubs. These people are not inclined, or perhaps not able, to easily flock to Washington, D.C., for the weekend.

And because many have been only marginally employed for the last 10 years, they are probably not able to afford such a trip.

It doesn’t really matter. They voted on election day. He won. Case closed until 2018.

Andrew Tilles, Studio City

::

To the editor: Our new president tried to divert attention away from his tax returns by saying no one cares about them anymore. That is another of his “alternative truths.”

Many of us care a lot more about his returns than whether his crowds were bigger than President Obama’s crowds, or how often he has appeared on the cover of Time magazine.

No, we haven’t forgotten, and we do care. And now we are becoming highly suspicious.

Please show us your tax returns. Now.

Gloria Thompson, Rowland Heights

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook