Opinion: Congress cannot let Trump’s undermining of his secretary of State go without a rebuke

To the editor: With so many things happening, including hurricanes and a horrible mass shooting, it’s easy for some important issues to go unnoticed. But I am stunned and outraged that our president could so casually and publicly undermine our secretary of State for attempting to use diplomacy with North Korea to ease the rising tensions. (“Trump tweets that Tillerson is ‘wasting his time’ on North Korea talks,” Oct. 1)

Not only does our president dismiss Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s attempts, he pours more fuel on the fire by again referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as “Rocket Man.” He is consistently inappropriate and childish.

Congress should not wait for the special counsel to pronounce if it has found grounds for impeachment. It should censure the president now. Lawmakers should speak up and put him on notice that his conduct in office deserves a formal rebuke.

Not to step up to the plate is a dereliction of duty, which itself deserves censure.

Alan Rachins, Los Angeles

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To the editor: President Trump’s ignorance of foreign policy is dangerous. He undercut Tillerson’s attempt at diplomacy with North Korea and taunted its leader, who is as thin-skinned and volatile as Trump himself.

He thus exacerbated rather than cooled down tensions between our country, which has an arsenal of nuclear weapons, and North Korea, which is on the verge of weaponizing nuclear bombs that can reach our shores.

We can only hope that cooler heads in the administration prevail.

Ann Edelman, Woodland Hills

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To the editor: This is a plea to Tillerson on behalf of millions of Americans:

Now, you have the power to communicate with Kim and, with Chinese cooperation, forge a deal that will protect Americans from nuclear war.

Don’t resign. Do your job. If Trump tries to stop or fire you, perhaps someone in the House will have the guts to start the impeachment process.

Robert M. Fox, Playa Vista

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