Opinion: Trump is selling himself. Readers say the L.A. Times shouldn’t help
He’s under multiple criminal investigations. He incited a deadly insurrection. He’s an ex-president running to get his old job back and one of the most beloved Republicans in the country.
And some of our letter writers want us to ignore him or cover him less prominently.
After Donald Trump announced his candidacy in the 2024 election, most of the readers who expressed anguish over the prospect of the 45th president becoming the 47th also criticized The Times’ prominent coverage of the campaign kickoff. You’ve read similar media critiques on the letters page before: Giving Trump so much attention plays into his hands and amounts to free advertising for a media-savvy troll. Some just don’t want to see his picture on TV or in their newspaper every day.
We published a few of those letters earlier in the week, but more reaction to Trump’s announcement — and criticism of the media’s coverage of it — has continued to come it.
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To the editor: It is a great displeasure to see multiple pages in The Times containing photos of Trump and articles on him. Please, cease and desist.
I understand that the current news must be reported. However, it is difficult enough to find the real news when this showboating is promoted incessantly.
Cynthia Jackson, Los Angeles
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To the editor: I was so disappointed to see your front-page coverage of Trump’s announcement. You decided to place the twice-impeached divisive former president’s campaign kickoff above the fold with a picture.
I am not sure what your intent was, but you fed into his never-ending desire for publicity.
My parents and I have subscribed to The Times for more than half a century, so it is not easy for me to decide to cancel my subscription for the remainder of the year. This is not an easy decision.
Please extend my apologies to your wonderful writers, most of whom I’m guessing feel my revulsion.
Sam Fibish-DeWitt, West Hollywood
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To the editor: I remember the immortal words of Glinda the good witch in “The Wizard of Oz” when she was threatened by the Wicked Witch of the West: “Oh rubbish. You have no power here. Be gone before somebody drops a house on you too!”
Time to change the channel on this tired and worn-out rerun. It has finally run its course in this ever-changing landscape with its pitiful bitterness and lies.
Just like oil, the truth will always surface, eventually.
Frances Terrell Lippman, Sherman Oaks
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To the editor: I would have preferred Trump’s announcement in the back pages. Here we go again.
Joseph Miller, Glendale
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To the editor: Despite your editorial and two letters in Wednesday’s paper that criticized the publication of pictures of Trump as free advertising for him, there again on Page A-2 was a full-color picture of the former president fist pumping at his Tuesday announcement, backed by a panoply of flags of the country whose democracy he has repeatedly tried to destroy.
I have removed the disgusting image and shredded it. Stop insulting your readership.
Henry Hespenheide, Hermosa Beach
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To the editor: Stop feeding the monster who wants to consume our democracy. Stop printing photos of Trump. And bury articles about him in the comics section.
Petti Van Rekom, San Clemente
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To the editor: I said it before and I’ll say it again.
Trump is ineligible to run in 2024. He never conceded his loss in 2020, and he and his lemmings still claim he won. Therefore he is currently in the middle of his second term and cannot run for a third.
Either he admits his loss in 2020, or he can’t run. He can’t have it both ways.
Steve Klein, Thousand Oaks
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To the editor: The Times editorial board’s hateful denunciation of Trump’s bid for a second term was its meanest editorial yet.
After reading many of the attacks over the last six years against the former president, I have come to the conclusion that for the media and the elites Trump is a socially unacceptable, hell-raising, party-crashing outlaw.
For me, Trump was a good one-term president who disgraced himself with his post-election behavior. It’s time for Republican voters to retire him. After all, there’s a mean alligator hiding out in the Florida swamps who would be hard to beat in 2024.
Mark Walker, Yorba Linda
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To the editor: So, the “former guy” made his announcement, probably hoping it will shield him from prosecution.
He pretty much stuck to the teleprompter in his speech but still reeled off the same lies and false characterization of his Potemkin village tenure. It will be interesting to see if the spineless Republicans who let him get away with it before will still support him.
Barbara H. Bergen, Los Angeles
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To the editor: Donald who?
Richie Locasso, Hemet
