Letters to the Editor: Trump wasn’t ‘simply doing his job’ on Jan. 6. His immunity plea deserved to fail
To the editor: The answer to Donald Trump’s immunity argument, which was rejected by judges of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, is very simple.
A president takes an oath to protect and defend the Constitution, which requires him to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” Some parties may suffer damage through his execution of the laws; in those cases, after leaving office, a former president should be immune from prosecution for simply doing his job.
If, on the other hand, those damages come from violating the law, a former president should be subject to prosecution, because he was not performing his job as president.
It is clear that Joe Biden won the 2020 election, and in accordance with the law of the land he is president. Thus former President Trump, through his vociferous public denial of Biden’s legally sanctioned victory, was inciting his followers to violate the law.
Trump defied his duty as president.
John Jacobi, San Gabriel
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To the editor: Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung sounds just as ill-informed as Trump. For him to say, “Without complete immunity, a president of the United States would not be able to properly function,” is ludicrous, as our presidents have been functioning just fine without total immunity for more than 200 years.
This screams fascism, the term Trump uses to describe the Democratic Party.
The Oxford English Dictionary describes fascism as a belief in the supremacy of one national or ethnic group, a contempt for democracy, an insistence on obedience to a powerful leader and a strong demagogic approach. I’m waiting for the day the Oxford includes a picture of Trump next to this definition.
Ron Diton, Upland
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To the editor: Learning all the ways Trump is attempting to gain his party’s nomination for president, I am convinced he has no interest in governing. Rather than offer his vision for the future, the former president just wants to play the game and win.
There is much convincing, straightforward reporting out there for all voters to learn the truth. I only wish his supporters would seek out those facts.
Claire Marmion, Seal Beach
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To the editor: No, Mr. Trump, you can’t shoot me and get away with it.
Tom Budlong, Los Angeles
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To the editor: Here’s a note regarding the constant and insistent utilization of the term “MAGA” by Democrats far and wide, including and most prominently by President Biden — stop it!
The term “MAGA,” an acronym of Trump’s campaign slogan, plays perfectly into the Trump playbook. Trump billboarded it on hats, shirts, posters and so forth, and the Democrats’ use of it only furthers and emphasizes its ugly message: that it is the criminally indicted ex-president who is “making America great again.”
“MAGA Republicans,” as Biden frequently refers to them, is a compliment to the Republican base that disrespects our democracy and advocates an attack on every principle we hold sacred. Democrats don’t help their own cause by using a nickname that suggests the GOP is somehow improving our nation.
Best to just call them anti-American, fascists or maybe just “Trumplicans.”
Lee Cohen, Glendale
