Letters to the Editor: Trump’s repeated lies about our elections show a lack of respect for us

To the editor: President Trump’s failure to address the American people in February, to formally explain his launch of the war in Iran, demonstrated a lack of respect. His choice to give a prime-time address from the White House Thursday on so-called election integrity was also disrespectful, given the lies and exaggerations of his speech (“Trump repeats debunked claims about voting vulnerabilities in prime-time speech,” July 16).

For instance, his special dig at California’s recent election inaccurately confused the end of vote-counting with the official certification of votes. Trump’s speech left the impression that he is hopelessly addicted to lies, slander and conspiracy theories. His discussion of “election integrity” renders a serious issue as a fake one, spun to his advantage.

I recommend that Trump be quiet: No more hot-air speeches, self-serving rants or unserious all-caps online posts until he has something decent to say that is worthy of our attention.

D. Keith Naylor, South Pasadena

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To the editor: As usual, Trump’s attacks on our elections are filled with misinformation and the laying of groundwork for attacks on election results that don’t match his authoritarian dictates. But his Oval Office speech on Thursday reached new heights of hypocrisy.

Trump warns the nation about assaults on our voting systems by Chinese and other foreign enemies. But since the beginning of Trump’s second term, the personnel at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency — the top U.S. agency specifically tasked with protecting American election systems — has shrunk by nearly one-third. The agency also ended federal support for the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center.

Faced with his misinformation and lies, his administration’s seizure of election ballots, his demands to have access to voter rolls and his likely intent to overturn adverse November election results, our congressional representatives and we voters need to forcefully stand up to his authoritarian and anti-democratic threats. This is not the United States of America our forefathers founded 250 years ago.

Ken Goldman, Beverly Hills

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To the editor: Amid all the back-and-forth between Democrats and Republicans as to the authenticity of our elections, I have come to this conclusion: Many states may not have committed outright voter fraud. However, if not actually “fixed,” the process can certainly be swayed to favor one party or candidate over another.

Mail-in ballots, ballot harvesting, the vulnerability of certain voting machines to hacking and a lack of verification of voter residency or registration may all legally sway an election result.

And the “assurance” in California (for example) by Gov. Gavin Newsom that our state already has statutes against noncitizens voting in federal elections is both suspicious and ridiculous. How does he or the state plan to enforce those laws? The honor system?

Hence, I support the SAVE America Act to simply enforce the absolute legality of only those qualified to vote in a federal election. And the argument that this will adversely affect people of color and women is racist, sexist and demeaning to those groups, implying that they’re simply incapable of getting a proper ID.

Cleaning up the potential swaying or manipulating of the voting process is not such a terrible idea.

Rick Solomon, Lake Balboa

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To the editor: Trump is both deluded and desperate. Any American with common sense knows that multiple court cases, recounts and state investigations have demonstrated the fairness and legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election. Yet in his address to the nation, Trump claims he has proof to the contrary in an attempt to shake voter confidence and get support for his ridiculous SAVE America Act.

Claiming China has collected sensitive voter intel, which is actually available to the public, is evidence of his dishonesty. Then China somehow used this information to defeat him in 2020 but not in 2024? And making public huge quantities of irrelevant “evidence” that he knows nobody will plough through further demonstrates his treachery.

The only thing he has proved is that he is petrified about losing his control of Congress in November.

Alan Abajian, Alta Loma

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To the editor: It seems to me there are three approaches Trump can take. One is the front-end approach, which is to attempt to prevent midterm elections from taking place by declaring a national security emergency — internal or foreign enemies, or technical ones that have poisoned the democratic election, causing the need for a delay. The second is the back-end approach; based on security issues, the results of the election must be disqualified. New elections need to take place.

The third (and most promising option for our future) is that Trump is convinced that the coup will not work and that unimpeded elections will take place.

Jack Kaczorowski, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Trump in an Aug. 11, 2015, interview with Chris Cuomo: “I am the most fabulous whiner. I do whine because I want to win. And I’m not happy if I’m not winning. And I am a whiner. And I’m a whiner and I keep whining and whining until I win.”

Elle Kranen, Carlsbad

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To the editor: Growing up as a kid in California, I always remember watching the news on election night and by bedtime, I would have a good sense of who was going to win and lose. When I would wake up the next morning, the results pretty much stayed the same, with the exception of a rare upset. By the time I came home from school, the election results were basically final. The absentee votes would be counted over the following days, but they never swayed the results; they just changed the percentages. Two days following the election, it was effectively over and we moved on with our lives.

California politicians redesigned our elections to be more secure, fair and inclusive, but they now take almost six weeks to certify and we are seeing a repeating pattern of large vote dumps going toward losing candidates several days after the election. It is now hard not to question the integrity of our elections as this happens right in front of us.

The optics of this election have been too bad and the responses from election officials have been too weak. Can any California politician step right up and convince us that our elections are completely honest?

Ken Walsh, Los Angeles