Readers React: RedState’s purge of Trump critics and Daily Kos’ hardening leftism don’t bode well for online discourse

To the editor: The conservative punditry site RedState, which recently eliminated any criticism of President Trump, has a mirror image in the liberal DailyKos.com. As one of the tens of thousands of members and contributors for more than a decade, I can tell you that what had been a liberal site tolerant of diverse political views has changed.

As an example, Michelle Wolf’s routine at the White House Correspondents Assn. dinner not only was praised, but my criticism of her was met with vitriol and the accusation of “middle of the roadism.” I got a whiff of how “moderate” Republican officials fear the ire of Trump if they speak out against his behavior.

The internet has the capacity to bring people together, but as we are learning, this is being overshadowed by fragmentation into hostile groups that protect against infiltration, which comes to mean expressing a different perspective. In a cyberworld of infinite, yet evanescent choices, thoughtfulness doesn’t have a chance.

Al Rodbell, Carlsbad

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To the editor: I seldom agree with Patterico’s Pontifications writer Patrick Frey, who was recently dismissed as a RedState contributor, but this time I share his concerns. It should scare all Americans that a group of writers of any political leaning has been purged for opposing President Trump.

However, Frey neglects to mention his own responsibility in creating the environment that made it possible. For example, to use his own words, he asserts that Obamacare “increases premiums and reduces freedom.”

Well, I have never bought into that argument, and it would appear his “principled” conservatism let him blur fact and fiction, which has ultimately cost him a very real and dear freedom. Actually, we have all lost a bit of freedom.

Jeff Gold, Granada Hills

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To the editor: Frey writes that he and other critics of Trump at RedState were recently terminated by the site’s owners. Prior to that purge, Frey says, RedState was distinguished by its commentary on principled, constitutional conservatism.

He should send this quote by Republican President Theodore Roosevelt to RedState’s owners:

“To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”

Nina Trotta-Sutton, Simi Valley

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