Opinion: Trump deserves no praise for using his ‘indoor voice’ to push a radical agenda

To the editor: Did any of The Times reporters writing about President Trump’s address to Congress Tuesday actually listen to the speech or read the transcript in its entirety? What exactly was “temperate” or “optimistic”? (“Trump lays out ambitious plans for healthcare and immigration in a disciplined speech to Congress,” Feb. 28)

Trump continues to provide dangerous misinformation about immigration, immigrants and crime perpetrated by immigrants, which only serves to stoke misplaced fear and violence and discrimination against immigrants and minorities. Look no further than the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement office Trump proposed. How exactly does that fit in with a temperate or optimistic narrative?

As a senior White House official characterized the speech to a reporter, it was “nationalism with an indoor voice.”

Roy Forbes, Los Angeles

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To the editor: After a month of high insanity followed by one hour of scripted sobriety, are we to suspend common sense and believe that rationality has arrived in the White House?

Jonathan Greenspan, Westlake Village

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To the editor: “Everything that is broken in our country can be fixed. Every problem can be solved.”

It has been a long time since I have heard a president say those optimistic and encouraging words. It has been a long time since we’ve had true leadership from a president.

Trump deserves our support, not resistance.

Jim Blumel, Santa Clarita

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To the editor: Trump said, “We want harmony and stability, not war and conflict.”

Simultaneously, he wants to drastically increase U.S. defense spending by $54 billion, and to do that he plans, among other things, to make drastic cuts in the State Department, where diplomacy tries to prevent loss of life through consensus building and compromise.

I appeal to California’s congressional delegation to recognize the absurdity of this stance and to continue to oppose this saber-rattling agenda. We already spend more than the next seven countries combined spend on defense.

Nora Lee, Altadena

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