Readers React: If Trump is dangerous, what about the Democrats who encouraged confronting conservatives?

To the editor: Harold Meyerson characterizes Donald Trump as the most dangerous president ever and spills much ink making accusations about the president inciting his followers to violence.

Before he goes too far with that, perhaps Meyerson can tell me where he was when Democratic politicians were condoning the harassment of conservative figures in restaurants and other public places. What can he say about rabble-rousing demagogues, hiding behind titles like “reverend,” spewing hatred against conservatives?

A different standard applies, I suppose.

So far as being dangerous is concerned, the truly dangerous president is the weak, posturing poseur drawing his lines in the sand and then retreating frantically at the first confrontation. Can anyone remember having one of those?

James French, Laguna Hills

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To the editor: Whether you are a Trump fan or not, you cannot have escaped the stress and negativity that he has brought into our everyday lives in the last few years. He has created major schisms in institutions, families and among friends.

I cannot imagine anyone who could have escaped the turmoil and angst of his chaotic leadership based on negativity, bigotry and nihilistic tendencies. I cannot read about him, hear about him or see him on television without feeling agitated.

We can lament the depravity of his individual actions and how they are affecting our democracy and credibility in the world, but what will have the most negative and lingering effect of the Trump presidency is the divisiveness that he has brought to our country — and for that he should be held accountable.

Lynn Lorenz, Newport Beach

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To the editor: Meyerson can blame Fox News all he wants for Trump’s victory in 2016. But one needs to acknowledge that a major reason Hillary Clinton, with most other news outlets in her corner, did not win was because she was an unlikable candidate.

Edward S. Reisman, Santa Monica

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To the editor: Meyerson writes that Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and other Republicans were more genteel about their racism than Trump. For the record, as genial and charming as he was, Reagan wasn’t that genteel.

Shortly after formally becoming the Republican Party’s presidential nominee in 1980, Reagan declared in a speech, “I believe in states’ rights.” Where did he do this? On his home turf in Sacramento or Los Angeles?

No. Reagan gave this speech at a fair in rural Neshoba County, Miss., the same county where, only 16 years before, three civil rights workers were brutally killed.

Bob Wieting, Simi Valley

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