Opinion: Don’t go overboard praising the anti-Trump Republicans for speaking out

To the editor: It’s so great that Republican Sens. Bob Corker (Tenn.) and Jeff Flake (Ariz.) have finally found the backbone to point out that our nation is being “debased” by President Trump and his infantile approach to governing, and that his behavior is “reckless, outrageous and undignified.” (“What rift? Republicans in Congress try to push forward on priorities despite acrimony,” Oct. 25)

But the entire Republican Party — the two retiring senators included — is complicit in the degradation of America. It has been ever since the debasement and coarsening began in the 1990s with Newt Gingrich and his Contract on America. (Oh, sorry, I meant “Contract With America.”)

These men may, as the Trump henchman and former top White House advisor Stephen K. Bannon predicts, “reap the whirlwind.” But the whirlwind has been blowing in their direction for 25 years. Our present debacle is merely the logical result of the whirlwind of the rabid right.

Barbara Carlton, El Cajon

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To the editor: While I applaud both Corker and Flake for speaking out against Trump and the damage he has done to the presidency, civil discourse in this country and the political process, I do not believe that by choosing to retire from public office instead of running for reelection they are courageous in any way.

In fact, they are walking away from the fight, as if they do not have the strength to participate. It looks like they are afraid to lose. Corker and Flake are creating a vacuum for more extreme right-wing voices to fill the void.

I understand that winning a Senate race in any climate is an expensive proposition, but if they truly had the courage of their convictions, they would speak out now and during a Senate race.

Wendy Prober-Cohen, Tarzana

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To the editor: If I were a Republican strategist, I would hardly be losing sleep over the insurgency of the Bannon and Trump wing of the party. (“Has the Trump wing of the GOP handed Democrats an opening to retake the Senate?” Oct. 26)

What they are offering is basically an updated, slightly cruder version of the traditional Republican campaign playbook since the time of President Nixon: Use divisive, often race-based tactics to stir up fear and anger among core voters, then once the election is won, pivot to serving the interests of your wealthy donors.

Trump is the modern master of this two-pronged approach, and there’s little evidence it won’t continue to be effective for Republicans, regardless of a few GOP senators suddenly discovering their conscience.

Jonathan Goetze, Pearblossom, Calif.

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To the editor: I was privileged to happen upon the eloquent, moving speech that Flake delivered on the Senate floor Wednesday rebuking Trump.

How sad it is that he is retiring! And even sadder is the fact that he, rather than the current president, is not sitting in the Oval Office.

In short, Flake summed up what America has been and should be, not what it has become. He is, in my eyes, truly an American hero.

It is too bad that most of the Republican senators lack the spine to stand up for what is right and what America is all about.

Barbara Graham, Dana Point

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