Readers React: There are 4.5 million Trump voters in California. They want their state to cooperate with the White House

To the editor: After reading Harold Meyerson’s opinion piece, I was left with the impression that California is one large anti-Trump monolith. (“In Red America vs. Blue America, California will stay the most active front,” Opinion, April 15)

Nothing could be further from the truth, as 4.5 million California voters backed President Trump in 2016, fewer only than Texas (4.7 million) and Florida (4.6 million). A significant portion of Californians are not at all happy about their state’s refusal to cooperate with the Trump administration.

Meyerson criticizes Trump for restricting voting rights (requiring official identification sounds reasonable to me), barring refugees from Muslim-majority countries (seems wise until completely vetted), wanting to build a wall on our southern border (controlling all of our borders seems wise), and wanting to ask residents if they are citizens in the next official census (why not?).

There is no racism or xenophobia in the Trump administration policies, just reasonable security measures. Meyerson seems to be having a difficult time adjusting to practical solutions put forth by the White House.

Mike Bennett, Rowland Heights

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To the editor: Meyerson paints a grim picture of California’s battle with the Trump administration, drawing parallels to the strife that preceded the Civil War.

But his parting warning-in-passing got my attention. He wrote, “The weight of demographics — assuming we stay a democracy — will eventually defeat them.”

I wanted to understand why Meyerson expressed concern that our democracy is at risk, so I looked to the publication for which he is the executive editor, the American Prospect, and indeed found the basis for his warning in the magazine’s article, “The Democratic Emergency,” warning of the risk that Trump could entrench his powers unchallenged by the Republican-led Congress. One of the hypothetical scenarios under which that could happen is a catastrophe similar to 9/11.

Trump could declare a national emergency as justification to suspend some civil liberties or even elections to protect the nation. Can we trust this Congress to stop him?

William Goldman, Palos Verdes Estates

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