Letters to the Editor: Trump’s impeachment stonewalling is an actual constitutional crisis

To the editor: The president has finally created an actual constitutional crisis. This statement is no longer hyperbole or exaggeration. (“Trump brazenly stiff-arms the impeachment inquiry,” editorial, Oct. 8)

The defiance of the White House to the constitutional process of impeachment in the United States House of Representatives is chilling. The president brazenly challenges the power of a coequal branch of government and seeks to relegate the legislative branch to a subservient department of the executive branch.

If we are to continue as a constitutional republic and not an authoritarian dictatorship, President Trump must be removed from office. Failure in this endeavor means the end of our grand experiment.

John Rosenberg, Woodland Hills

..

To the editor: Many people describe what Trump is doing as “stonewalling.” What other metaphor besides the overdetermined word “wall” could help explain the strategies of Trump and Republicans to combat the impeachment inquiry?

What comes to mind is the “dazzle” camouflage used for Navy ships during World War I. Whether it was called dazzle painting, razzle-dazzle or disruptive coloration, World War I ships were brazenly painted with outlandishly striped Cubist designs.

These were meant not to make the ships hard to detect by submarines (other technologies like sound devices made that impossible), but to make them visually confusing and hard to hit.

So, how do you camouflage something by making it more conspicuous? Trump’s public outreach to China on the South Lawn of the White House is one example. Obstructing Congress’ impeachment inquiry is another.

Robert Nashak, Los Angeles

..

To the editor: Speaking of coups, what should we call it when a president usurps the authority of one branch of our government?

What do we call it when a president warns of civil war if he is impeached and removed from office? When a president wrecks treaties, undermines our strongest alliances, supports our enemies and does not defend our elections from foreign interference?

It seems that those actions change the very structure of our government, while impeachment is a process that is inherently American.

Marianne Hunter, Rancho Palos Verdes