Letters to the Editor: Trump’s coronavirus briefings only scratch the surface of his incompetence

To the editor: Columnist Jonah Goldberg is right about President Trump’s made-for-TV coronavirus briefings doing more harm than good. But he misses a larger issue.

Early on, Trump dithered in not communicating the seriousness of the threat posed by the coronavirus to the American people. Until mid-March, Trump dismissed the seriousness of the global pandemic, ignoring the advice of the medical and scientific communities.

While Trump seemingly worried about the threat the virus posed to the economy and his reelection, his delay in recognizing reality will almost certainly lead to more illness, more deaths and more damage to our economy.

There’s an important message here: We should expect our leaders to forewarn and prepare us for dangers to our health and safety.

Greg Ryan, Woodland Hills

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To the editor: I don’t find Trump’s coronavirus briefings terrifying at all. I do find Goldberg’s comments rather terrifying, however. They are petty, overblown and extraordinarily mean spirited.

Goldberg makes much of the president’s comments regarding missing, perhaps stolen, masks from New York hospitals. Goldberg wants Trump to provide hard evidence. How does Goldberg know the president is wrong or not telling the truth? He doesn’t. Stolen masks are very much an issue, especially now.

In my opinion, the president is doing a pretty good job. Dr. Anthony Fauci can handle Trump, and Trump can handle Fauci.

Get a hold of yourself, Mr. Goldberg.

Nathan Post, Santa Barbara

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To the editor: Thanks to Goldberg for articulating how our president is not rising to the challenge of the coronavirus crisis.

From the beginning of this presidency, many have warned that Trump’s credibility deficit could be perilous if we were to face a national crisis. We cannot believe a word he says, yet “we’re all supposed to pretend the president is up to this challenge.”

I too hate these unnecessarily long daily news briefings because too much time is spent by the president patting himself on the back or attacking his enemies. Trump has tried to turn news briefings into the rallies that he misses so much, but he is not speaking to his fawning fans here, and he is just not equipped to engage intelligent reporters whose job it is to scrape away layers of muck to uncover the truth.

We don’t need to hear even one word from the president on a daily basis. We need him to get out of the way of our experts.

Kathy Harty, Sierra Madre