To the editor: We are in the middle of a constitutional crisis, as President Trump and Elon Musk try to destroy the separation of powers and wreak havoc on the federal government, cheered on by a spineless GOP Congress. And yet The Times chooses to print yet another commentary by Josh Hammer, focusing on the out-of-sync Democratic Party (“Democrats are drifting dangerously out of sync with the American people,” March 6).
Articles like these, while they superficially seem to reflect a “both-sides” approach, sharing the page with a “liberal” view, only dangerously distort the political landscape at what is the most dangerous time since the Civil War.
What is needed is the truth. Is it the Democratic Party that is out of sync?
Consider: Hammer focused heavily on gender-identity issues. Gender is one issue among many. In reality, polls constantly reflect that the Democratic Party is far more aligned with the wishes and priorities of the general public than with the GOP — in gun-sensible regulation, fighting climate change, having the rich and corporations pay their fair share of taxes, reproductive rights, preserving the safety net for the elderly and those in need, not aligning with the dictators and preserving government services that protect our health and public well-being.
I actually agree that my party has taken gender issues way too far — and many Democrats feel the same way. But for the GOP, it has been a gift that just keeps on giving, as they use it endlessly, and the culture war generally, to distract the American public from what they are actually doing, and that, in reality, the public does not want.
Steven Schechter, Thousand Oaks
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To the editor: Hammer apparently thinks that anybody who disagrees with his political position isn’t really an American, because he asserts that nearly all Americans are on his side. He claims that Democrats received an “electoral shellacking” in November, never mind that Trump barely won the popular vote, the Republicans have a razor-thin margin in the heavily gerrymandered House, and the Senate is almost equally divided. But his worst allegation is his astoundingly bigoted statement that “people from Africa, the Middle East and Latin America” have “cultures and customs [that] are antithetical to our own.”
Geoff Kuenning, Claremont
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To the editor: As an old, retired political science professor, I guess I should point out the historical misstatement where Hammer asserts that former President Biden’s appointment of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the first DEI appointment. Ronald Reagan followed through on his explicit campaign promise to appoint the first woman to the U.S. Supreme Court, Sandra Day O’Connor in 1981. And the consensus is that her career served to justify the purposes of DEI quite well.
Gary Gray, San Diego
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To the editor: I would ask Hammer if there was any world in his mind in which a Black person can be hired and not qualify as a “DEI hire.” What bar must they clear? In an administration awash with unqualified, inexperienced appointments, we should be so lucky to have “DEI hires” like Jackson and former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Ray Lancon, San Marino
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To the editor: Hammer extols the GOP’s dominance because it addresses what Americans wanted: “… a stable pocketbook, a stable border and a stable world stage.” Trump’s fixation on tariffs has caused the stock market to drop and prices to rise for consumers.
Yes, the border is locked down, but there is no comprehensive immigration legislation to address anticipated labor shortages in the agriculture and construction sectors resulting from mass deportations.
Europe and NATO no longer trust U.S. leadership of the free world. Free and independent ally nations are threatened with forced annexation to the U.S. The compliant GOP Congress owns Trump’s dumpster fire.
Todd Collart, Ventura
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Two columns in Sunday’s Times, “Trump wants to undo all kinds of race and gender progress. Here’s what stands in his way,” by Robin Abcarian and the one by Hammer, represent the yin and the yang of American politics. Most Americans are in the political center of this conundrum, rejecting the extremes of both parties as distasteful, disruptive and not in the country’s best interest.
Allen Humphries, Indio
