To the editor: While we are scratching our collective heads trying to figure out what President Trump and his quasi-deputy Elon Musk are doing, I hope we don’t lose sight of the larger picture.
Is President Trump seeking to become Emperor Trump? Does he have almost unlimited power? Is Congress rubber-stamping all of his proposals and nominations? Has the U.S. Supreme Court told him that he can pretty much do anything he wants while he is president without fear of consequences?
Are he and Musk dismantling the federal agencies that might slow down their agenda? Is the president seeking to expand his “empire” by acquiring other countries?
Is there separation of powers any longer, or has it all been concentrated in one branch that also controls the armed forces? Can someone explain the difference between Trump’s aspirations and those of old kings and recent dictators and autocrats who amassed great power at the expense of their own citizens and anyone who stood in their way?
We may be willing or unwilling witnesses to the start of another global shift in world power that most of us aren’t ready for and don’t want.
Robert Peltzman, Westlake Village
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To the editor: Trump and Musk have just succeeded in making the United States the laughingstock of the entire world. Our democratic institutions, aided by a passive and cowed media and a toothless political opposition, have been unable to stop an unauthorized private citizen from seizing the reins of government.
The Los Angeles Time reports, “‘Shadow government’? Billionaire Elon Musk’s grip on U.S. government spending raises questions,” while the New York Times writes, “Trump Brazenly Defies Laws in Escalating Executive Power Grab.”
If this were another country, the U.S. media would be screaming, “Coup d’etat!”
So much for our much-vaunted checks and balances and separation of powers. No one will ever again believe that the mighty United States government is anything but a paper tiger.
Ruth Bettelheim, St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands
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To the editor: Democrats and Republicans have complained for 40 years about the rising national debt. Finally, Trump appoints Musk to get to work on finding wasteful spending and cut it. So why are Democrats going berserk over this? Or were they just pretending to care about the debt?
The left can whine and complain all they want about Trump and Musk, but it only makes them look even worse than polls suggest they’re doing.
Americans have voted for and want fiscal responsibility. It’s long overdue, so to criticize these actions is both hypocritical and not very intelligent.
The quicksand is only going higher on the left as it fights against common sense.
Wayne Taralson, Sioux Falls, S.D.
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To the editor: Most of us want to help those less fortunate than us. We would like to be remembered as a compassionate person who wanted to make the world a better place.
So what explains the reason why people of great wealth and power seek to inflict pain and suffering on so many throughout the world? Why deprive them of badly needed food and medicine? Why blame immigrants and those whose sexuality or gender do not conform to outdated norms for problems in our society that they did not cause? Why make citizens pay more for lifesaving drugs that they can barely afford?
It is my hope that their names will forever become synonymous with the hatred and misery they inflict on others. Humanity and compassion are what make us great, not wealth.
Alan Coles, Long Beach
