To the editor: I realize you are trying to maintain a semblance of balance in your Opinion section, but can’t a distinguished newspaper like the Los Angeles Times do better than a political hack like Scott Jennings? (“Why I’m not worried about Trump without guardrails,” Opinion, Aug. 29)
Jennings is a product of the George W. Bush years and a protégé of the prodigious liar Karl Rove. In his latest piece on former President Trump, however, he attempts to outdo his mentor.
For example, with my comments in brackets:
“For Trump, his actions on Jan. 6 were a low point in a presidency that otherwise most Republicans found more than palatable. [Apart from the first insurrection since the Civil War.] He cut taxes [on corporations and the wealthiest Americans], appointed conservative judges [such as the incompetent Aileen Cannon] and kept the nation safe [except for the hundreds of thousands of Americans who died when he downplayed the pandemic, put his totally unqualified son-in-law in charge of the medical supply shortage, ignored public health experts and promoted quack remedies such as ivermectin].”
No wonder Jennings endorses a pathological liar for president.
Linda Whitener, Pawleys Island, S.C.
..
To the editor: Jennings calls Jan. 6, 2021, a “low point” in Trump’s presidency. The man tried to steal the election!
Jennings says Trump “kept us safe,” although he disbanded our pandemic protection unit before we got hit — so there was no plan, no early warning and no quarantines. We were blindsided and left to fly by the seat of our pants.
This is more both sides, blah, blah, blah, from another partisan hack.
Michael Schaller, Temple City
..
To the editor: I find wholly unconvincing Jennings’ faith in the strength of institutional guardrails such as Congress and the Supreme Court against a potential second Trump administration.
Trump would disregard the Constitution if he could get away with it. He has said as much. And the Republicans in Congress as a bloc have shown no inclination to defend their own institutional responsibilities to rein in Trump’s excesses.
The Supreme Court, decisively weighted by Trump appointees, has just expanded the scope of presidential immunity to possibly allow for the commission of manifestly illegal actions.
Jennings says Trump kept our nation safe. This disregards Trump’s culpability in pandemic deaths. His disregard of the effects of climate change puts all of us, and the entire world, at risk of worsening natural disasters.
And I can’t believe Trump when he disassociates himself from the radical reworking of the federal government put forward by so many of his former staff members in Project 2025.
Rather, I find highly credible the warnings of those who worked closely with Trump of his unfitness for the presidency. The United States will better survive a possible lurch to the left under a system of checks and balances within our constitutional framework than a lurch toward autocracy that undermines the Constitution.
Frank Albers, Seal Beach
..
To the editor: I always thought of Jennings as thoughtful and worth listening to.
But his article about not worrying that Trump will go off the rails in a second term as president was itself off the rails. A good idea to bomb Mexican drug cartels?
A convicted felon doesn’t belong near the Oval Office, Mr. Jennings.
Greg Figge, Tustin
..
To the editor: Likening Trump’s behavior in the White House to President Biden’s made me scratch my head in wonder.
An administration official told Axios that “no one is safe” from Biden’s F-bombs, and the father of a former intern in Kamala Harris’ office said people were in fear of her when she was the attorney general of California.
Really? That’s all you’ve got, Mr. Jennings?
I’m glad Jennings says he has faith in the system and voters have a chance to reward or punish policy every two years. I hope Jennings is right and voters never allow Trump near the White House again.
Nancy Reed, Woodland Hills
