To the editor: Oh, to live in Jonah Goldberg’s world, where one can be so blasé as to conclude that President Trump’s zone-flooding can’t go on forever. In his world, one can imagine that Trump is more interested in the appearance of quasi-monarchical powers than the reality that if he oversteps, members of his coalition “might break with him,” and that “courts are already demonstrating the limits of presidential power.”
Really? Unqualified, dangerous nominees have been confirmed for the Cabinet, Elon Musk has quickly accessed sensitive information, and international aid has been halted. The courts have no enforcement power of their own.
So who or what is to stop Trump? Perhaps it will take ineffectual responses — or no responses at all — to another pandemic and other crises to rein him in. I’m fearful this is the threshold required to change course.
Jennifer Pinkerton, Glendale
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To the editor: Whatever one thinks rational about Goldberg’s observations, ask yourself the following:
By what measure should the leaders and citizens of Canada, Denmark, Greenland and Panama think the publicly stated threats to their sovereignty from the president of the world’s most powerful country are less than Trump “overplaying his hand”?
According to the author, the supposed comfort afforded those countries and other nations not yet known is that Trump’s “coalition might break with him.” The United Nations and the vast majority of its member states are no doubt grateful for such a powerful statement.
For the record, in Goldberg’s written opinion, nothing Trump has advocated to date ranks as actually having already overplayed his hand. Thus, the “if.”
But, there’s always a beachfront condo at Mediterranean Resort Gaza awaiting anyone who thinks Trump is just “zone-flooding” and not totally unhinged.
Ted Rosenblatt, Hancock Park
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To the editor: Goldberg opines that Trump can’t maintain his current pace of action. I fear he underestimates the extent to which Republicans’ spineless passivity will enable Trump to persist.
There is a scene in “The Wizard of Oz” where the Cowardly Lion agrees to enter the Wicked Witch’s castle, “Wicked Witch or no Wicked Witch,” to save Dorothy. But before doing so, he asks the Tin Man and Scarecrow to do just one thing for him: “Talk me out of it.”
I envision a similar scene taking place in the homes of some Republican legislators as they head out to the Capitol certain mornings promising that this is the day they finally speak out defending democracy, “Donald Trump or no Donald Trump.” But, before leaving home, each begs their spouse to “talk me out of it.”
Unlike the movie, there will be no recipients of medals marked “courage” in this Republican Congress.
Stephen Gladstone, Shaker Heights, Ohio
