To the Editor:

Re “U.S. Secretary Said to Coerce NOAA Leaders” (front page, Sept. 10):

President Trump’s remarks about Hurricane Dorian’s threat to Alabama could have been explained as a simple mistake, but instead they revealed once again the elaborate apparatus that works to preserve one of this president’s most important values — his own infallibility.

In the face of lies and misstatements, advisers, cabinet members and political appointees, whether freely or cajoled, rally to his defense. Even G.O.P. members of Congress remain mute and complicit, too fearful of poking the monster of insecurity, who will always seek refuge in the cave of infallibility.

Carol Burke

New Delhi

To the Editor:

A 2017 New Yorker cartoon had the TV weather forecast split into “Democratic weather” and “Republican weather.” Back then, this was satire.

Ilya Shlyakhter

Allston, Mass.

To the Editor:

Talk about a tempest in a teapot! Never has so much ink been wasted for so long over such an absolutely inconsequential matter as whether a hurricane, which is now gone, might come to Alabama. I guess if it can be used to heckle the president, the press won’t let it go.