Joe Flanigan

Malibu, Calif.

To the Editor:

I am among those who think it was appropriate to publish the anonymous Op-Ed. Any serious attempt to shed light on this dangerous situation should be welcomed, and I hope it will encourage others to speak out, loudly and openly.

Nevertheless, I think the fact that the writer felt the need to act in this way is in itself an argument for the 25th Amendment. If a leader is as erratic as the writer has described, if his staff sees the need to work around him, isn’t that evidence enough that he is impaired and unable to do his job?

Cecilia Martin Ford

East Hampton, N.Y.

To the Editor:

I have a problem with the anonymous opinion piece. Mr. or Ms. “Anonymous” and his or her friends in the administration have decided that invoking the 25th Amendment would create a “constitutional crisis,” so instead they have opted to do what they can to “steer the administration in the right direction until — one way or another — it’s over .”

What this article implies, if not openly states, is that the country is being run by unelected and unnamed officials — cabinet members and other appointees — who have taken it upon themselves to secretly perform policy interventions against a president they consider to be morally unfit and dangerous to the country, instead of pursuing the legal option of the 25th Amendment. This isn’t “resistance.” This is cowardice. If their actions aren’t illegal, perhaps they should be. They have created the very constitutional crisis that they claim to have averted.

Laura Shapiro

Saugerties, N.Y.

To the Editor:

While I agree with many of the sentiments expressed in the anonymous Op-Ed regarding President Trump, that The New York Times would choose to publish it sets a very bad precedent journalistically, regardless of whatever editorial justifications the paper settled upon before giving it the go-ahead.

Given the extraordinarily high-profile nature of The Times’s decision to run such a scathing piece, aren’t the floodgates now open to such unsigned attacks becoming the norm, where anyone lacking the courage of his or her convictions, and with an ax to grind, legitimate or not, can do so with the full imprimatur of national media outlets, including The Times? And, if the answer is no, won’t the president’s supporters reasonably conclude that this was nothing more than an attention-grabbing, below-the-belt stunt to undermine him during a time of particular vulnerability?

Mark Godes

Chelsea, Mass.

To the Editor:

Anonymous , I don’t know who you are, and I’m not curious. I read your Op-Ed and it gave me small comfort. On the one hand you pat yourself on the back for being part of a nebulous resistance; with the other you state that you “want the administration to succeed .” You cannot have it both ways.