Mark Kelley

Marshfield, Mass.

To the Editor:

Let’s face reality: After what happened on Friday — with the Senate abasing itself utterly by refusing to call witnesses — President Trump’s address Tuesday night should be called “The State of the Kingdom.”

Betsy Burr

Pompton Plains, N.J.

To the Editor:

When Alan Dershowitz stood before the Senate and said that whatever a president might do in seeking re-election could not be considered impeachable, I would have expected that at least a few senators might have thrown their milk at him before walking out in protest. None did. No Senate Republican dismissed this notion of an unchecked executive as a dangerous, tyrannical idea.

I taught American history and government for 20 years. I always reminded my students that the Constitution, however ingenious its construction, was mere words on paper. Most countries have nice constitutions filled with glorious language. I taught my students that Americans always needed to defend and strengthen the principles and ideals of our system or we could lose them.

Congress is filled with cowardly Republicans, terrified of President Trump and his Twitter fingers, comfortable with the notion of a president who cares for nothing but his personal gain. I had been hoping that Republicans would finally stand up and put country before party. But watching this trial in the Senate has kicked the hope right out of me.

Peter Whitehouse

Mount Pleasant, S.C.

To the Editor:

Re “A Party Now Less Likely to Tell Trump ‘Enough’” (“Trump on Trial” series, front page, Feb. 1):

Carl Hulse asks if G.O.P. senators will ever say “enough” when it comes to President Trump and his ostensibly wrongful behavior. Well, it appears that Republican senators have indeed said “enough,” not with respect to Mr. Trump’s behavior, but rather with the shameful behavior of the Democrats and their handmaidens in the liberal media. They’ve said “enough” with the endless stunts and manufactured scandals designed to remove Mr. Trump from office. They’ve said “enough” with the half-baked plots to overturn the results of the 2016 election.