Re “Trump, states at odds over power to reopen” (April 14): The silence is deafening among the supporters of President Trump and his cheerleaders at Fox News. His audacious comments regarding his absolute “authority” as president are as alarming as they are untrue.

What has happened to the defenders of states’ rights? The president seems to have waved his magic wand and his supporters are again lulled into silent acceptance. One can only imagine how the alarm bells and whistles would be sounding if those same comments were uttered by President Obama.

Steve Schneider

Carlsbad


Trump said, “When somebody is president of the United States, your authority is total.” He later added he would issue reports backing up his claim, which legal experts say isn’t supported by the Constitution.

Remember he also said wouldn’t mind being president for life and that he wants his people to sit up at attention when he talks like they do for Kim Jong Un. Trump and his Republican minions seem to want want to establish a dictatorship. They’re doing it by extending executive power, repressing efforts to hold the government accountable, controlling the media, equating dissension to treason, and manipulating elections. Return to government of, by, and for the people, Blue no matter who.

Anthony Kopec


Escondido

Donald Trump’s recent “regal” proclamations are ludicrous in the extreme. Doesn’t he know about the 10th Amendment? His threats to states and persons who refuse to bow to his “decree” include “I would like to see that person run for election.” This is yet another example of the political ambition and greed that consume this man, that color his every move, mood and thought. His malfeasant miscalculations have already burdened our health care system with over one quarter of the entire world’s COVID-19 cases. For this he expects loyalty and fealty?

He has blindly refused to develop a coherent plan for national and international testing to provide a real data base for projecting a way out of our current economic miasma. That’s his job and he has failed. Let him talk, let him rant, let him propose, but as Governor Cuomo advises: “Do not engage with him.”

Paul Chelminiak


East Village

The sad irony is that the president wants all the power but no responsibility. As the song goes, you can’t have one without the other

The governors took the responsibility to close down the economy to safeguard the people. Trump refused to issue a national stay at home order and so there are about six Republican governors who have followed his lead and not done it either. Keep your eyes on those more or less rural states and see what happens in them. Viruses are non-partisan.

Trump came in with Steve Bannon to dismantle the “administrative state” and we’ve seen what happens when you do that.. As a result we have no Federal response coordinating the effort for the production and distribution of lifesaving PPE for first responders an ventilators and nationwide testing without which we can really not safely open the economy. It’s been a shameful failure.


Louise Buck

Clairemont

When asked about opening up the economy, the president said, “I would say without question it’s the biggest decision I have ever had to make.” I beg to differ.

The “biggest decision” came and went in early January when he chose not to alert the government or the public as to the coronavirus that was looming. Instead, he ignored acting on information that might have been taken to save lives.


He blamed fake news, governors, Democrats, Obama and any other anti-Trumpers on his usual list for falsely warning that a deadly virus was on its way.

Let’s hope that for this next “big decision” that he doesn’t rely on his instincts and play by the seat of his pants. Maybe this time he will listen to the experts and take their advice.

Marjorie Anderson

Del Mar

