To the Editor:
Re “Special Counsel Report Says Trump Would Have Been Convicted in Election Case” (nytimes.com, Jan. 14):
The particular counsel Jack Smith’s report reveals an ideal storm of systemic failure. The Supreme Courtroom’s enlargement of presidential immunity and outdated Justice Division insurance policies have made overwhelming proof irrelevant — as a result of the accused regained energy.
This isn’t nearly one man. Collectively, these authorized gaps have created a harmful blueprint for future autocrats: Undermine democracy, then win workplace to evade accountability. The founders by no means imagined that their safeguards could be twisted into instruments of impunity, defending those that assault the system they swore to uphold.
The selection earlier than us is stark: Reform these deadly flaws — by limiting immunity, prosecuting election interference and reassessing Justice Division insurance policies — or settle for a nation the place energy trumps justice.
Donald Trump didn’t simply evade accountability; he confirmed how fragile it has change into.
Jordan Ryan
Decatur, Ga.
To the Editor:
Early on in his clear, bone-dry and chilling report that documents Donald Trump’s determined makes an attempt to remain within the White Home after shedding the 2020 presidential election, the particular counsel Jack Smith states: “Mr. Trump then engaged in an unprecedented prison effort to overturn the legit outcomes of the election in an effort to retain energy.”
Just like the as soon as and future president’s habits, the report is surprising, however not stunning: We’ve identified many of the particulars on account of Mr. Trump’s second impeachment, the investigation by the Home Jan. 6 committee, the dogged work of excellent journalists and, most impressively, the truth-telling by two teams of Republicans who’ve subsequently confronted unrelenting scorn and lots of threats: those that served on Donald Trump’s workers throughout these fateful days (e.g., Cassidy Hutchinson) together with scores of elected Republicans from everywhere in the nation (e.g., Rusty Bowers).
I encourage everybody to learn this doc. Doing so honors the many individuals whose definition of citizenship we should always emulate within the troublesome days which may be coming.
Mark Keller
Portland, Ore.
To the Editor:
With Jan. 20 quick approaching and the thought of a convicted felon taking over occupancy within the White Home a looming actuality, I really feel a deep sense of soul-shriveling disgrace in my id as an American.
Can anybody assist me cope with this crippling emotion in order that I can get again to being a purposeful citizen of this august land once more?
To the Editor:
Re “Historians Take a Misguided Stand on Gaza,” by Pamela Paul (column, Jan. 10):
Ms. Paul’s wonderful piece in regards to the American Historic Affiliation’s current passage (although not last) of a counterproductive and biased decision accusing Israel of “scholasticide” — basically, the “intentional destruction” of Gaza’s instructional system — whereas ignoring the basis causes of Israel’s struggle with Hamas highlights a rising pattern we’re seeing in academia and the broader society. That is the perverse, all-or-nothing recreation of blaming Israel for every little thing whereas ignoring inconvenient and incontrovertible truths.
It is perhaps instructive to remind these historians that this all began with the terrorist assault on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas gunmen attacked Israel, massacred about 1,200 males, ladies and youngsters of their properties and at a music pageant, and took about 250 others as hostages in Gaza. Then, as hundreds of rockets rained down on Israeli civilian areas for months from the Gaza Strip, the Hamas management all however refused to barter a cease-fire or a return of hostages.
One may also be aware that the Hamas management hardly has the training of its populace as a precedence. The group is infamous for utilizing hospitals and faculties to cover weapons and terrorists and has spent the previous decade pouring most of its monetary sources into build up an infrastructure of tunnels and an enormous arsenal.
Except it’s instructing future generations the finer factors of antisemitism, hatred of Israel and in some circumstances the right way to use violence, the training of the kids of Gaza is usually an afterthought — whether it is considered in any respect.
Historic revisionism and denialism are ways lengthy embraced by Palestinian leaders. However they shouldn’t be the province of historians and scholarly teachers, who should train an unvarnished model of historical past grounded in essential inquiry and the acceptance of fundamental details.
Jonathan A. Greenblatt
New York
The author is the C.E.O. and the nationwide director of the Anti-Defamation League.
To the Editor:
I’m a historian, a member of the American Historic Affiliation and somebody who voted in favor of the decision at our annual assembly calling for a cease-fire and condemning Israel’s obliteration of Gaza’s instructional system. Pamela Paul claims that the vote is “counterproductive.”
In fact, our motion is symbolic. We search to halt the U.S. monetary and diplomatic help that allows Israeli warplanes to proceed destroying the remnants of Gaza’s faculties, libraries and archives — and killing its individuals. We would like our decision to assist construct a motion amongst our fellow residents — the vast majority of whom, polls present, share our concern about Gaza — to press Washington to do the appropriate factor.
However we’re not simply advantage signaling. Our archival analysis as historians typically reveals what previous leaders hid from their publics. We’ve got discovered, for instance, that the political dissent on American campuses over the Vietnam Warfare, like teach-ins and different types of protest, had been extra instrumental than beforehand identified in persuading Richard Nixon to withdraw U.S. fight forces from a battle that historical past has judged tragically mistaken.
As students and academics, we can not stay silent within the face of inhumane insurance policies that future historians will condemn.
Ellen Schrecker
New York
‘Pleasing’ Is Not the Correct Phrase
To the Editor:
Re “The Steep Financial Cost of ‘People Pleasing’” (Enterprise, Dec. 30):
This text raises consciousness in regards to the draw back of so-called individuals pleasing. I ceaselessly hear my feminine sufferers use this time period to explain themselves. The issue is that the time period disguises what is admittedly occurring, complicated a expensive habits that’s typically pushed by anxiousness and worry of battle with a optimistic altruistic trait.
Persevering with to make use of this language can really encourage the unhealthy habits. Who wouldn’t need to be seen as somebody who pleases others? However if you happen to name it “emotional prostitution,” for instance, or “subordinating your self” individuals start to really feel applicable inside battle.
I imagine that being extra intentional with the language we use, and inspiring curiosity about what we are literally saying, is step one to altering individuals’s habits.
Lynn Margolies
Newton, Mass.
The author is a scientific psychologist.
Democrats’ Fortunes
To the Editor:
The Democrats, little question, suffered a stinging defeat. It has led to a lot hand-wringing and apocalyptic commentary.
I’m sufficiently old for positive to recollect Barry Goldwater’s humiliating defeat in 1964, and I keep in mind studying about predictions of the top of the Republican Celebration.
However historical past intervened, the Vietnam Warfare escalated, and Richard Nixon received in 1968 and was resoundingly re-elected in 1972.
Sure, the Democrats have to actually rethink some issues and reduce their obsession with sure points, however the obituaries ought to wait.
Francis Quinn
Port Washington, N.Y.
