To the editor: Donald Trump finally did it: he found a way to weaken the United States without even being president. (“How Trump Urges Russia to Invade 'Rogue' NATO Members Disrupts How the Alliance Works,” February 12)
If I am a foreign leader, my rule zero responsibility is to protect my people. In a world of shifting alliances and superpowers, I have to make the best deals I can.
By inviting Russia to attack “rogue” members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the former president has said in no uncertain terms that Americans cannot be trusted. Our word means nothing. If Gondor asks for help, we will send you a bill.
America's power and prestige around the world is based as much on trust and honor as it is on brute force. If you weaken one, you have undermined everything.
Peter Scofield, Crown of the Sea
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To the editor: Will America ever be forgiven for unleashing Trump on the world?
Trump tells NATO members he won't protect them from Russian President Vladimir Putin's aggression if they don't pay their debts. This is rich, coming from a man who has notoriously scammed workers on his construction projects.
The only way to put this morally corrupt and criminally accused genie back in the bottle is to soundly defeat him and his Republican sycophants at the November polls.
Then, perhaps, we can forgive ourselves.
Donna Sloan, Los Angeles
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To the editor: The Republican Party has become the party of communist sympathizers.
If former President Ronald Reagan were alive today, he would be horrified by the words and actions of current Republicans in Congress and their leader, former President Trump.
While president, Trump used his pulpit to declare NATO weak and obsolete. This undoubtedly encouraged Putin to try to reestablish the Soviet Union. Putin did not expect any reaction from a sympathetic American president and a divided Europe.
Trump effusively praised Putin, China's Xi Jinping, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Hungary's Viktor Orbán and, of course, North Korea's Kim Jong Un. Republicans in Congress, with Trump's support, have delayed critically needed aid to Ukraine in its heroic fight against superior Russian forces.
The United States remains the leader of the free world. Republicans are playing partisan politics when the world demands that American decision-makers be statesmen rather than short-sighted far-right vote-getters.
Anthony Elia, Mission Viejo
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To the editor: Reports on Trump's comments about NATO countries paying their share should include the fact that he and his company were periodically sued by those who worked on his New York properties for not paying their bills.
It's just one of the reasons why New Yorkers (and others) distrust this man who wants to impose his financial knowledge on the world.
Helen Lotos, Corona del Mar
