Republican leaders such as Sens. Mitch McConnell and John McCain, who have endorsed Donald Trump for president, assure Americans they’re not to worry about Trump in the White House. There will be institutional “constraints,” such as Congress and the courts, that will keep him in check and prevent him from trampling all over the Constitution. In other words, “Yes, our guy is a nut, but there are straitjackets available to restrain his wild, reckless and unconstitutional impulses. So don’t worry. Vote for our nut.”
In a time when contrite shamefulness is outdated and brazen insult rules the day, it is not surprising that these leaders feel no shame in their party’s foisting on America a candidate as ignorant, bigoted and dangerous as Trump.
Peter F. Munger, Arvada
I don’t understand why so many people are concerned about Donald Trump’s headline-making utterances. He cannot mean everything he says, since almost all of it he has contradicted before, contradicts on the very day he says it, or can be relied on to contradict in the future. We just don’t know what he means.
The best response for the Republican Party will be not to determine what he actually thinks, but rather to exercise exceptional care in approving his running mate on the chance that we will actually elect their ticket.
The U.S. Constitution would then protect us all. Any likely inaugural address on his part would surely be clear enough grounds for those in other high offices to invoke the 25th Amendment, to depose him as incapable of governing anyone (including himself), and to hand the dreadful power of the presidency to a competent man or woman, when the VP becomes acting president, even as promptly as Jan. 21, 2017.
Victor Castellani, Denver
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