When Trump fights, we watch
Re “Trump’s jab at CNN stirs new outrage,” July 3
President Trump intensifies his brownshirt-inspired imagery against the “fake news” media, continuing to give his base permission to beat up reporters and further delegitimize coverage of his rollbacks on healthcare, environmental protection, civil rights and education, and his hate campaign against Muslims.
Focusing too much on the tweets distracts from the bigger picture of what Trump is doing. That said, this level of hateful rhetoric from a sitting U.S. president puts our country in uncharted territory. Ken Levy
Los Angeles
It’s clearly time to replace Vice President Mike Pence with the recently elected Rep. Greg Gianforte (R-Mont.), who has become the soul of the contemporary Republican Party: dishonest, ethics-free, violent on a whim, willing to employ the “big lie” to cover it all up, and at first unapologetic when caught in his deceptions.
He’s the perfect Trump understudy. Gianforte and the president could practice take-downs all day long. Perhaps they can get the “jump” on North Korea and Russia.
This nonverbal presidential call for physical assault on members of the press must dismay, disgust and embarrass any moderately educated, morally coherent American patriot. If it does not, you have sold your soul to a carnival barker at a bargain-basement price. Bruce Strathdee
Palm Desert
If the chief executive of a public company created a video similar to the footage of Trump punching a man with a CNN logo superimposed on his head and called it harmless mockery, the board and shareholders would be outraged.
Our businessman president thinks he can do this in his “modern” presidency.
Trump’s stock needs to fall and the board needs to replace him. But wait — government does not work that way. No one is looking out for us shareholders. Sue Branica
Corona del Mar
Trump could learn from the fact that CNN dealt with its problem reporters immediately, without a congressional investigation, special counsel or media frenzy. Ken Brock
Yucca Valley