At rally, same old President Trump

Re “Trump faults media, fellow Republicans for problems,” Aug. 23

On Tuesday night in Phoenix, President Trump openly lied to the American people.

In an effort to challenge those who have accused him of being a racist and a bigot, Trump quoted from his previous comments about the events that occurred in Charlottesville, Va. However, what he did was edit out the words “on many sides” when referring to acts of violence.

It is clear to me that Trump understands that his words equated the actions of the white supremacists in Charlottesville with those of the people who showed up to protest against them. He also failed to mention his observation that there were “very fine people” on both sides, including those who marched with Klansmen and neo-Nazis.

Our president is a bold and blatant liar. The words he failed to repeat before his supporters in Phoenix are crucial to understanding his mind-set.

Trump now wants more Americans to serve in Afghanistan. I, for one, don’t trust him to make such life-and-death decisions for thousands of people. Ronald Fischbach

Moorpark

While I am certainly not a huge fan of Trump, I find it appalling that Cathleen Decker wrote, “His repeated suggestion that it was time to return to law and order carried the whiff of past campaigns such as those carried out by George Wallace, the late segregationist presidential candidate and Alabama governor.”

Does Decker have any clue as to what Wallace stood for? And how can she possibly compare his beliefs to those of Trump?

Wallace physically attempted to defy federal law by standing in front of the doors at the University of Alabama and refusing to allow people of color to register as students. He was ordered to step aside by federal troops acting on behalf of the president.

Wallace was a proud segregationist who led the charge for institutionalized racism. He was and still is a symbol for what was wrong regarding race relations in the United States.

Comparing Trump to Wallace is beyond comprehension and crosses a line. Larry Kahn

Simi Valley

Trump said that his movement is “built on love” and then spent the rest of the time denigrating everyone who has crossed him, showing how unstable he is.

How can we have a stable foreign policy — let alone a domestic one — with such an unstable leader? How can we unite our country when we have a president who feeds on divisiveness, ridicule, anger and hate and uses those as political tools?

How can any American be proud of this? How did this happen? Julia Springer

Santa Barbara

Most high school seniors know that that the three branches of government are meant to check and balance each other.

Trump seems to believe that the executive branch is more important than the other two branches of government. Congress to him seems to be there for him to manipulate and scold as needed.

Bad-mouthing the majority leader of the Senate is a very bad move and indicative of how ignorant this president is and how disrespectful he is of our Constitution. Lou Rosen

Pacific Palisades