Go ahead, mock the president

Re “Why mocking Trump is a political risk,” Opinion, Feb. 12

What a ridiculous op-ed article by Barry Glassner. We liberals are quite capable of making fun of President Trump while also delivering serious opposition to his appalling policies.

In no way do we “lose the right to upbraid the president on serious matters if we’re constantly mocking him for trivialities.” It’s a free country, and we can easily do both. It doesn’t even take a stable genius to do so — just a stable person of reasonable intelligence.

Regarding the mocking that President Obama received from his opponents, well, there was so little he did that was truly mockable, whereas Trump gives us fodder every day. I don’t think we’re intensifying the political and cultural divides, since Trump does that for us every day, and it’s our patriotic duty to point it out. Trudy Ring

Sherman Oaks

Glassner is asking a lot. He suggests that liberals ignore Trump’s manifold distracting foibles and instead focus on the longterm harm he is doing to our country.

As if liberals weren’t among the millions of TV viewers who came to relish so-called reality TV shows — you know, like “The Apprentice,” which boosted impresario Trump’s political viability, notwithstanding its glaring lack of substantive content.

Those liberals who see beyond Trump’s distractions find few others inclined to contemplate the hard truth: By constantly diverting the public’s attention, Trump enables conservatives to enact laws and contrive judicial appointments that will impair democratic functioning for decades to come.

Glassner gets it right: Keep obsessing over Trump’s narcissistic quirks, and kiss off public schools’ viability, women’s reproductive rights, universal healthcare coverage and more. Devra Mindell

Santa Monica

Trump should be no exception to the centuriesold tradition of mocking our political leaders. His supporters decry political correctness but apparently cannot stand their president being mocked. The mockery may just ring too true for many of them.

Perhaps Trump should take a page from the Obama playbook and just ignore the mockery. George W. Bush and Bill Clinton had the same experience.

Granted, mockery has attracted wider media attention thanks to social media, but Trump is supposed to have on his bigboy pants. Robert V. Zimmerman

Palm Springs