The return of Trump
Re: Bitter Trump rips Republicans who voted for impeachment.
Can we all acknowledge what a great gift Twitter has given those American people who still cherish and adhere to democratic principles?
Former President Trump’s 90-minute speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando this weekend was entirely predictable: perpetuating the Big Lie about the 2020 election; excoriating the 17 Republican lawmakers who voted with the Democrats to impeach him; bitterly criticizing and ridiculing President Biden’s actions; demonizing Democrats in general; boasting about his “great” accomplishments while in office.
Hopefully, the few people in attendance waiting to hear him touch upon the Jan. 6 insurrection weren’t holding their breaths. If it were not for Twitter’s ban on him we would be getting a daily dose of these juvenile, bitter and toxic tirades.
Ramona Saenz Alhambra
Trump, in his role as keynote speaker at CPAC, let it be known that not only is he back in the game, he never left it. His speech was nothing short of a warning to the GOP to either get on board the Trump Train or be run over by it.
The cult of personality around Trump would not exist without the embrace of loyalist Republicans, especially those in Congress. Their unwavering support, indistinguishable from idolatry at times, threatens the very survival of our democracy. With cult-like advocacy serving as a breeding ground for “Deep State” conspiracy theories, Trump is able to advance his autocratic agenda with minimal resistance.
By repeating the socalled Big Lie that the 2020 election was “rigged,” and that he, not Joe Biden, is the legitimate president, Trump is in effect repeating his thinly veiled call to arms — “Stand back and stand by.”
Jim Paladino Tampa, Fla.
Democracy needs the truth to survive. It fails when its people are not informed (or are misinformed) and do not hold its leaders accountable. We need fewer articles about what Trump is saying and doing and more about how the Big Lie should be denounced by every elected official, no matter what party.
We all need to be laser focused on speaking the truth that this election was not fraudulent. We need to be constantly and tirelessly educating those who believe otherwise.
There should be public service announcements running with facts about our fair election. The tax dollars “we the people” now have to spend protecting ourselves from violence incited by myths would be much better spent eliminating the reason for their outrage.
A “show of force” using information, facts and truth is what we need to save democracy and keep our country safe.
Fiona Carroll Mission Viejo
Trump: me, me, me, me, me, me. Joe: YOU!
Bernard Harrington Long Beach
The Times left out the most important expression of the fealty to former President Trump at the Conservative Political Action Conference — the golden statue of him in red, white and blue boxers.
The delicious irony of conservative Christians worshipping a Manhattan mafioso golden idol is too sweet.
Anyone who’s ever seen “The Ten Commandments” has one image floating in their heads after CPAC: Edward G. Robinson as Dathan braying, “Where’s your Moses now?” in the manner of a Lower East Side gangster.
Truth is stranger than fiction. You couldn’t write something so ludicrous and have anyone believe it.
Karen Samski Sherman Oaks
Like the unfaithful Israelites who worshipped a golden idol, Republican Christians have now a golden Trump idol to worship. Didn’t the fools realize this apparent analogy when making this golden idol? Or are they just too brainwashed to be saved?
Who would have believed that the current Republican Party would become the United States’ worst enemy?
S.R. Fischer Westwood
In January, The Times ran a truly engaging op-ed about how Christians could support someone like Trump. It was incredibly helpful to me as a person whose family faith had been a true moral lodestar during my life.
How faith got tied up in white, patriarchal dominance was something I could not comprehend. It seemed so antithetical to the challenges of living a loving life.
Seeing the “golden calf of Trump pushed down the CPAC hallway made that article’s point so clear. The scene from “The Ten Commandments” came to mind, with ecstatic people throwing everything they valued toward the bankrupt, grasping priests and their man-made idol.
Alanna Brown Valley Village