Make Russia great again?

Re “No better than the Russians?” Opinion, Feb. 7

I very seldom agreed with Jonah Goldberg, but I must give him kudos for the several columns he’s written taking President Trump to task. In his latest piece, Goldberg laments how Trump defended Russian President Vladimir Putin by telling Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly that the United States has killed people.

It is really beyond a reasonable person’s understanding how Trump is willing to denigrate Hispanics, Muslims, disabled individuals, judges and others and also insist that millions of people voted illegally, but he is unwilling to say anything negative about Putin.

More disgraceful is that the Republican leadership goes along with this behavior. This is not how you make America great again. George Poitou

Ontario

While Putin’s killing may be on the level of a mafia hit man, Trump is right that the U.S. is also responsible for a great deal of death.

President Kennedy approved a coup to depose South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem, who was killed after being toppled. President Johnson declared in August 1964 an unprovoked attack occurred in Vietman’s Gulf of Tonkin, something he all but admitted later was a lie. President George W. Bush got us involved in Iraq, a conflict that killed hundreds of thousands of people. Thousands worldwide have been killed by drone strikes, most of which occurred during the Obama administration.

Were these killings justified? It is hard to say. Nathan Post

Santa Barbara

Goldberg laments Trump’s “contempt for American values.” What he seems not to realize is that Trump holds to no universal ideals, American or otherwise. He separates ethical considerations from politics, as he embraces or discards ideals as a situation dictates.

Trump did not seek the presidency to put forward deeply held ideals, but rather for the opportunity that office gives him to wield power for its own sake. Sam La Sala

Monrovia