Letters to the Editor for January 8, 2020

Democrats maintained dog, pony show during impeachment hearings

I am responding to a letter to the editor titled “Rules for Jurors” [Nevada Appeal, Dec. 28]. After the completely partisan witch hunt investigation in the House, it’s incredible that anyone would question anything that might happen in the Senate.

Not one of the Democrat witnesses could testify that they had heard or seen anything that President Trump did that was an impeachable offense even after Adam Schiff manufactured false accusations, read his fabricated version of the Ukrainian phone call at a House intelligence committee hearing on the whistleblower complaint and would not allow the Republicans to call their witnesses to testify.

All the witnesses that were questioned in the House Intelligence Committee hearings open to the public were stacked on the side of the Democrats. Schiff would not allow the transcripts of the witness testimony to the Committee that took place behind closed doors to be released to the public, only cherrypicked parts that could be taken out of context by the Trump-hating liberal mainstream media. Even their totally left-leaning “constitutional scholars” couldn’t come up with anything that was at the level of an impeachable offense. Their “star witness” and only person on the phone call to the Ukrainian president Gordon Sondland testified that President Trump wanted nothing from the Ukrainians and that there was no quid pro quo and stated that his testimony related to the call was opinion only, not fact.

Yet, the Democrats continued with their “dog and pony show” because that’s all they have been doing since Trump was sworn into office. Impeachment has been and will continue to be their only agenda. Forget about helping our country, forget about helping the people who elected them to work with Trump to improve their communities. False accusations are all you’ve got, which we’ve seen over and over again coming from the Democrats, with no facts to support their allegations. Get over the Trump Derangement Syndrome and prepare for his next term to Keep America Great!

Lynn Rader

Dayton

Trump’s court packing must be stopped

Jim Hartman’s latest commentary does a good job of detailing how President Trump is remaking the federal judiciary by making scores of appointments to open court seats. This constitutes a radical makeover of the federal judiciary because all these judges share an ultra-conservative judicial philosophy.

It should never be forgotten that Donald Trump lost the 2016 election by almost 3 million votes but became president thanks to a constitutional aberration that allows for the loser of an election to assume the presidency anyway. It’s constitutional, but anyone taking office under such circumstances has to earn his or her legitimacy by governing in an even-handed manner and nominating consensus judicial candidates.

Trump has done exactly the opposite, giving inexperienced ideologues these lifetime appointments, overriding blue slip objections from home state senators. Had the president won with a clear mandate, such an upheaval might have gained bipartisan acceptance, but given that he lost and has abused his power to the point of impeachment, such partisan court packing lacks democratic legitimacy.

Only the election of a Democratic president with a plan to reverse this trend can repair the damage already done and put the country on a path to reform. And given that Senate Republicans have been fully complicit with this judicial coup d’etat means that they, too, need be held accountable in November. We cannot allow a group of lifetime appointees with an extremist agenda to sit in judgment over our democratic process for a generation to come. That would be un-American and unacceptable.

Rich Dunn

Carson City

Columnists provide important perspectives for upcoming election

Guy Farmer’s Sunday column (Nevada Appeal, Dec. 28) probably surprised a few folks as this former Obama supporter lauded the sterling character and record of achievement of Trump’s HUD Secretary, Dr. Ben Carson. By implication, Farmer credited President Trump for having appointed a former political enemy and enthusiastic critic to his cabinet. Farmer reluctantly, but fairly, called out Barack Obama and AG Eric Holder for having “fanned the flames of racial division by catering to professional race baiters like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.”

Also on Sunday, columnist and legal analyst Jim Hartman (“Trump remaking federal judiciary”) explained how Harry Reid’s controversial Senate rule change reducing judicial confirmations from 60 votes to a simple majority has had unintended consequences. Concocted to expedite Obama’s appointees by a Democrat Senate, Reid’s stunt has facilitated the current Republican majority’s confirmation of 185 Trump judges so far, 13 since he was impeached, while bringing the notoriously lopsided Ninth Circuit almost into balance. Just imagine what the federal judiciary will look like after his second term.

Farmer and Hartman, neither particularly Trump fans, deserve our appreciation for their honest, well-written, fact-based columns. This is important information for those who want to make an informed choice in the next election.

Lynn Muzzy

Minden

Republicans dismantling constitution

Where are the Republicans with integrity? Have they become extinct?

During the impeachment inquiry, the Republicans did not follow the facts (i.e. truth) nor defend the Constitution but rather just bloviated (really lied) to cover up Trump’s offenses. And many offenses there were as the Mueller report had previously exposed. Many instances of abuse of power and many instances (actually, 10) of obstruction of justice.

The GOP has become a cult with Trump as its “Jim Jones” and drinking his “Kool-Aid.” We’ve seen this cultism before in the 20th century with Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. Now, in the 21st century, it’s happening again.

American democracy is in peril. Our Constitution is being dismantled. We must change both the Senate and the presidency to protect this great experiment of our founders. If not, as in the last century, it will not end well.

Vince Agamenone

Carson City

Democrats seem satisfied to complain instead of govern

In a recent letter to the editor, our “favorite” liberal decided to give “rules” for jurors (Nevada Appeal, Dec. 28). It was a thinly-veiled, very thin, effort to criticize the senators (Republican, of course) in the upcoming impeachment trial of President Trump (if Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi ever figures out how to send the Articles of Impeachment over to the Senate), the implication being that they will be biased.

What our favorite liberal omitted in his letter was that this hasn’t been the first time that accusations of bias have been flung around in an impeachment of a president. In a book titled “The Breach” by Peter Baker, the author recounts close coordination between the Clinton staff and the Senate staff. Clinton also spoke directly with senators. These communications and coordination was also widely reported in news accounts.

Wow, imagine politicians being biased in a purely political endeavor such as impeachment? Democrats seem hellbent on getting Trump re-elected in 2020. Maybe they just want to complain instead of govern for another four years.

David Knighton

Carson City