Sandi Campbell
Siler City, N.C.
To the Editor:
On Monday, President Trump met with Vice President Mike Pence for over an hour. This was their first meeting since Mr. Trump sicced his mob of rioters to march on the Capitol while vilifying the vice president for his failure to shield him from electoral failure and disgrace. The mob obliged by chanting Mr. Pence’s name and constructing a makeshift gallows.
The meeting between these two men was described in the media as a “good conversation.” What might we all have sacrificed to have been a fly in the vice president’s hair so we might have garnered a much more authentic depiction of their interaction?
Gerald Amada
San Rafael, Calif.
To the Editor:
As a lifelong Democrat, I remember the times that Representative Liz Cheney’s words struck me like fingernails on a chalkboard. But as I read her call for impeaching President Trump, I can only say that she said it best of all. I salute her.
Maribeth Sands
Concord, Calif.
To the Editor:
“G.O.P.’s ‘1776 Moment’: How Lawmakers Fanned the Flames of the Riot” (news article, Jan. 12) makes clear that several Republican representatives should join President Trump in the impeachment dock.
Representative Mo Brooks told the crowd before going to the Capitol that they should start “kicking ass” and urged them to “fight for America.” Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, before the surging crowd, referred to the day as Republicans’ “1776 moment.” All three were inciting the crowd to commit violence against the government, in violation of their oath of office.
What they did amounted to treason.
Ronald L. Hirsch
Great Barrington, Mass.
To the Editor:
Even though the pandemic has intensified, and millions of families and small business are suffering, the Democratic leadership seems ready to make punishing a defeated enemy its first priority. President Trump richly deserves impeachment, but if the Democrats take impeachment proceedings beyond Jan. 20, the media and the public will be forced to focus on Mr. Trump for weeks or even months. Nor is the outcome of an impeachment trial assured in advance.
If Democrats go through with their plan to spend half their days on impeachment and the other half on Joe Biden’s agenda when the new Congress convenes, they risk creating a lasting image of themselves as failing to give their full attention to the nation’s urgent problems. Democratic leaders should want all eyes to be on President Biden and the new Congress as they bring relief and hope to America, not on Donald Trump.