To the Editor:
Re “Trump Indicted” (front page, March 31):
The well-deserved, long-awaited and expected indictment of former President Donald Trump by a Manhattan grand jury, favored by a majority of Americans, is nevertheless a jarring event in the history of the country that’s almost certain to cause already deep wounds in our politics to fester.
This could be merely the first salvo in what may be a series of indictments, virtually guaranteeing the former president’s presence on the national scene for a long time to come.
Mr. Trump’s early announcement of a third presidential run was clearly calculated and timed to politicize the indictment that he knew was coming. With the support of enabling loyalists, he has vigorously impugned the legitimacy of a duly elected district attorney and a grand jury.
In our system of justice Donald Trump’s acts are far too egregious to ignore. But in a heavily polarized country, we may be forced to pay a heavy price to uphold our democracy’s founding principles.
Roger Hirschberg
South Burlington, Vt.
To the Editor:
Your March 31 editorial, “Even a President Should Be Held Accountable,” is correct in articulating that former president or not, Donald Trump is not above the law. But when reviewing the various streams of potential indictments, election tampering and inciting an insurrection loom large and powerful, making the Manhattan indictment on charges of a payoff to a former porn actress look petty and frivolous.
It would seem that the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, in his rush to be first, handed Trump supporters a rallying cry. He would be better served focusing on violent crime in his borough, as would Manhattan residents, and the country would be better served by having Mr. Trump stand trial for the damage he has done to this country as opposed to the shame he brought to his wife.
David Sable
New York
To the Editor:
Your editorial is right to insist that Donald Trump must be held accountable for a host of crimes, including this first prosecution in New York. But the headline has the emphasis wrong by phrasing it, in the online version, “Even Donald Trump Should Be Held Accountable.” No, it’s most of all Donald Trump who needs to be brought to account after decades of lawless conduct and disdain for our justice system.
Mr. Trump has grossly undermined our democracy, divided the country with cynical lies, and spurred violence across the country by far-right extremists who use his rhetoric as their rallying cry.
And now, predictably but disgustingly, we hear the chorus of toxic lies and hyperpartisan attacks by morally bankrupt Republican politicians who previously swore they were devoted to law and order.
If a malignant narcissist can continue this way with impunity, our rule of law has been rendered meaningless. In Republican circles, it’s already been cast into the gutter.
T.R. Jahns
Hemet, Calif.
To the Editor:
For years now, Democrats and the liberal media have sanctimoniously positioned themselves as champions and defenders of American democracy, and its cherished norms, traditions and institutions. But District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s pursuit of an indictment of Donald Trump reveals that Democrats are more an offender of these things than a defender.
Make no mistake about it. Mr. Bragg’s grotesque perversion of justice designed to kneecap a political enemy has plunged America into one of its very darkest days. Indeed, this politically motivated stunt orchestrated by the left is but the latest proof that the greatest threats to our democracy and our cherished norms and institutions have come not from the rise of Donald Trump, but rather from the response to it.
Michael J. DiStefano
Jamestown, R.I.
To the Editor:
By working diligently toward the grand jury indictment of Donald Trump, the former guy, and showing that in our once-great United States nobody is above the law, Alvin Bragg is truly making America great again.
Thank you, Mr. Bragg.
Daniel Fink
Beverly Hills, Calif.
To the Editor:
Re “A Nation Finds Itself on a Path Never Traveled” (news analysis, front page, March 31):
Peter Baker writes that Donald Trump’s indictment will test our democracy in ways never before imagined. Maybe, but nearly everything Mr. Trump did in office — from barring Muslim travelers in his first days in office to inciting an insurrection in the last days of his term — tested our democracy in ways we could have never imagined.
Republicans who let him run roughshod over democratic norms and constitutional boundaries for years are now professing outrage that he is being held accountable to the rule of law and claim that this very accountability is what will actually damage our country.
They have it completely backward: Accountability is what will repair our democracy. This criminal prosecution — no matter how small this particular crime seems in the context of Mr. Trump’s other misbehavior — is a start.
Pamela J. Griffith
Brooklyn
To the Editor:
I am proud that Alvin Bragg has done what no one else has yet, and I await the indictment over trying to overthrow our election.
It makes me sick to think of all the time we have spent as a nation, and personally, because of this man’s behavior. I cannot count the times that I was calling a senator or representative or marching, or when my husband and I had conversation after conversation about Donald Trump.
Why didn’t people act when the first domino fell? Why didn’t the good Republicans speak out? So much wasted time and money because of him, but I await his comeuppance, as well as that of the people who helped him.
Carol Coffman Brock
Ann Arbor, Mich.
To the Editor:
It is not democracy when the party in power, shielded by a sympathetic media, brazenly goes after its political opponents and now tries to eliminate its biggest threat: the former president, Donald Trump.
The case before us is not a question of legal prosecution; it is a political persecution.
Antonia Tamplin
Bronx
To the Editor:
I thought I would wake up this morning feeling elation that Donald Trump is finally being brought up on charges of something. Instead, I am filled with that same sense of unease that I felt every day of his presidency.
Republican enabling is sure to escalate, the right-wing squawk box will get louder and louder, threats (and acts) of violence are almost guaranteed, and this guy may once again escape the long arm of the law. If he is found guilty of the charges leveled against him in this or other cases, what will happen? Prison time? The spectacle that inevitably awaits fills me with dread.
Donald Trump is a coward, happy to let his minions fight his battles for him. He will egg them on, and then who knows what will happen?
Batten down the hatches, America. We are in for (more of) a rough ride!
Jane Carlin
Stamford, Conn.
To the Editor:
Wouldn’t it be nice if former President Donald Trump were to urge his supporters not to participate in mass rallies of support, rallies that just might become violent? Wouldn’t it be nice if Mr. Trump simply told his supporters that he is innocent, and that he can fight his own battles, and that he can defend himself with the aid of his lawyers?
Perhaps he could just urge them to pray for him. Wouldn’t it be nice?
Michael Kaplan
Princeton, N.J.
To the Editor:
Donald Trump is always demanding that the American people take their nation back. On Thursday we did.
Robert S. Carroll
Staten Island