Letters to the editor: Trump, treasurer’s office
Trump
People say, “give him a chance.” “Dems want to undo the 2016 election,” “they waste time trying to impeach him instead of addressing the country’s problems.”
But this is not a normal president. He paranoidly guards his tax returns, openly flaunts the emoluments clause, invites foreign influence in elections, trusts Putin more than the entire U.S. intelligence system, threatens witnesses and defies congressional subpoenas. He brags almost as much as he lies, sometimes both at the same time.
If all that he had done was to start a stupid trade war, break a few international treaties, deny climate change, insult teenagers who speak up, give massive tax cuts to the wealthy, run the deficit up over $1 trillion a year and pack the courts with conservatives, no one would have seriously considered impeachment. But this “duly elected president” talks and behaves like a criminal.
The Senate, by refusing to remove him from office, has abdicated its constitutional mandate as an equal branch of government and given the presidency dictatorial powers. If Congress is no longer a check on the president, then as Alan Dershowitz argued, he can do anything he wants. Anything. That is not the Founding Fathers’ intent.
David Peckham, Boise
Treasurer’s office
It is with frustration, angst and sadness that our elected leaders in the Idaho Legislature feel a need to spend $10.5 million to rip up the first floor of the Capitol to build private offices for those who currently work in a cubicle. The governor has recently ordered cuts in higher education and other government agencies, making the remodel a frivolous expense. And to get the space to expand, they have filed a lawsuit to take over the State Treasurer’s office which has been in the same location since the Capitol was built. How much more will that cost? Legislators are trying to justify this expense by saying they need privacy when dealing with constituents.
What are these legislators thinking? Certainly we have more pressing needs than spending $10.5 million on private offices, used three months of the year by part-time legislators. When Pete (Cenarrusa) was Speaker of the House, they didn’t have underground wings, and their work desks were on the floor of the House. They were easily accessible to the constituents through the Sergeant of Arms, and each representative had a desk and phone. Now, it is hard to find your legislators between committee meetings and their cubicles behind locked doors.
Freda Cenarrusa, Boise
Trump
Democrats and realists should not be too hard on Mike Crapo and Jim Risch for betraying their oath of office and their religion by voting to acquit Donald Trump of his corrupt behavior. After all, both senators had 409,055 reasons for voting to acquit Trump: the number of dotards in Idaho who voted for Trump in 2016.
From just one look at the faces of those two senators, it’s apparent that they are in pain at having to support “the beast” the Bible warned us about in the Revelation to John: “The beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words …” The fear of Trump has apparently aged both of Idaho’s senators. No wonder Crapo takes a few snorts and drives late at night in D.C. No wonder Risch likes to go on foreign junkets – anything to get away from “the beast” his party has elected.
Before voting to acquit Trump, Crapo and Risch should have asked themselves: What would Jesus do? Do either of these self-proclaimed religious men believe Jesus would have voted to acquit a thrice-married, draft-dodging, womanizing, Putin-worshipping bankruptcy mogul like Donald J. Trump?
Gary L. Bennett, Boise