To the editor: I’ve lived in Los Angeles lengthy sufficient to know that this metropolis weathers hearth, quake and fury and nonetheless manages to bloom. We develop meals in our backyards, paint our ache on partitions and discover magnificence within the wrestle. However proper now, there’s a stress within the air thicker than smog, a nationwide worry winding by way of our streets, and its identify is Donald Trump (“National Guard arrives in Los Angeles as fallout from immigration raids continues,” June 8).
The helicopters overhead aren’t simply information choppers anymore. They’re echoes of one thing historical and harmful: Fascism rising on American soil. I by no means thought I’d say this in my lifetime, however we’re watching a person attempt to convey down a republic with the smug grin of a recreation present host who already is aware of the ultimate reply.
President Trump, you may cease now. Flip in your TV. Watch what you’ve finished. You’ll not be remembered as a patriot. You’ll not be remembered as a liberator. You can be remembered because the worst chief this nation has ever produced. A divider. A destroyer.
We write, we paint, we protest and we plant seeds of hope in cracked concrete. However we’re exhausted. We’d like ethical management, not messianic delusion. What can we inform our kids when their leaders reward dictators, vilify the press and mock the weak? That chaos is energy? That empathy is weak point?
Mr. Trump: Historical past will not be in your aspect and neither is Los Angeles.
Patsy Pitts, South Los Angeles
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To the editor: It is very important keep in mind that the president who despatched the Nationwide Guard to Los Angeles as a result of the administration “has a zero tolerance coverage for legal habits and violence” is identical president that incited the revolt on Jan. 6, 2021, declined to take steps to cease the assault on our Capitol or shield members of Congress and, as quickly as he took workplace in 2025, pardoned everybody (greater than 1,500 folks) indicted or sentenced for the assault. Roughly 140 regulation enforcement officers have been injured with greater than $2.7 million in harm to the Capitol.
He’s sending a message.
Marcia Scully, Whittier
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To the editor: Gov. Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass haven’t advised the L.A. disruptors to go dwelling as a result of these politicians worry alienating an necessary voting bloc.
If Trump does nothing, there would be the creation of no-go zones all through our nation, during which native teams convey elements of main cities to a halt as a way to impose an unlawful immigration political agenda.
If Trump makes an attempt to revive order, rioters — like these on faculty campuses — will enhance their stress to display who has energy on this nation. It actually is important to ship within the troops. In any other case, we’re headed towards a variant of mob rule.
Julia Lutch, Davis, Calif.
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To the editor: The final time a president known as within the Nationwide Guard with out a request from a governor was in 1965 in Selma, Ala., to guard civil rights demonstrators. This present motion by the president is to not shield civil rights and even authorized rights.
The troops’ carrying of masks signifies a whole lack of coaching and accountability. In different phrases, unrestrained gangs with the backing of POTUS.
Joanne Weckbacher, Burbank
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To the editor: Protests by the undocumented and their supporters with out permits are futile and silly. The ensuing arrests and detentions are inevitable. Regulation enforcement is just doing their job and the protesters are breaking the regulation in making an attempt to cease them.
If the undocumented and their supporters wish to make an announcement, boycott their workplaces in agriculture, development, the garment business or housekeeping in lodges, nationwide. These industries are totally conscious simply how dependent they’re on those that toil to maintain the income rolling in.
Elliott H. Boone, Lengthy Seaside
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To the editor: Now that the Trump administration has launched open warfare in opposition to the values of Californians, the best response can be resistance that’s large and, above all, passive. When hundreds of individuals within the streets lie down and play useless in a blocking motion in opposition to no matter motion navy forces try, these forces haven’t any good choices to defeat the folks. Roughing protesters up will solely recruit extra to the trigger.
It will take self-discipline on the a part of the resistance, however the conscience of the common American will recoil on the sight of peaceable protesters being subjected to violence. Mahatma Gandhi prevailed in opposition to the British and gained a subcontinent with out firing a shot. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. helped defeat white supremacy utilizing nonviolence. This can be a pivotal second in historical past that can be squandered if the resistance resorts to violence. The place the trigger is righteous, good bother calls for large peaceable protest to win.
Alan B. Posner, Santa Barbara
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To the editor: I stand with these of town who’re protesting in opposition to Trump’s intervention into California’s autonomy. I’m happy with you and your efforts.
To those that dedicated acts of vandalism together with burning vehicles, deep disgrace upon you. To those that remained peaceable, report those that dedicated crime. It deeply hurts your trigger when the weak-brained commit stupidity.
Mat Lakota, Oroville, Calif.
