To the Editor:
Re “Trump Says That He Never Promised No New Wars” (news article, June 8):
The temper and infantile nature of President Trump were on display for all with open eyes to see in his recent abbreviated interview with Kristen Welker, the host of NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Ms. Welker dared to ask fair questions and to push back when the president engaged in his usual behavior of obfuscating, making charges without evidence and lying.
Any member of the news media who asks Mr. Trump questions that he does not want to answer is angrily disparaged with a variety of epithets. This time the questioner’s credibility was challenged, and she was branded “crooked” or “stupid” and a member of “the fake, dirty press.”
Predictably, Mr. Trump walked out of the interview, unwilling to take any more heat.
I applaud Ms. Welker for attempting the impossible: getting honest answers from a president who is accustomed to being coddled by individuals who will never challenge him or tell him anything he does not want to hear. The leader of the free world is a coward.
Oren Spiegler Peters Township, Pa.
To the Editor:
Do you know why Kristen Welker did not back down from President Trump’s anger on “Meet the Press”? Because she is not concerned with his anger.
What we witnessed in that interview was a 1950s male entitlement and power get pushback from a woman of 2026. President Trump was stumped because his anger is always mollified, not ignored, and he saw no alternative but to stomp out.
We have been raising our daughters to know they are the equal of any of our sons. Ms. Welker is proof that we are doing it right.
Eileen McClure Nelson Burke, Va.
To the Editor:
Re “Trump Is the Only Person Who Can Save America. (Just Ask His Cabinet.)” (news article, May 29):
The graphic illustrating the amount of time each cabinet member spends in meetings fawning over President Trump is unsurprisingly despicable. It raises alarming questions.
Could the graphic be used by Mr. Trump to place in deep trouble the cabinet members who spend the majority of their meeting time actually focused on their jobs?
In this administration, are we safer if cabinet members are focused on their jobs, or if they are finding new ways to debase themselves in sycophancy?
Mary K. Rosner-Baker Columbus, Ohio
To the Editor:
Do any of President Trump’s sycophants display any sort of shame, or at least murmur among themselves, hovering mutely behind him as he goes on and on and on, doing his thing for the cameras?
Stan Washburn Berkeley, Calif.
Weakened Voting Rights
To the Editor:
Re “Why Neutral Maps Could Empower Black Voters as Much as the Voting Rights Act” (The Tilt newsletter, nytimes.com, May 19):
To reduce the impact of the Supreme Court’s recent Callais decision — which struck down Louisiana’s congressional map as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander and further eroded the Voting Rights Act of 1965 — to partisan politics offers an incomplete picture. We are witnessing the deliberate dismantling of districts that gave Black communities an opportunity to elect candidates of their choice.
This isn’t a fight to gain partisan advantage.
It is a fight over whether Black Americans can exercise their political power. History matters. The 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, prohibited denying the right to vote based on race. The Voting Rights Act put that amendment into practice. In 1986, the Supreme Court’s Gingles decision expanded the act to provide a framework for drawing districts that represented historically marginalized communities.
The rush to redraw maps across Southern states demonstrates what advocates warned would happen if the Voting Rights Act was further weakened, proving why voting protections were needed in the first place. There are still too many people in power who do not want Black voters to have an equal voice in our democracy.
For decades, the Voting Rights Act recognized a basic truth: Race has shaped political exclusion in America. Pretending otherwise doesn’t make discrimination disappear. States are weaponizing the court’s decision to silence Black voters — let’s not waste time on hypotheticals.
JaTaune Bosby Gilchrist Montgomery, Ala. The writer is the executive director of the A.C.L.U. of Alabama.
Trump on a $250 Bill
To the Editor:
Re “Treasury Moves to Put Trump on a $250 Bill” (Business, May 30):
Just when you think America can’t sink any lower. Now we have the prospect of a felon on our currency. Never in my lifetime could I have imagined it.
I have doubts America can recover from any of this. And worse yet, it may not want to, or be able to.
Paul Carlberg Greeley, Colo.
The post Trump’s Eruption, and His Sycophants appeared first on New York Times.
