To the Editor:
Re “Trump Asserts His Global Power Has One Limit: Himself” (front page, Jan. 9):
President Trump claimed his independence from all international law in his interview with The Times when he insisted that the one thing that can curtail his power and pursuit of global supremacy was this: “My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”
We’re already familiar with his disdain for our own nation’s courts and laws, but now he has removed all the stops.
Judging from this, it is unlikely that President Trump is familiar with Robert Bolt’s play “A Man for All Seasons,” in which the fictionalized Sir Thomas More, arguing with his son-in-law, who just claimed his willingness to tear down all the laws of the land in pursuit of the Devil, asks: “Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned ’round on you, where would you hide, the laws all being flat?”
This would be an excellent interview question for President Trump. And in his case, the Devil may well be named Putin or Xi.
Mike Barrett Ashburn, Va.
To the Editor:
As I read President Trump’s chilling responses to the excellent interview with Times reporters, a few questions of my own crossed my mind: How did this ever come about? And how can we make it through another three years of this administration?
In the past, under both Republican and Democratic administrations, we had our ups and downs, but we almost universally respected our fellow citizens and global partners. There were many areas where we could have done better, but on the whole it seemed that we tried to make the world a safer place.
When Mr. Trump leaves us in three years (if in fact he does) what will things be like? I doubt we will fully return to anything like the pre-Trump days, but my hope is we can emerge from this darkness.
Will a glowering JD Vance or the ever-snarling Stephen Miller continue on this course? Will the previously reasonable Marco Rubio take power? Or will a Democrat return our country to us?
We never knew how good we had it, did we?
Mark Brady New York
To the Editor:
When President Trump was asked in a New York Times interview if there were any limits on his global powers, he responded, “My own morality.” This statement is coming from a man who has 34 felony convictions and dozens of women accusing him of sexual misconduct over the years.
If his own moral compass is the sole foundation for his presidential decisions, then the future of our cherished separation of powers and democracy itself are in grave peril.
Marla Allard Washington
Mamdani, Jews and Israel: Impassioned Views
To the Editor:
Re “Path to Revoke Adams Orders Is a Tightrope” (front page, Jan. 5):
While I had some concerns about Zohran Mamdani’s taking office, watching his inauguration conveyed the hope and energy he brings. But then why, on his first day, does he revoke an executive order that barred city agencies from boycotting Israel? Why this obsession with Israel and Jews, when there are so many more immediate issues that he could address?
To me, it sadly bespeaks an embedded antisemitism — however you want to define it — that many had hoped would not erupt. It was disappointing and unsettling.
Robert M. Herzog New York
To the Editor:
Israel’s characterization of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s cancellation of his predecessor’s tendentious executive orders as “antisemitic gasoline on an open fire” raises the question: Who started the fire?
The increase of “antisemitic” incidents around the world — many of which are really anti-Israel incidents — is a direct result of Israel’s destruction of Gaza. A straight line leads from Gaza to the massacre in Sydney. It is beyond ironic, therefore, for Israel to blame Mr. Mamdani for a fire that Israel started and continues to feed by its actions.
Dov Taylor Woodstock, Vt. The writer is a Reform rabbi.
To the Editor:
Re “Israel Calls Mamdani’s Early Moves Antisemitic” (front page, Jan. 3):
Jews have their hands full dealing with real antisemitism all over the world. Criticism of Israel’s current government is no more antisemitic than criticism of Donald Trump is anti-American.
Bob Salzman New York
The post The Trump Interview: A President Who Answers Only to Himself appeared first on New York Times.
