Readers Write: Trump assassination attempt, documents case, Walz’s responsibility

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The attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump marks one of our country’s periodic turns toward its dark side in the form of overt violence against politicians and public servants. While I’m relieved that Trump was not seriously injured, I find the Republican pearl-clutching attributing the shooting to “Democrats’ rhetoric” to be a bit much.

Republican objections center chiefly on characterizing Trump as an authoritarian threat to democracy. Object all you like, but only one major party candidate in the race has suggested suspending the Constitution, being a dictator on day one, implementing mass deportations of immigrants or subjecting critics and political opponents to military tribunals. Only one major party candidate has spent the past eight-plus years trying to discredit and weaken our nation’s elections. As president, that candidate encouraged an attack on the U.S. Capitol, pressured state election officials to change vote counts and allowed surrogates to vilify election workers (and then take the fall). That candidate is Trump, whose rhetoric and actions speak volumes about his intent.

It’s worth noting that nationally, many recent Republican campaigns have been gun-centric. Candidates pose with families with guns for all. On video a candidate shoots up stylized “RINOs.” Advertisements center an actual target on an image of the opposition. Republican campaigns have (far more often than Democratic campaigns) indulged in violent rhetoric going well beyond imagery about fighting for one’s constituents. In one case a candidate body-slammed a reporter.

I am appalled by the assassination attempt, whatever its roots. I am glad Trump still has two ears to call his own. But it also seems to me that he and his party are reaping violence whose seeds they’ve sown. And that merits contrition, not braggadocio.

Charles Watt, St. Paul

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President Harry Truman famously placed a sign on his Oval Office desk that read, “The buck stops here.” President Joe Biden apparently has no such sign. Nor does his Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas. Nor does Biden’s appointee, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle. The attempted assassination of Trump amounts to an utter failure by the security forces at the Trump rally in Pennsylvania. Cheatle blamed the local police, while also admitting the Secret Service had overall responsibility for security. She did not admit to her own responsibility for the debacle. Mayorkas? The guy in charge of all security for our country? Where is he hiding? And why hasn’t Biden canned both Mayorkas and Cheatle while simultaneously apologizing to the nation for putting such inept people in positions of immense importance? America needs answers and actions. Now.

Terry L. Fisher, Shakopee

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If you believe Trump’s bullet-grazed ear and spared life in last weekend’s assassination attempt was “an act of God,” then you also likely believe that Benito Mussolini’s grazed nose at his April 7, 1926, failed assassination attempt was a similar act of divine grace. For those who believe, it seems their God is not choosy about who is spared and who taken. Perhaps we would be wiser to give thought and compassion to the family of Corey Comperatore, who gave his life shielding his family last Saturday.

The Rev. Wendy Jerome, Minneapolis

The editorial “Justice not served in documents case” (July 17) highlights the serious problem our country is facing: Former President Donald Trump has made a mockery of our much-vaunted justice system. Throughout his career he has played every loophole, especially delay tactics, for his personal and financial benefit. At this juncture he is manipulating it by virtue of having appointed federal judge Aileen Cannon who, as the editorial points out, goes to great lengths to render Trump-friendly rulings. Most egregious is her move on Monday to dismiss the classified documents case the former president faced in Florida.

This is outrageous. Our government goes to great lengths to protect critical classified information while Trump flouted the system by storing boxes with top-secret markings at his Mar-a-Lago estate. Early in his presidency he revealed highly classified material to Russian officials during an Oval Office meeting, causing irreparable damage for the CIA to deal with.

Beyond this, during his term in office, Trump worked with Sen. Mitch McConnell to appoint three Supreme Court justices, including Amy Coney Barrett during the last three months of his presidency. This was after McConnell refused to consider then-President Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland, saying it was too close (eight months) to the end of Obama’s term. The toxic result is a highly conservative Supreme Court, much diminished from the high trust levels it has formerly enjoyed.

I submit that Trump has “stacked the deck” by creating a justice system highly amenable to meeting his own goals (including Justice Clarence Thomas’ refusal to recuse himself from critical cases despite his wife, Ginny, being a staunch Trump supporter).

William Steinbicker, Minnetonka

Gov. Tim Walz’s milquetoast response to the legislative auditor’s report is a strong endorsement of Republican policies — at least the old Republican policies (”Walz faulted on fraud prevention efforts,” July 14). He is lucky that there are very few reasonable Republicans left to point it out. We need to work for social justice. We need a strong safety net. We need to help the disadvantaged. Minnesota is a better place than other states. But government work is difficult. Programs draw fraud, waste and inefficiency. It is simply a necessary expense of these government programs to employ agencies and staff to monitor and police these programs.

Our state has failed here, and the legislative auditor explained it clearly. Walz must learn that the good programs that we need must be overseen aggressively. Waste and inefficiency are excoriated by both parties, but little is done. Walz’s response that state people are good people and they are working hard is not acceptable. It is an argument that social programs can’t work efficiently.

Human nature is to do routine work and avoid the tough work — challenging power and creating a stir. It is a real challenge to stir the pot and keep state agencies appropriately watchful and aggressive toward the real bad actors. The Education Department’s food program fiasco is only the ridiculous example. If Walz wants progressive policies to work, he must accept the real failures described by our legislative auditor and act on them. Good state regulators will be invigorated by his criticism.

Jeff Hill, Minneapolis

As a mother of children with medical complexities, my life changed dramatically the day our small town got an independent pharmacy. The pharmacists at Elko New Market Family Pharmacy have truly become like family to us. They have consistently gone above and beyond to ensure that my kids have the medications they need to live.

While our local pharmacy is the most convenient option for us, and the most reliable, always answering the phone, delivering meds to our home when needed and answering our calls after hours, my insurance provider requires that I use their pharmacies for certain meds. In fact, right now I have four different pharmacies that I need to work with to get all my children’s medications filled. This unnecessary bureaucracy puts my kid’s health at risk, allowing more room for error. I would much prefer to fill all our prescriptions at our local pharmacy, where I know and trust the staff. Unfortunately, that is not a priority for my health insurance.

A major part of the problem is corporate consolidation, which means my insurance company owns the pharmacy benefit manager and the pharmacy so they can squeeze as much profit out of me as they can while pushing out the independent pharmacy I depend on. I am looking forward to hearing PBM executives testify before Congress about these tactics on July 23. Hopefully, Congress will see that these middlemen are hurting patients and our health care marketplace through unfair and monopolistic practices.

Kim Haugen, Elko New Market, Minn.