Letters: Congress should impeach Trump to reassert its authority

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Congress must impeach
to assert its authority

Re: “Trump says U.S. will ‘run’ Venezuela after swift strike” (Page A1, Jan. 4).

Our elected president, following a run of at least 35 strikes on boats in South American waters that were allegedly carrying drugs and have killed at least 115, has moved forward on his this-was-my-plan-for-regime-change-all-along with an attack on Venezuela resulting in the removal of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, and it’s only the beginning. Since the strike, Trump has identified Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Greenland and Iran as potential targets for takeover by the United States.

So what comes next? More world leaders being abducted? Boots on the ground? Nuclear war? All of these are possible with this administration. If ever there was a time to move forward with impeachment, this is that time. Trump is ignoring Congress, and Congress must send the message that it stands for the Constitution and the rule of law.

Ward Kanowsky
Pleasanton

Lack of consequences
has emboldened Trump

This is what happens when you tell a bully he cannot be jailed.

I would love to walk into a bank with a gun and take its deposits too, and might be tempted if I knew there could be no punishment for my actions. I could claim that the bank was evil and earned its profits illegally, and that it had harmed me or my tribe at some point in the past, in my peculiar perception. There is a reason we don’t do this. If we have no laws, none of us can ever sleep. We’re always at risk of being robbed or raped by someone bigger.

Donald Trump’s action in Venezuela does not make us stronger or richer. It just encourages similar action against us in an inevitable moment of vulnerability. Sleep well, America.

Jay Chafetz
Walnut Creek

Venezuela gambit
lacks congressional OK

Re: “Trump says U.S. will ‘run’ Venezuela after swift strike” (Page A1, Jan. 4).

Yesterday’s news is that Donald Trump is threatening Iran. Today’s news is that Trump’s lawless administration has captured Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro and his wife.

We may not like the leadership in both Iran and Venezuela, but only Congress can declare war. We can’t just go in and violently attack countries and remove leaders we do not like without an act of war.

Our representatives and senators in Congress need to start doing their jobs and holding this law-breaking administration accountable.

Molly Hermes
El Cerrito

ACA smashing success
at insuring Americans

Re: “Failed Obamacare faces a reckoning” (Page A6, Jan. 2).

Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act, was not a failure, as was claimed in a recent letter to the editor. Instead, it has been a colossal success, insuring millions of Americans who would probably not have been able to afford private health care insurance otherwise.

The ACA ended the right of insurance companies to reject applications because of “pre-existing conditions.” It ended annual or lifetime caps for coverage. It ended insurance companies being able to rescind coverage if an enrollee got sick.

At best, the American health care insurance system is currently a patchwork that includes the ACA. As a result, approximately 91% of Americans receive government health care assistance, mainly via tax-subsidized employer coverage, Medicare, Medicaid or the ACA.

Long live the ACA.

George Fulmore
Emeryville

Mahan should take his
solutions to Sacramento

Re: “From encampments to temporary shelters” (Page A1, Jan. 4).

Matt Mahan needs to run for governor so he can implement his common-sense strategies that work.

Getting the homeless out of unsafe, filthy encampments and into safe, secure, short-term interim housing makes sense. These people are now safe, have food, a bed and a shower. Apartment buildings should be built for the homeless for permanent housing. California needs to do things that make common sense and are affordable, but more importantly, care for the people who need a safe place to live. Advocates push things that are too extreme and end up hurting everyone and resolving nothing.

Matt, please run for governor.

Tom Elardy
San Ramon

Trump is a litany
of rank hypocrisy

Donald Trump is against terrorism, while his agents terrorize only blue cities. Trump is against illegal drugs coming into this country, while he pardons one of the biggest convicted drug traffickers.

Trump is against crime, yet he pardons hundreds of convicted criminals. Trump is against fraud as he pardons people convicted of fraud.

Trump claims elections he loses are rigged, while he rigs the elections with gerrymandered districts. Trump claims everybody from Joe Biden to the Somalis has destroyed America. At the same time, he deconstructs America, with the help of a compromised Supreme Court, which has broken its oath to protect the U.S. Constitution and ignores precedent and common sense to further empower his presidency.

Trump says he’s deporting the worst of the worst, but the majority of detainees have no criminal record, and many are here legally. Trump takes away food and medicine from millions of starving children while calling himself a Christian.

Frank Grygus
San Ramon