Letters to the Editor: The Newsom recall campaign is like Trump: ridiculous but dangerous

To the editor: Before the election we had "Trump 2020" campaign booths by the side of the road in our area. In addition to being decorated with the flags and selling the campaign merchandise with which we are all familiar, they also collected signatures for the campaign to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom. ("Recall is not a 'coup' and certainly no joke," editorial, Jan. 14)

This may be why people are not taking the recall campaign seriously — it is irrevocably tainted with the miasma of Trump.

People should take the campaign seriously, though, because there's serious money behind it, and as we've all found out the hard way in recent years, serious money can be used to sway hearts and minds in defiance of common sense.

Personally I'm lukewarm about Newsom, but he'd have to sprout horns and a forked tail before I'd even consider having anything to do with that recall. I think we've all had enough of extremists for the time being.

Martin Usher, Thousand Oaks

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To the editor: Thanks for your editorial criticizing state Democrats for calling the Newsom recall campaign the "California coup." It gives me tangible evidence that you are not a Communist publication as some of my acquaintances declare. I plan on providing them a copy of the editorial the next time I hear that label used.

For too long I have lamented hyperbole in political and other discourse. Such use of speech is not harmless. Unsophisticated or humorless people are in particular danger of overreacting to such excesses.

If there is one thing the recent events have clarified for me, it is that how we use words is tremendously important. At the risk of being labeled as the prissy old lady that I am, going forward I will demand clarification any time I hear such rhetoric.

Tina Garcia, Claremont

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.