Letters to the Editor: Now Republicans are running away from Trump? They can sink with him

Los Angeles Times Opinion
·2 min read
Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell of Ky. walks towards the Senate floor on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) walks toward the Senate floor Oct. 1. (Manuel Balce Ceneta / Associated Press)

To the editor: I find it laughable that suddenly the Republicans in Congress are developing a conscience, after more than three years of enabling President Trump running ripshod over our democracy. Any fair-minded observer can easily see how they have been willing accomplices. ("As Trump's fortunes sink, Republicans start to distance themselves in bid to save Senate," Oct. 9)

The statement by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that his party needs to remain in power as a "firewall to stop the Democrats" is a brazen expression of his own hypocrisy, after refusing to pass hundreds of bills sent by the House and gloating about it.

Among the legislation he has refused to bring to the Senate floor is continued relief during the pandemic for citizens of both parties, but he has instead worried about "packing" the federal courts, while warning that Democrats would do the same if they got into power.

Protection like his, I don't need.

Kymberleigh Richards, Van Nuys

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To the editor: Former GOP Rep. Thomas M. Davis argues that Democrats "will start doing goofy things like packing the Supreme Court." Funny, I thought Republicans have been packing the courts for years.

McConnell prevented scores of President Obama's judicial nominees from votes, holding those positions "open" until Trump could fill them. The supposedly sacred number of nine Supreme Court justices was reduced to eight for 14 months because McConnell refused to grant a hearing to Judge Merrick Garland after Justice Antonin Scalia died in early 2016.

As usual, if Republicans do it, it's OK, but if Democrats do it, it's the apocalypse.

John Gallogly, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Now some Republican senators are distancing themselves from Trump. They're like rats fleeing a sinking ship.

These people are asking for our votes. If they had any integrity, they would have voted Trump out during his trial in the Senate after he was impeached.

Had they done that, we would be more inclined to vote for them. But they have shown us their loyalty is not to America, but to the president whose coattails they were riding.

Sorry, guys, you can go down with him.

Lorraine Knopf, Santa Monica

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.