Letters to the Editor: Trump should watch Cuomo and Newsom to learn how to give coronavirus updates

Los Angeles Times Opinion
·2 min read
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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, left, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom. (Associated Press)

To the editor: I start each day listening to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's coronavirus news conference. I find his manner and message to be reassuring. His daily updates remind me of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's fireside chats during World War II. ("Andrew Cuomo and Gavin Newsom deliver the leadership and straight talk Trump won't," Opinion, March 26)

Later in the day I listen to our own Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, both of whom deliver reality and encouragement.

In contrast, listening to President Trump only increases my fear and stress. He does not reassure the public and his words ring hollow. His manner conveys that he does not want to have to deal with this, he wants to move on to what is important to him, and he does not have control of the situation.

Trump cannot be blamed for this terrible situation, but he signed up for the job of president and now the country looks to him to carry out his work.

Liz Sherwin, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Columnist Virginia Heffernan is so biased against the president that she praises the two governors whose states account for more than half of all confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States. As usual, let's blame someone else.

Does anyone really believe that if President Obama were still in the White House, New York would be in any better shape? No, but with his gift of gab, we would be made to feel better about it.

Robert Rose, Brentwood

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To the editor: Heffernan does not give enough credit to Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.

Because of Inslee's leadership, Washington state, once the hotspot of the U.S. COVID-19 epidemic, is now no longer even mentioned in the national news.

What a shame that he had to drop out of the presidential race.

Carolyn Major, Newcastle, Wash.

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To the editor: Heffernan says that governors like Cuomo and Newsom, and not the president, are delivering needed straight talk on the coronavirus crisis.

She herself did not use "straight talk" when she mentioned "Trumpist lies that imply the sick will rise from their beds and the dead from their graves on Easter Sunday."

I admit that Trump gave a rather early date, and a special day, for when Americans might be able to go back to work, but Heffernan's play on words was an insult to Christians.

Elizabeth Norling, Long Beach