Regarding “Trump and Biden or Lincoln and Douglas?” (Declarations, May 14): You have to love that
Peggy Noonan
proposes 21 hours of formal debate about former President
and progressives without allowing Mr. Trump to speak. Will that really get through to the people who support Mr. Trump? They are more likely to believe that they have been chained to their chairs for a 21-hour re-education session. And isn’t that exactly what Washington and the media would like to provide them, if they aren’t already?
Gilbert Sandgren
Kenosha, Wis.
Ms. Noonan writes, “Former Defense Secretary Mike Esper, in ‘A Sacred Oath,’ says Mr. Trump wanted to attack Mexican drug cartels with missiles, and then deny the missiles came from us.” She refers to this and other memoirs in concluding that “most of those who worked with Mr. Trump have been unsparing.”
But we know that no missiles were fired at Mexican drug cartels. We know about the hair-brained ideas that President Richard Nixon came up with that never happened only because he taped his Oval Office conversations. Like Ms. Noonan, I would be happy if Mr. Trump retired from politics and kept his mouth shut. I also wish that the political memoirists would nurse their grievances in silence. Presidents should be able to talk freely with advisers. The advisers should refrain from using their access to get rich and promote themselves.
Ron James
Wynnewood, Pa.
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