To the Editor:
Donald Trump has a really low bar to satisfy within the presidential debate on Thursday with a view to please Republicans. He wants solely to take turns answering questions, not interrupt President Biden and never make offensive remarks. The extra boring he’s, the larger the victory that Republicans will declare.
There should be an excessive amount of anxiousness amongst Mr. Biden and the moderators given how unpredictable Mr. Trump may be. Let’s face it, the muted microphone when the opposite individual is talking and the shortage of an viewers are supposed to attempt to set up some limits on Mr. Trump’s habits.
So far as coverage points go, Mr. Trump can’t get past speaking factors, and shifting ones at that, particularly on abortion and contraception.
Mr. Trump has one technique that can in all probability be on show earlier than and after the talk: gamesmanship. He’ll complain that the principles have been unfair, the moderators have been hostile to him, the questions have been rigged in Mr. Biden’s favor, the shortage of an viewers favored Mr. Biden, Mr. Biden was “jacked up” on a drug, and so on.
Mr. Trump can’t assist himself and can little doubt go off the rails sooner or later. And his keen sycophants will repeat his complaints. They’re already doing so.
George Magakis Jr.
Norristown, Pa.
To the Editor:
Re “What to Look For on the Biden-Trump Debate,” by Frank Luntz (Opinion visitor essay, June 25):
Whereas Mr. Luntz presents an insightful evaluation of how candidate performances will have an effect on voters’ impressions, he doesn’t point out the bigger symbolic position the talk performs in American democracy. As the one discussion board exhibiting the candidates standing aspect by aspect discussing points in actual time, unfiltered by the media or the candidates’ handlers, debates supply voters an vital alternative to guage how the candidates will deal with the urgent issues that roil the nation.
However the alternative might be squandered if the moderators fail to ask questions on existential points like local weather change, as occurred in 2016, or draw back from difficult candidates after they utter falsehoods.
I disagree with Mr. Luntz that what issues within the debate is how the candidates make voters “really feel.” What issues is whether or not the talk will get voters to assume, after which assume some extra afterward about whether or not our candidates are actually confronting the essential points that face America.
Richard M. Perloff
Cleveland
The author is a professor of communication and political science at Cleveland State College and the creator of “The Dynamics of Political Communication.”
To the Editor:
Re “Putin Has Tainted Russia’s Greatness,” by Serge Schmemann (Opinion, June 21):
Mr. Schmemann writes that Vladimir Putin’s “try to ‘restore Russian greatness’ by way of violence and hatred has tainted Russia’s actual greatness for years to return.”
I hope that Donald Trump, by way of his MAGA motion, just isn’t allowed to do the identical to America.
Ray Mueller
Byram Township, N.J.
The Radical Proper’s Denial of Science
To the Editor:
Re “Meteorologist Given a Rule: Keep on Script” (entrance web page, June 21):
Studying the article on the Iowa weatherman who was compelled to cease utilizing the time period local weather change, I used to be struck as soon as once more at how far the suitable will go to eradicate information from public discourse.
When the weatherman, Chris Gloninger, defended his place by saying “It’s not a political agenda. It’s science,” he failed to know the agenda of the brand new radical proper: Science is the enemy.
Info are harmful. Whether or not it’s denying Covid, denying the efficacy of vaccines, denying the correlation between weapons and mass casualty occasions, or denying the ties that oil and fuel consumption need to local weather change, the brand new proper isn’t permitting actuality to intrude with catering to billionaires, ensuring these with probably the most cash even have the loudest voice.
At the same time as auto producers started the change from fuel to electrical, Donald Trump publicly ridiculed electrical automobiles. Because the variety of cities that skilled their hottest summers on document started to extend, Mr. Trump and the suitable claimed this was all a part of a pure cycle.
This undermining of science will proceed, following the same old script: Repeat the lies so usually that they start to sound acquainted. As soon as one thing sounds acquainted, it sounds rational. As soon as one thing sounds rational, it sounds secure. The reality is, there’s nothing secure about local weather change.
Matt Emrich
Cottage Grove, Ore.
The Risks of Mountaineering in Scorching Climate
To the Editor:
Re “Vacationer Discovered Useless in Greece Amid Warmth” (information article, June 26):
The tragedy of these hikers in Greece needs to be a lesson to us all in regards to the risks of climbing in sizzling climate (something above the mid-80s).
I lived within the California desert for 50 years and belonged (with my late husband) to the native climbing membership and went on many hikes — however by no means in sizzling climate. Too many occasions, hikers who believed themselves invulnerable needed to be rescued from trails as a result of they didn’t hearken to warnings.
So, individuals, please don’t go climbing alone. At all times carry your cell phone and sufficient water. Let your loved ones or mates know precisely the place you may be and what time you propose to return. And, above all, keep on marked trails, and consider the lives of search-and-rescue groups that might be put in peril in the event that they need to hike out to rescue you.
Rosemary Fletcher-Jones
New Milton, England
Justice in Being pregnant
To the Editor:
Re “Pregnant, Addicted, and Lastly Receiving Assist” (entrance web page, June 17):
Certainly, long-term funding in therapy for pregnant ladies who are suffering from substance use dysfunction is sorely wanted. The Nice Mothers clinic is a mannequin for non-stigmatizing, non-punitive care. Sadly, pregnant ladies with substance use dysfunction usually face the specter of legal or civil costs for “baby endangerment” or “baby neglect” (rooted in harmful fetal personhood ideology), which understandably discourages accessing wanted care.
Being pregnant Justice has discovered that the overwhelming majority of the practically 1,400 pregnancy-related arrests throughout the U.S. from 2006 by way of June 2022 concerned allegations of drug use. This contains taking prescribed medicines to deal with opioid use dysfunction.
Roughly one-third of the arrests originated in “trusted” medical settings, the place pregnant individuals and their newborns are often drug examined with out knowledgeable consent. And two in 5 arrests concerned the presence of kid welfare employees, making a hospital-to-child-welfare-prison pipeline.
With overdose a number one reason behind demise throughout being pregnant and the postnatal interval, accessing substance use therapy could possibly be lifesaving. However its full potential won’t ever be realized if states proceed to prioritize criminalization over therapy within the title of fetal personhood.
Lourdes A. Rivera
New York
The author is the president of Being pregnant Justice.
A Intelligent Use of the Ten Commandments
To the Editor:
Re “In Louisiana, Commandments Required in Public Lecture rooms” (entrance web page, June 20):
I praise Louisiana’s governor and legislators for requiring the show of the Ten Commandments in public school rooms. What a intelligent, and surreptitious, technique to encourage judgments of the general public conduct of officers and those that search workplace.
Mark G. Winiarski
Nice Neck, N.Y.
