To the Editor:
Re “Daniels Particulars Intercourse With Trump, Which He Denies” (entrance web page, Could 8):
I discovered Stormy Daniels’s detailed testimony about her one-night stand with Donald Trump, which he denies ever occurred, to be very credible. Her admitted hatred of Mr. Trump felt like honesty, not a motive to have made up the story.
If the jury agrees, Mr. Trump is due to this fact the liar. It’s not removed from there to make the affordable inference that if he’s mendacity in regards to the occasion on the coronary heart of the case, he’ll lie about every part that got here after.
Stephanie Doba
Brooklyn
To the Editor:
You report that the decide throughout Stormy Daniels’s testimony objected to her description of the sexual positions with Donald Trump as veering in a “scurrilous course.” It’s too unhealthy that no decide objected to the Kenneth Starr report on President Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky, which was much more scurrilous in describing the sexual encounter.
“The prose, removed from a dry, factual recitation, contained wealthy, erotic particulars of the type we count on from a book-club romance,” Daniel M. Filler, a regulation professor, wrote in a California Legislation Evaluate article, in response to The Washington Put up.
The reality then and now could be {that a} sexual affair doesn’t want any extra description than “that they had intercourse,” however all of us like the main points.
Stephen T. Schreiber
Princeton, N.J.
To the Editor:
We live in a rustic the place democracy is on trial. But New York’s restrictions on cameras within the courtroom deprive the general public of stay video protection of Donald Trump’s hush cash trial.
The general public has to depend on particulars described by reporters, some sequestered in a distinct room with a video feed, others within the courtroom. In the meantime, nuances like facial expressions, physique language, interactions with authorized groups and verbal outbursts are left to courtroom sketches shared with the general public by way of the media.
Whereas juror anonymity have to be protected, there must be stay audio-visual protection. Mr. Trump’s trials are extra critically essential than another in U.S. historical past. With a presidential election looming, residents ought to have the ability to witness the courtroom exercise by way of their very own lens. It’s not simply Mr. Trump’s freedom at stake.
Cynthia Gardner Bruml
Cleveland
To the Editor:
Re “We Are Speaking Concerning the Case Towards Trump All Unsuitable,” by Rebecca Roiphe (Opinion visitor essay, Could 5):
Ms. Roiphe’s visitor essay jogs my memory of the Indian parable of the blind males who encounter an elephant for the primary time and try to grasp what it’s like by touching totally different elements of its physique after which arguing that their one perspective is the one reality.
Ms. Roiphe was an lawyer on the D.A.’s workplace. For her the case is actually about enterprise ethics. Let’s say she’s holding an ear. That’s one part, nevertheless it’s not the entire story.
The Trump case in New York can be about election interference; let’s name that the tusks. Some say the case is about private ethics; let’s name that the tail. Dismissing the trunk or the tail simply since you are holding an ear doesn’t assist anybody.
The ethical of the Indian parable is that particular person views might be restricted. Her essay poses the hazard of claiming that the Trump case is barely about one factor, thereby making it potential to dismiss the entire case as frivolous should you discover fault with that one factor. The truth is the entire elephant.
Daniel O’Brien
Lafayette, Ind.
Choose Cannon’s ‘Clear Bias’
To the Editor:
Re “Choose Postpones Begin of Paperwork Trial” (information article, Could 8):
It was no nice shock to study that the Trump paperwork trial was “indefinitely” postponed.
The federal decide on the case, Aileen Cannon, has accomplished every part in her energy to delay the trial, and presumably stop it from ever occurring, displaying clear bias in favor of the previous president.
She must be eliminated not solely from the case, however from the bench as nicely.
Gary L. Adler
Lynbrook, N.Y.
Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Mischief
To the Editor:
Re “Democrats Assist Johnson Survive Bid to Oust Him” (entrance web page, Could 9):
Consultant Marjorie Taylor Greene’s failed try to oust Speaker Mike Johnson could seem, on first blush, to be as unhinged as her concept of a wildfire brought on by Jewish house lasers, however there’s methodology in her mania.
Ms. Greene, described by a Republican colleague as a “dumpster fireplace,” is a performative politician who’s taking part in to an viewers of 1: Donald Trump. Her discuss of overthrowing the “uniparty” (Democrats and Republicans voting collectively) is crimson meat to the MAGA base.
Cheap individuals could strive earnestly to unhear and unsee Ms. Greene’s theater of the absurd, however she is functioning as Mr. Trump’s assault canine. Don’t underestimate her capability for mischief; she shouldn’t be going away anytime quickly.
Eric Radack
Santa Fe, N.M.
R.F.Ok. Jr.’s Well being Historical past
To the Editor:
Re “Kennedy Says Medical doctors Discovered a Lifeless Worm in His Mind” (information article, Could 9):
It took “a 2012 deposition reviewed by The New York Occasions” to disclose Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s related well being historical past. Voters must be much less tolerant of the shortage of medical disclosures, the failure to reveal tax returns, the sources of darkish cash funding campaigns and the unwillingness to take part in moderated debates and in-depth media interviews.
Jim Hoffmann
Manchester, Mass.
The Hyperlink Between Teen Melancholy and Smartphones
To the Editor:
Re “Are Smartphones Driving Our Teenagers to Melancholy?,” by David Wallace-Wells (Opinion, nytimes.com, Could 1):
In questioning the connection between smartphone use and the continuing psychological well being disaster amongst our younger individuals, Mr. Wallace-Wells ignores the in depth physique of analysis documenting the situations that contribute to youngsters’s wholesome growth and well-being — and the way social media supplies the precise reverse situations.
There may be little debate that childhood trauma can have long-lasting psychological results. Are we actually to consider that repeated publicity to movies of automobile crashes, pictures of useless our bodies, memes about rape and posts glorifying consuming problems have had no impact on the psychological well being of the thousands and thousands of kids who’ve seen this content material of their feeds?
At a time when suicide has turn into the second main reason behind dying for 10- to 14-year-olds within the U.S., the necessity for pressing motion can’t be overstated. Whereas some argue over whether or not the present knowledge constitutes causality, Large Tech is continuous to infiltrate our youngsters’s brains with addictive algorithms and dangerous content material, all within the identify of boosting earnings.
Getting smartphones out of colleges and coverage safeguards that stop social media corporations from exploiting youngsters are fundamental however essential steps we will take to guard our children and set them up for profitable, wholesome lives.
Julie Scelfo
New York
The author is the founder and government director of Moms Towards Media Dependancy.
To the Editor:
It’s not simply teenagers who’re negatively affected by smartphones. What about us older of us? It’s laborious to maintain up with this ever-changing digital world.
Ann Glasser
Hamden, Conn.
