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If Trump is not impeached — or is impeached but not convicted in the Senate — it would set a frightening precedent for future presidents.

The fact pattern is clear. On July 19, Trump froze $400 million allocated by Congress as military aid to Ukraine. He had no legal authority to freeze the funds, because they did not come from discretionary spending accounts. On July 25, Trump, at the very least, created a logical connection between the by-then-frozen military aid and his requested “favor,” an implied quid pro quo.

Earlier this month, Trump publicly called for China to investigate Biden. While unlike with Ukraine there was no express “favor” proffered to China (that we know of yet), the Chinese, who read American newspapers and are familiar with the facts surrounding Ukraine, want relief from Trump’s trade tariffs and can make the connection without an express agreement. It’s called “reading between the lines.”

If you don’t agree with me, consider this: What if a President Warren, Sanders or, yes, Biden offered an implied quid pro quo to a foreign government in the runup to the 2024 (or beyond) election? Would you support impeaching them? If so, the arguments to do so would be far more difficult to make if we don’t set the ethical and moral precedents today.

There would be no need to lick your wounds. The GOP would have a stronger chance to win reelection with Vice President Mike Pence as the incumbent anyway.

Joel Warne

Tyler

THEORIES

For a while now, I have actively wondered whether President Donald Trump was purposely trying to get impeached — either because he thought it would benefit him in 2020 or he genuinely wanted out of the White House without upsetting his movement. His recent behavior — i.e., him openly admitting that he wanted Ukraine and China to investigate his political opponents, certainly lend themselves in support of either theory. Not anymore.

I am now convinced Trump doesn’t have the capacity to understand or perform under generally moral and ethical standards of conduct. I believe Trump genuinely believes his phone call with the Ukrainian president was “perfect”; meanwhile, anyone not blinded by partisan politics would see the extraordinary problems that behavior poses. And I believe Trump doesn’t see the hypocrisy when he talks about income earned by Joe Biden’s son during the Biden vice presidency while he and his family are bringing in hundreds of millions through their international golf courses and resort communities.

I know that Trump is not dumb, but he goes on these endlessly incoherent rants for 30, 40, 50 minutes each day — sometimes more than an hour — beneath the whirring of Marine One. Most criminals understand criminality and are rational decision-makers. Unlike most criminals, there is nothing rational about Trump and how he manages his and the country’s affairs. He’s like Munchausen syndrome for millionaires, not able to understand right from wrong, ethical from unethical, and lies from the truth. That makes him all the more dangerous.

Staci Smith

Tyler

LIKE THE CARTELS

From the front page of today’s Wall Street Journal, the caption under a photo of Syrians hiding from the Turks reads:

“Syrian Kurdish and Arab civilians fled Turkish bombardments in northeastern Syria. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened Europe with a wave of Syrian refugees if his country doesn’t receive adequate support for the offensive from the U.S. and other NATO allies.”

Sounds like what the cartels do in Central America — create bloody carnage throughout an area, then offer refugees fleeing with their families safe passage to the U.S. for, say, $6,000 apiece. It’s become a complete line of their business, along with smuggling drugs and kidnapping folks here and there.

Is this the future our world now faces? Bad enough that cartels practice this, but now governments, even governments that are supposed to be our allies?

Brit Conner

Tyler

PIECE OF HISTORY

I would like to commemorate the life of Jim Leavelle. He served in the U.S. Navy stationed at Pearl Harbor when it was bombed by the Japanese. Some of you are old enough to remember the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. After the assassination, Leavelle was the only law enforcement officer to interview Lee Harvey Oswald. The Warren Commission swore Leavelle to secrecy regarding the content of that interview. Shortly after the interview, Jack Ruby assassinated Lee Harvey Oswald while he was handcuffed to Leavelle; did so in front of the television cameras, and essentially in front of the entire world. Leavelle went on to become the chief deputy sheriff in Dallas County. I was able to talk with Leavelle because he was a member of the same church I attended in Garland. Leavelle was the epitome of the tall Texan, a large, stocky man who was at least 6 and a half feet tall. Until the day of his death, Leavelle never spoke to anybody regarding his interview with Lee Harvey Oswald, not even his own wife. Few people would be able to keep a vow and keep silent as did Leavelle. He died last month (September of 2019) at the age of 99. I will always remember him as a friend and as a piece of history that stepped into my life.

Rev. Niels Dutka

Calvary Assembly of God

Tyler

BOTH SIDES

A reader response letter on Oct. 15 chastised UT Tyler for the Laura Ingraham lecture. The truth is that there have been liberal speakers in the past. Fortunately we are free to choose. Why attack only conservative speech? Maybe hearing both sides would be more beneficial than shutting down those who differ. I want to thank UT Tyler for courage to do what is right by supporting all open and free speech.

OJ Corbitt

Whitehouse

SHOULD RESIGN

One of the primary traits of being an elected official (especially speaker of the House in the Texas Legislature) is to be courteous and tactful. Although I live in Longview, I get to Tyler and other cities. In essence: Speaker Bonnen “de facto” is charged to represent ALL TEXANS, including me. I find his words caught on tape to be crude, vulgar and insulting. It wasn’t just a one-time slip of a profanity; the man expresses his devious and unbridled thirst for power in profane and crude terms. Bonnen is unfit to serve anybody. Bonnen basically admitted on tape he wanted to sabotage Texas towns and cities to “make this the worst session in the history of the Legislature for cities and counties.” Furthermore, Bonnen called another legislator “a piece of (human excrement).” There was no need for such tawdry gutter talk. Bonnen should resign now.

James A. Marples

Longview