regarding your editorial <u+201c> trump<u+2019>s moment of truth <u+201d> (oct. 13): the reluctance of the republican party to accept donald trump started at the very beginning of his primary campaign with the requirement of a pledge not to run as a third-party candidate. the scolding and superior tone began then and has continued throughout the campaign. republicans and the conservative media couldn<u+2019>t unite, and the cost has always been clear: a clinton presidency, a left-leaning supreme court for the next generation and a government run by executive orders and supreme court decisions if republicans can<u+2019>t hold a branch of the legislature. you would think that such a consequence would unite republicans, especially the college-educated ones. the division isn<u+2019>t all mr. trump<u+2019>s fault. charles spinosa new york there<u+2019>ll be no excuses for trump supporters if they lose? if only they felt that way. they are already making excuses. they have set up the perfect fallback for failure by claiming the whole system is rigged. bitterness is their currency after all. it<u+2019>s always someone else<u+2019>s fault. margaret mcgirr greenwich, conn. your editorial <u+201c> trump<u+2019>s <u+2018>special prosecutor<u+2019> <u+201d> (oct. 11) gets its analysis backward. the real original sin was the george w. bush administration<u+2019>s policy decision to attempt to de-legalize the crime of torture and use torture as a weapon. the administration<u+2019>s first step was the issuance of the now-discredited <u+201c>legal<u+201d> memorandums (the so-called bybee/yoo torture memos) with the intent to eviscerate the law prohibiting torture by erecting a shield against its criminal penalties. in effect, the bush administration sought to take torture out of the realm of law and put it in the realm of discretionary policy; what the obama administration has sought to do is merely to reverse that process. the appointment of a special prosecutor was one of several reforms attempted or undertaken by the obama administration to re-legalize the crime of torture and to bring it back under the legal prohibitions of u.s. and international law. this was all about law, not politics. alberto mora cambridge, mass. the journal is showing its <u+201c>establishment<u+201d> tendencies by agreeing with the left that mr. trump<u+2019>s call for a special prosecutor to investigate hillary clinton <u+2019>s use of a personal server for classified documents and the deletion of 33,000 of her emails after a subpoena for them was issued smacks of a <u+201c>banana republic.<u+201d> this election isn<u+2019>t just republican versus democrat; it is also about establishment versus nonestablishment. there are two strata of justice in this country, one for those with connections and protection, and the other for those in the way. mrs. clinton is in the former while the rest of us are in the latter. the latter is voting for mr. trump. steven martin dallas your editorial states: <u+201c>promising to prosecute political opponents if you win is essentially a promise to politicize the justice department.<u+201d> to anyone reading your editorial pages from the days of eric holder to the absurdities and legal contusions of this past summer, i would suggest a special prosecutor would be the first step to depoliticize the <u+201c>justice<u+201d> department and restore public confidence in our supposed equality before the law. mr. trump<u+2019>s success is almost entirely propelled by <u+201c>lack of trust and public cynicism<u+201d> in our democracy, if it can even be called that anymore. elizabeth stoyko phippsburg, maine regarding your editorial <u+201c> trump<u+2019>s last stand <u+201d> (oct. 10): donald trump<u+2019>s locker-room words were, while coarse, only talk, whereas bill clinton, lbj and jfk put similar words into action<u+2014>a hypocrisy current democrats and the media ignore. in an age where the liberals used to claim one<u+2019>s private life has nothing to do with being president, we as a nation must focus on the true issues of this election. we aren<u+2019>t voting for a pope. we are voting for a fixer of the economy, national security, border sovereignty and a protector of our constitution. richard eggers longmont, colo. people seem to forget that in 2005 when this conversation took place, donald trump was a democrat. now that he is a republican, he has cleaned up his language and behavior. meanwhile, bill clinton remains a democrat. jim dunlap newport beach, calif. the republicans need to treat donald trump as the democrats treat abortion: we support him but are personally opposed. patrick m. gavin newark, ohio
the varieties of views on donald j. trump - wsj
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