Opinion | President Trump’s Dark New Beginning

To the Editor:

Re “Trump Caps Return to Power, Vowing to Stop a U.S. ‘Decline’” (front page, Jan. 21) and “Trump Grants Sweeping Clemency to All Jan. 6 Rioters” (nytimes.com, Jan. 20):

What a disappointing Inauguration Day! I don’t know which was more disheartening: outgoing President Biden’s flurry of pre-emptive pardons, literally at the 11th hour, or incoming President Trump’s dour Inaugural Address, ironically promising a new “golden age of America.”

To close out an upsetting day, Mr. Trump announced his own sweeping pardons or commutations for the nearly 1,600 people charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, violent attacks on the Capitol, the very seat of our democracy — a decision that has elicited bipartisan condemnation.

It is apparent that the American presidency is being increasingly conducted in an imperial manner, and if it continues this way, we are headed to becoming a banana republic.

Jack Nargundkar
Cary, N.C.

To the Editor:

If President Trump’s idea of law and order is to grant clemency to insurrectionists who attacked and damaged the Capitol, assaulted policemen and threatened to hang Vice President Mike Pence, this country is in big trouble!

Elaine Sloan
New York

To the Editor:

Whatever wisp of hope existed for a more rational and conciliatory President Trump was completely extinguished, and the threat of the onset of an autocratic era assured, by Mr. Trump’s Inaugural Address, which mirrored but far exceeded his worst campaign rants.

The speech must serve as a dire warning and a call to arms for every American who still believes in a democratic form of government, a binding Constitution and the rule of law.

Gerald Harris
New York
The writer is a retired New York City Criminal Court judge.

To the Editor:

We are living in exciting times. What was thought to be the impossible dream has been realized. Donald J. Trump is back in the White House as our 47th president. Millions of Americans are thrilled by his comeback.

My sincere hope is that those who didn’t vote for Mr. Trump will eventually be convinced that he fits the bill. No doubt he will deliver on all his campaign promises.

JoAnn Lee Frank
Clearwater, Fla.

To the Editor:

Hypocrisy is taking the same oath of office you broke the last time with a straight face. Obliviousness is believing that this time will be different.

Richard M. Frauenglass
Huntington, N.Y.

To the Editor:

America is back. No, it’s not that Donald Trump is again president. It is that the world witnessed the most important and enduring part of our democracy: President Biden shaking the hand of our new president, Mr. Trump, in a celebration of the peaceful transition of power in presence of all of our living former presidents.

Unlike four years ago, the world saw that America is back.

William Goldman
Los Angeles

To the Editor:

Renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America will require the needless reprogramming of dozens of U.S. government websites and the reprinting of thousands of government maps and charts.

So much for Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

Bill Galvani
Bainbridge Island, Wash.

To the Editor:

Re “Saying No to Fear” (editorial, Jan. 19):

I kept your thoughtful and pitch-perfect editorial nearby while watching the inauguration. It helped to be able to look away and reread your advice for a dose of sanity and calm. You highlighted the ways our institutions can “meet the moment” by showing courage and using their powers to resist and override illegal and unjust acts, and speak the truth even as we think deeply about the anger and distrust of many who voted for a second Trump presidency.

But the confluence of what was arguably the most disturbing Inaugural Address in our history on the very day on which we honor the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — a man so different, in every respect, from the one who now is our 47th president — helped me see that we must indeed stand strong and keep our faith in the system, not search for our passports, if together we are to bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice.

Meredith Minkler
Kensington, Calif.

To the Editor:

Instituted in 1787 by the Constitution, checks and balances were to ensure the separation of powers among the three branches of government. What the next four years portend — in place of checks and balances — are toadying and cronyism.

Penelope Ross
Westport, Conn.

To the Editor:

In answer to the “soul-shriveling shame” a Jan. 15 letter writer and so many of us feel as Americans, and the despair, as our country inaugurates a duly elected but convicted felon and amoral demagogue as president: Our ethical response as citizens must be sustained civic engagement.

Shame and despair, while appropriate, by themselves are disempowering — as every demagogue knows. We must not remain disheartened by such emotions.

What the historical moment now asks of us is righteous anger, powerful hope and principled courage to stand together in civic action by word and deed against every attempt to debase and degrade our political culture and the institutions of democracy and law.

(Rev.) Sheldon W. Bennett
Quincy, Mass.

Biden’s Exit Pardons

To the Editor:

Re “Last-Hour Pardons Aimed at Averting Reprisals” (front page, Jan. 21):

I’m glad to see that President Biden finally did the right thing in granting pre-emptive pardons to some of those whom Donald Trump had threatened with criminal prosecution. Sad to say, however, those pardons, while motivated by good intent, were poorly executed.

First of all, the list should have included, by name, everyone Mr. Trump or his supporters had threatened. Where, for example, was Jack Smith? This courageous prosecutor is no doubt near the top of Mr. Trump’s revenge list.

Also, Senator Adam Schiff, a Democrat, and former Representative Adam Kinzinger, a Republican, who were both on the Jan. 6 committee, are publicly on record as not wanting pardons. Mr. Biden’s team should have asked all potential pardon recipients in advance if they in fact would welcome the pardons.

Finally, why wait until the 11th hour to act? Gen. Mark Milley and Anthony Fauci’s statements reflect their relief and gratitude for the pardons. Wide-ranging pre-emptive pardons have been publicly debated for many weeks.

Mr. Biden’s Hamlet-like delay on this set of pardons — waiting until the very last day of his presidential term — no doubt caused those good people unnecessary angst about whether they would be facing imminent criminal prosecution.

Greg Schwed
New York
The writer is a lawyer.