The nation’s impeachment crisis has made one thing very apparent. That is the intellectual damage Donald Trump has done to the Republican caucuses in the House and the Senate and the party’s leadership overall.
There does not seem to be a single Republican in the Congress or a single retired senior Republican leader who has shown any comprehension that whatever conduct and abuse of power Republicans deem acceptable by Donald Trump — not an impeachable act — will become precedent and permission for the next president. He or she, too, will view such behavior as acceptable, even unassailable.
Walter R. Kowalczyk, Jefferson Park
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Heinous actions
Impeachment hearings over Ukraine shenanigans may be getting all the media space, but we shouldn’t overlook other truly heinous actions of President Trump. Last week he issued full pardons to U.S. military personnel convicted of or held for murder in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Major Matt Golsteyn was being held for ambushing a detainee he was ordered to release for insufficient evidence of wrongdoing. Golsteyn’s rationale? He was going to rejoin the Taliban.
Lt. Clint Lorance was serving a 19-year sentence for ordering troops to murder two Afghans on motorcycles.
In a third case, Trump pardoned SEAL Edward Gallagher, convicted of posing for pictures with an Iraqi corpse. This not only vacated Gallagher’s four-month sentence, it also restored him to his full rank, with benefits, of chief petty officer.
The president justified his pardons by asserting that we must give our soldiers the “confidence to fight.” It’s actually more like giving them, and the U.S. military, the confidence to commit war crimes.
Walt Zlotow, Glen Ellyn
What “tweaking” really means
Re: Your definition of tweaking [“Chicagopedia, Volume 1,” Sunday].
Are you kidding? Anybody from a real hood knows it means being paranoid, usually as a result of drug use.
C’mon, Sun-Times, where’s your street cred?
Fred Van Buren, Edgewater
