Toilet flushing in the Trump show

Echo opinions published in The New York Times

To the Editor:  "So wads of paper were stuffed down the White House toilets. Well, remember how hard it was to get toilet paper during the early days of the pandemic?" From Mary Garripoli in
Los Angeles, California.

Trump claims Americans have to flush the toilet ‘10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once’

And then there are these letters:

Shredded documents, records improperly taken to Mar-a-Lago, papers flushed down the toilet, plans to seize voting machines, and now gaps in the official Oval Office call record from Jan. 6. Does this sound like a former president who has done nothing improper or illegal? Hardly! They seem like an archetypal example of the “res ipsa loquitur” legal doctrine — “the thing speaks for itself.”

I eagerly await the Jan. 6 committee’s final report. Unpacking more fully these facts and many more, a well-documented and clear story will be told. I suspect that at least some of the committee’s findings will be referred to the Justice Department for investigation.

The only question is: Will Donald Trump once again escape legal accountability?

From Richard Cherwitz, in Austin, Texas
The writer is professor emeritus at the Moody College of Communication, the University of Texas at Austin.

At the end of his (aka - failed!) term in office, Donald Trump unlawfully removed 15 cartons of documents and other items from the White House. There has long been a federal statute that makes it illegal to remove papers or documents from a public office. The offense is punishable by up to three years in prison, and the person is “disqualified from holding any office under the United States.”

I know this because, in 1970, I was prosecuted for this crime when I burglarized the Selective Service complex in Providence, R.I., and carried off a bit over 15 cartons of papers and documents to destroy later at my leisure. I held a news conference about the burglary. I was duly prosecuted, convicted and sentenced (and, I believe, was the only convicted felon in my graduating class at Harvard Law School).

Donald Trump (aka The Former Guy) should also be prosecuted for this offense.

From Jerry Elmer

In a bizarre rally speech reported by Thomas Colson, on October 19, 2020 (Sunday),  The Former Guy tRump launched into a lengthy monologue on the subject of water pressure.  He said that 'people have to flush their toilet 15 times' because of water restrictions. 'I won't talk about the fact that people have to flush their toilet 15 times. I will not talk about it. I'll only talk about showers ... When you wash your hands it takes five times longer ... you get soapy, you can't get it off,' he said.

To The New York Times Editor: Republicans are not interested in democracy or this country’s promised ideals. Instead, the GOP cult are interested in total control, a permanent Republican autocracy, power and wealth. And if they have to get in bed with a vengeful, hate-filled wannabe king to bring their coup to a successful conclusion, so be it.

Republicanism equals "stupidism". These freaks are not "tourists"!

They got oh so close. They won’t stop now. Take off the blinders, shake off the wishful thinking. They’re feeding the divisions; they’re dismantling our democratic institutions.

From Olivia Koppell, in Brookline, Massachusetts.