President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday in Washington. (AP Photo | Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday in Washington. (AP Photo | Evan Vucci)

Opinion: Our senators should stand up for us

Letters to the Editor.

Alaskans should ask our senators in Washington to stand up for us and our country against a president who would be king. Here are a few recent reasons why.

Of a sudden, he betrayed faithful battlefield allies of U.S. Forces, got many of them killed, and made all their people homeless. This he did at the request of a dictator and in the interests of Russia.

He used hundreds of millions of American taxpayer dollars to extort a personal political favor from a foreign leader whose country is at war with Russia, our enemy.

He refused to recognize the U.S. Constitutional powers of oversight in Congress and ordered employees of the American people to do the same.

He has retaliated and is retaliating against employees of the American people’s government with personal smears and firings for responding to lawful subpoenas and telling the truth under oath about his unlawful acts and those of his subordinates and employees at his direction.

He applauded — in public in the American people’s White House — the American people’s Secretary of State for summoning a reporter whose question he did not like, to a private room and punishing her for 10 minutes with a loud, profanity-filled F-bomb attack.

“I think you did a good job on her,” the president said to the grinning Secretary of State and roomful of happily laughing people. (C-SPAN 28 January 2020)

Now he has tasked the American people’s head law enforcement officer and the American people’s justice department with intervening on behalf of his personal political friends who stand convicted of breaking the law.

When will our senators on behalf of us fulfill their oath of office and stand up to this president who acts more and more emboldened to act as an angry, profane, and tyrannical king? When will they do, at long last, something resembling the bravery of one senator who recently said enough? He had seen enough to establish guilt beyond doubt, and he did not want, he said, to “expose” his “character to history’s rebuke” and to the “censure” of his “conscience.”

When will our senators have seen enough? They should be asked when enough will be enough for them and why they haven’t already seen enough. The freedom and security of a people who are equal under law, if it can be enforced, is at stake.

Art Petersen

Juneau

Trump’s supporters will try to rewrite history

As more and more of President Donald Trump’s bad behavior and crimes comes out and when he is no longer in a position to help or hurt them, I expect that many of those presently supporting him will be desperately trying to rewrite the history of their support and collaboration in Trump’s bad policies and cover ups.

For many voters, it will just have been a salutatory learning experience imparting some wisdom that may influence their future voting behavior. For a number of politicians, it may be what forces them into another line of work.

As it should, since the depths to which his supporters went showed that they valued power more than patriotism and were willing to subvert and poison our democracy to enhance their power and to deny it to their opponents.

But all those supporters should remember, it was the lies, spin and overlooking of Trump’s failings by the propagandist broadcast and social media that supported him that allowed his election and retention of support for so long. Remember that when you decide where you should get your news in the future.

Alex Koponen

Fairbanks

Tax advice for seniors

When a person turns 70 and a half years old, they have annual mandatory withdrawals they have to make from their IRA or annuity. What most people don’t know is that they can make contributions directly to 501(C) nonprofits from the contributions and not have to pay federal income taxes on those portions of their withdrawal. I made my 2020 contributions and reduced the federal income taxes I will owe for 2020 by $405. People can speak with their investor or their tax consultant for information.

Gary Miller

Juneau