Trump and Democracy 

Editor,

Ted Pease, a "journalist," decries the death of participatory democracy with his letter to the editor to the NCJ. In his screed, he falsely attributes the actions of a deranged mass murder to President Trump. The details of the Baltimore Capital Gazette murders are easily obtained with an online search and the crime is only the responsibility of the criminal.

He also attributes political and cultural disagreements to the "Hate Right" and "MAGAs" as destroying the willingness to participate or listen free and open debate.

As a consumer of the weekly newspaper the NCJ and a once avid poster on its Facebook page, I wonder if the publisher and staff believe it's important to allow participation and open debate when conservative voices on the platform have been blocked.

Dennis Scales, Fortuna

Editor:

By now, we've all heard the news that Donald Trump was found guilty of all 34 felony counts of falsifying his company's business records to keep information from voters that he knew would harm his 2016 presidential campaign.

This isn't just about "hush money" payments. It's about breaking the law to hide the truth from the American people 11 days before a presidential election.

Trump has a clear pattern of lying to the American people and trying to undermine our elections in order to cling to power. He still faces three additional indictments and 54 criminal charges, including federal charges for inciting an insurrection to overturn the 2020 election. In spite of all of this, he's still running for president.

Donald Trump is a convicted fraudster and criminal who still poses a massive threat to our fundamental freedoms. We can't let him hold the highest office in our land in 2025. It's up to all of us to hold him accountable and defeat him at the ballot box in November.

Kristan Trunzo, Eureka

Editor:

Thank you for Ted Pease's May 30 letter, "The Death of Participatory Democracy." He writes that because of threats of violence, public officials live in terror of the people they serve.

No one is exempt — from local clerks and county supervisors to state and national representatives. Everyone and anyone can be targeted for holding a different view from the violent ones, from the ones who use weapons and threats rather than the law, reason and truth — the ones who are led by Donald Trump. Already in this country a chill is descending on our freedom and willingness to speak. I agree with Ted Pease that freedom is crushed by those who will neither listen, nor participate in free and open debate.

Peter Jain, Arcata