I am in complete agreement with op-ed writer Victor Shi’s contention that Donald Trump’s federal trial should be televised (“Our country needs cameras in the courtroom during Trump’s trial,” June 14). We Americans are addicted to the themes of crime and punishment in literature and media. As Shi points out, the sensation generated by the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial was remarkable. I recall the same fascination with the O.J. Simpson trial. No matter the type of trial, we are interested in the details and the workings of the justice system.
More so than with the two above-mentioned trials, we Americans should be interested in the facts, evidence and motive in the United States v. Donald J. Trump trial. There is much to be learned about the role and scope of the presidency and the workings of the justice and judicial systems and even more to be learned about the man himself.
The results of this trial will have far-reaching repercussions and not just in the next election year. Faith in our system of democracy hangs in the balance.
Like it or not, we need to see for ourselves that justice is delivered.
— Pam Skinner, Palatine
Witnessing history unfolding
I was glad to see Victor Shi’s op-ed. There is so much information being bandied around about Donald Trump and his actions. The problem is that anyone can get on radio and TV and make statements about it. Some of them are true. Many of them are not.
Americans need to watch the trial. In the trial, statements for and against Trump will have to be documented. This is a major event in our country’s history, and in many ways, it threatens our democracy. Americans must have the truth before they vote in the next election.
I remember 50 years ago, when I was a young high school teacher, I would race home from teaching summer school in order to watch the Watergate hearings. The next day, I was able to discuss them with my classes.
Over the years, I came to realize how important it was to watch history unfolding and seeing the democratic process in progress.
— Jerome C. Yanoff, Chicago
Compromise in recording trials
Regarding “About cameras in federal courts” (June 18): In an excerpt in the Tribune from a previously published editorial, the South Florida Sun Sentinel Editorial Board deplores the rule forbidding video-recording of federal trials and sees this as a sad loss to the historical record.
This rule aims to discourage trial participants from “playing to the gallery” — showing off and trying to influence the television audience — instead of concentrating solely on their duties in the trial.
As a reasonable compromise, I suggest making a full video of the entire trial but not releasing it to the public until after the verdict is reached and a sentence is pronounced.
(The recording might also be helpful to appeals courts.)
— George W. Price, Chicago
Why pardon is off the table
For those in favor of giving a pardon to our 45th president, my question is: How’d that work out for you when Jussie Smollett was let go initially?
A pardon should always be off the table unless there is contrition or proof that someone is innocent. A pardon without a promise that Donald Trump is sorry and will leave public life would be inexcusable.
— Phillip Seeberg, Naperville
Why Putin invaded Ukraine
Letter writer Jim Halas would have us believe that Russia attacked Ukraine because President Joe Biden said mean things about Russian President Vladimir Putin (“Does Biden have what it takes?” June 13).
Russia backed separatist movements in Georgia and Moldova in the 1990s. Putin invaded and illegally annexed Georgian territory in 2008 and the Crimean Peninsula in 2014. Ukraine was no threat to Russia whatsoever.
Putin is trying to re-create the old Russian Empire, with himself as a modern-day czar. Biden is standing up to Putin’s aggression, working with our allies to support Ukraine in a fight for its very existence.
Donald Trump has been a Putin sycophant for years. Trump sought a real estate deal in Russia during the 2016 election — and lied about it. Trump sided with Putin, against our own intelligence community, during his infamous Helsinki summit in 2018.
If Trump were still in office, he’d probably trade Ukraine for a Moscow hotel.
— Mike Mosser, Chicago
Justices and weapons of war
Another mass shooting occurs, and there is a call for control of the weapons of war in the hands of ordinary citizens. And why are there so many of these weapons of war?
Look to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The justices live with a security detail to protect them and their families, so they can easily dissociate from their decisions that affect ordinary citizens. One result of this is the horrors of assault-style rifles used to kill ordinary citizens or children in schools.
Is the Second Amendment, as broadly interpreted by the current Supreme Court, more important than the lives of our people or our children?
— Charles Edwin Myers, Bethesda, Maryland
A sign that we’ve become numb
It’s a sad reality that we’ve become so accustomed to mass shootings that when one person is killed and 22 wounded, as happened in Willowbrook this past weekend, it’s not even the top story.
— Lyn Cole, Rockford
Johnson good at doublespeak
I can’t wait to hear Mayor Brandon Johnson’s response to yet another bloody weekend in Chicago. How is his strategy, or lack thereof, working out for him?
He has proved thus far to being quite proficient in the art of political doublespeak.
— Mike Rice, Chicago
Pentagon Papers whistleblower
Au revoir, dear patriot. To Daniel Ellsberg (April 7, 1931-June 16, 2023), thank you for your service.
— Walt Zlotow, West Suburban Peace Coaliton, Glen Ellyn
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