Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

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A scene from today's 25-mile ride. Click to enlarge. The heat index was 105 degrees when I finished riding. The heat sits down like iron here (in North Texas). Apologies to Barry Holstun Lopez.

To the editor:

I take no comfort in the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that President Trump is not a king and is therefore subject to the law, and neither should anyone else (“Now we know Trump can be subpoenaed. But will he comply?” editorial, July 9).

In U.S. vs. Nixon, the president’s lawyer said before a U.S. District Court in 1974, “The president wants me to argue that he is as powerful a monarch as Louis XIV, only four years at a time, and is not subject to the processes of any court in the land except the court of impeachment.” The Supreme Court eventually rejected this argument, and so it was a foregone conclusion that Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.'s court today would rule the same way with Trump.

The Supreme Court could have ruled that Trump must immediately comply with the House subpoena for his tax returns and must turn over the records sought by New York prosecutors. Instead, the justices imposed a process that will take both matters past the upcoming election.

In both cases, this is a “best case” outcome for Trump. There was no possibility that the Supreme Court would rule the president is a king, so putting Congress back to a point where the issue either becomes moot or can be relitigated later is a win for the president. With the New York case, the president’s goal was to make sure that no charges against him will be filed prior to the election, and the Supreme Court decision ensures this outcome.

So, I take no comfort. It was a double win for the president.

Thomas McGrath, Los Angeles

Note from KBJ: Once again, your side was outfoxed by Donald Trump, Thomas. Are you getting used to this?

No, Radical Left anarchists, agitators, looters or protesters will not be knocking down or harming the Washington Monument, the Lincoln or Jefferson Memorials, or just about any other Federal Monumrnt or Statue. If they even try, an automatic 10 years in prison. Sorry!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2020

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Reading the Declaration of Independence with 2020 vision, I find that our Founding Fathers proved to be prognosticators. They are writing about our sitting president, who fires independent thinkers, surrounds himself with sycophants, destroys our planet by reversing prior ecological advances, divides our people, and downplays a pandemic that took our children out of school, isolated us from seeing our parents in nursing homes, and has killed more than 130,000 Americans.

“He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone.” “He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.” “He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us.” And finally, “A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”

King George III, er, Donald Trump—the emperor is not wearing any clothes.

Wake up America, and please vote accordingly in November.

Scott Duhaime

Bolton

Note from KBJ: Not one thing you said applies to Donald Trump, idiot. What is wrong with you?