Jan. 6 pardons

Saturday’s (Nov. 16) article concerning “Jan. 6 convicts awaiting pardons” by Trump excellently explains the legal aspects. It is clear that President Trump will have unrestricted rights to pardon. However, he campaigned on “rule of law,” which must recognize that the thousand or so who have already been convicted in a court of law with appropriate legal defense were properly convicted.

If Trump were to select some cases and find reasons that conviction was improper, OK.

However, if he were to issue a blanket pardon for all involved in destruction of the Capitol, which put all our legislators and the vice president at risk of life, that would be a definite misuse of presidential powers.

I believe logically thinking citizens would agree. So President Trump if concerned about your legacy, I recommend you give such blanket action a second thought.

— Lee Willard, Whittier

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

Re “Musk, Ramaswamy get nonofficial roles” (Nov. 13):

I see that President-elect Trump has chosen Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to head up the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The first thing they can do to reign in the unelected bureaucrats of the administrative state is to have Congress pass a law that says every regulation, rule or guidance issued by any federal agency has to be voted on and passed by Congress before it can take effect. Second, they could require a sunset on every regulation that originated from a federal agency.

This would force Congress to vote to re-approve each regulation after a certain period of time (e.g. every 10 years) or it automatically becomes void. These two simple things could vastly reduce the over-regulation we now have to deal with in our country.

— Kenneth Vasquez, Chino

Trump’s tariffs

Re “Trump’s tariff plan won’t help American workers” (Nov. 17):

I was pleasantly surprised to see your editorial pointing out that Trump’s tariffs will be detrimental to American workers and consumers. However, it was too little too late. This fact-filled editorial should have been published before the election so voters would have this vital information in order to make an informed decision when they voted.

— Maryanne Rose, Laguna Niguel