Readers respond to Question of the Week: What do you make of the riots in L.A.?

L.A. riots

Gov. Newsom and Mayor Bass have proved beyond a shadow of doubt their inability to govern. Had it not been for President Trump’s decisive action Los Angeles would have had major destruction just like Portland, Seattle and Minneapolis in 2020. Troops of black-clad, masked anarchists with backpacks of cement blocks, incendiary materials and hammers had arrived to destroy our city.

President Trump was elected by the American people to close the border, deport the flood of illegals and reestablish law and order. Sadly we are not led by a competent mayor or governor.

— Burton Roseman, Van Nuys

No so-called peaceful protest

The fact that Gov. Newsom and Mayor Bass have allowed rioters to take over the streets of Los Angeles is appalling. This so-called “peaceful protest” has turned into a violent, dangerous riot. The police were overwhelmed. It’s ironic that the protesters are flying Mexican flags from a country they don’t want to be in and burning the American flag. I am sick and tired of the Democrats siding with the protesters and blaming President Trump for trying to bring law and order to a very dangerous situation. Thank goodness for the National Guard!

— Deborah Otterson, Long Beach

L.A.’s peaceful protesters

How you pose a question can either add focus or help to distort a situation. And I fear the latter will happen when you ask about “riots in LA.” Racial unrest gave us the very real Watts riots of 1965. The 1992 acquittal of the police officers, who mercilessly beat Rodney King, sparked another genuine riot that lasted three days. Those were, as far as I know the only actual L.A. riots since 1943. This past weekend, there were only isolated incidents, instigated entirely by a headline-hungry president, with overly zealous soldiers shooting rubber bullets and lobbing tear gas and flash-bang grenades amid otherwise peaceful protesters, all to give the bully-in-chief his excuse for overreach and for the media, as your question’s phrasing implies, to blow it out of proportion. Meanwhile, most of us just want to survive Trump and the media’s headline hunger and live our lives in peace.

— Robert Archerd, Rancho Palos Verdes