To the Editor:
Re “I.R.S. Ordered to Drop Audits Against Trump as Part of Payout Deal; Family and Businesses Are Also Shielded” (front page, May 20):
Just when it appeared that President Trump could sink no lower in turning the Justice Department into a wholly owned subsidiary of Trump Inc., we learn that the department’s resolution of his lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service includes a provision that would bar the agency from pursuing pending tax claims against him, his family or his businesses.
The message that this arrangement resoundingly sends is that under the Trump administration there is no such thing as equal justice under the law. Instead, when it comes to Mr. Trump, his family and his businesses, the unabashed self-dealing is definitely from the bottom of the deck.
Chuck Cutolo
Westbury, N.Y.
To the Editor:
The $1.8 billion I.R.S. settlement fund should alarm Americans regardless of party. In another era, the idea that taxpayer money could flow into a loosely governed fund tied to a sitting president’s political allies would have led to immediate bipartisan outrage and aggressive oversight.
Instead, many of the institutions meant to provide accountability now seem either unwilling or unable to meaningfully constrain President Trump’s use of power. Congressional Republicans have largely abandoned oversight.
The Justice Department increasingly appears aligned with the president’s political interests, rather than functioning as an independent check, and the Supreme Court has expanded presidential immunity in extraordinary ways. Ethical controversies that would have once dominated public life are now absorbed into the daily churn of politics.
This is what institutional erosion looks like: not a single dramatic collapse, but the steady normalization of conduct that would once have been politically disqualifying.
The danger is larger than any one controversy or settlement fund. It is the growing sense that there are no longer credible guardrails capable of restraining a president determined to test the limits of executive power.
Stephanie Leavitt
Brooklyn
Protect Precious Places
To the Editor:
Re “Cost to Fix Iconic Pool Increases Sevenfold” (news article, May 12):
This project is one of many egregious examples of the Trump administration’s bypassing congressional oversight, preventing public participation and disregarding the laws that protect places that belong to all Americans.
The national park landscape in Washington is one of the most visited and historically significant public spaces anywhere in the world. The Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and the National Mall are places we come together as a country to celebrate our democratic ideals.
Congress put clear laws in place to protect these national treasures and prevent the bulldozing, painting and building currently taking place on parklands in the nation’s capital.
Not only is this administration disregarding those laws, but it is also attempting to force the National Park Service to pay for these expensive and wasteful projects, even after it cut its staff by 25 percent. It is also proposing large funding cuts for our parks again this year.
As we approach America’s 250th birthday, we should instead honor our nation’s history and celebrate the parks that bring us together.
Tiernan Sittenfeld
Washington
The writer is the president and chief executive of the National Parks Conservation Association.
To the Editor:
Re “Grab Some Seeds, Throw Them at the Soil, and You’re Done” (Sunday Styles, May 10):
In this story about chaos gardening, choosing annuals versus perennials was presented as the first decision to be made. For those who care about the environment, it should be native versus nonnative.
Native plants offer a more delightful version of chaos than nonnatives because they attract fauna, including bees, butterflies and birds. These animals often arrive carrying random seeds, many for native plants. They drop these seeds from afar in the yards they frequent, via their excrement and when the seeds fall off their bodies.
If we chaos garden with natives, we can create a habitat that will surprise and delight us with animal encounters, while helping animals to survive in the face of so many pressures that threaten them. The Homegrown National Park website can offer gardeners more information.
I just observed my first partridge pea yellow blossoms in my own chaotic native yard. I never planted them. The fauna did. Now they are the unrivaled star of my summer garden, growing in greater profusion with each passing year.
Milly Dawson
Maitland, Fla.
