Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

Military being undermined by Trump

The president continues to use his pardon power to undermine our long-held notions of decency and propriety in favor of rewarding unrepentant bigots, serial violators of public trust, ideological allies and cronies.

His reported decision to announce pardons for U.S. military personnel convicted or charged with murder, while consistent with his sense that he can do anything he wants, is immoral and detrimental to military order and discipline.

I hope the military will continue to inculcate into its personnel the need to adhere to “duty, honor and country” and the rules of war. While it is often said that the winners “write history” and “make the rules,” our soldiers and sailors must be held to a high standard of behavior, lest the necessary support of citizenry be undermined.

To announce these pardons on Memorial Day is an affront to those who served this country honorably.