To the Editor:Re “Times Publisher and Trump Clash Over President’s Threats Against Press” (news article, July 30):President Trump apparently had the audacity to confront A.G. Sulzberger, publisher of The New York Times, suggesting that his paper and others are unpatriotic for writing articles critical of him as president. Let me suggest that the president read a couple of things: 1) the First Amendment to our Constitution, which establishes freedom of the press in order to protect democracy, and 2) the classic writing by Henry David Thoreau about the importance of civil disobedience as part of being a good citizen in a democracy. Until that reading assignment is completed, I will remain convinced, based on so much of our president’s behavior, that he has no business lecturing anyone about the nature of patriotism in a democracy, except possibly Vladimir Putin when they next meet. Hugh R. WinigLafayette, Calif.To the Editor:I hope your publisher, in correctly noting President Trump’s virulent overreaction to what he views as a virulent press, had the good grace to tell him that all the virtue was not with the media and all the “sinning” was not by Mr. Trump. Certainly much of the media is “out to get him” and has discarded any pretense of fairness and objectivity.

Source: New York Times July 30, 2018 19:18 UTC