To the editor: After reading Gustavo Arellano’s excellent column, I was initially ready to write a glowing letter of praise, but my joy quickly turned into sorrow (“Trump says he wants to get rid of ‘the worst of the worst.’ Start with Stephen Miller,” Jan. 29). I realized that while Arellano was oh-so right, he neglected to mention other important facts.
In September 2024, then-candidate Donald Trump told America he has “nothing to do with Project 2025,” had not read it and did not plan to. But by some miracle or coincidence, Stephen Miller and a number of his Project 2025 co-writers or contributors were named to key positions in his administration. While I might suggest that Miller is far worse than a “hate-filled ghoul,” I would be personally very challenged to name him as the worst.
While I read daily news stories in the Los Angeles Times about fellow Project 2025 contributors — border czar Tom Homan, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt — it almost seems an impossible task to name the worst. When one considers Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, FBI Director Kash Patel and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (with dishonorable mention to Elon Musk), it becomes even more difficult.
I would welcome a Sunday supplement section spelling out the unbelievable decisions and actions of the above so we could make an intelligent choice for who deserves the dubious title.
Karen Oliver, Santa Paula
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To the editor: Amen to Arellano’s plea to rid the country of the influential Miller, Southern California’s claim-to-shame native son. Unlike Homan and Noem, the Machiavellian Miller has masterfully sucked up to Trump and consolidated power.
His fatal flaw lies in his arrogant inability to read the country. Unlike him, most Americans have empathy. Video of masked ICE agent troops killing and maiming Americans on public streets repulses us. These actions stem directly from Miller’s out-of-touch dystopian vision of an America beset by violent crime perpetrated by bad foreign actors — at a time when violent crime is declining.
Miller’s policies have become political kryptonite, and Republicans are finally beginning to take notice. These policies have no place in the White House and he deserves to be banished.
Sharon Rosen Leib, Solana Beach