The end of the Republican Party?

I read Ginger Gibson’s wire service piece on Evan McMullin throwing his hat into the already crowded presidential race (Tuesday Review-Journal). After finishing, I had to take a deep breath and resign myself to the inevitable … Hillary Clinton is going to be our next president.

In fact, the GOP is handing her the White House on a silver platter and proving every one of its critics correct. The party leadership is morally deficient and intellectually bankrupt.

The Republican Party has handled the Donald Trump issue poorly since Day One. Instead of backing one of the more solid conservative candidates in the original pool of 16 or 17 potential nominees, GOP leaders stayed back and let Mr. Trump cut down the field. And then, as Mr. Trump was blaming an American-born, Latino judge for bias, the leadership chose to keep Sen. Ted Cruz at arm’s length, like he was the one who was toxic. This allowed Mr. Trump to walk into the nomination.

Then they booed Sen. Cruz for not openly endorsing Mr. Trump at the convention.

But now, as Mr. Trump enters his second week of free fall in the polls, the Republicans are suddenly full of conviction and moral fortitude and are fielding another candidate, Evan McMullin. He is being billed as the more conservative choice. That’s great. But where was this choice six months ago or even two months ago? The Republicans have proven they are lost.

Hillary Clinton has been handed the White House despite 30 years of dirt to use against her. Only 30 percent of the voters find her trustworthy. This should have been the easiest win the Grand Old Party has seen since Walter Mondale took on the Gipper. Instead, they found a way not only to lose the race but lose themselves.

Too little, too late — and possibly the end of the Republican Party.

Aric Miller

Henderson

Doesn’t register

In her Wednesday letter, “No need to worry about ‘illegal’ voters,” Patricia Fruge asks, “I’m just wondering how these people would actually be registered to vote?” Here’s one way they can register — and I am sure there are plenty of other fraudulent methods.

I retired last year and my wife and I moved to Las Vegas. As required, we went to the DMV to get our Nevada driver’s licenses. We had our proof of residence (utility bill), and valid California driver’s licenses. My wife had her citizenship papers. I had an original copy of my birth certificate from 1947, plus some Department of Defense documentation.

My wife got her new license with no trouble at all and they registered her to vote. However, the people at the DMV refused to give me a license because my birth certificate was “too old” and they would not accept my Defense Department ID.

So after trying to convince this supervisor at the DMV that I was a U.S. citizen, and being denied a driver’s license because my birth certificate was too old, I was then asked if I wanted to register to vote. I was dumbfounded. I could not get a driver’s license, yet I could register to vote.

It took me almost six months to then convince the state of Illinois that I was born in Chicago, and to give me a new birth certificate. In switching to a new computer system, Illinois lost my original records.

So you see, these people who do the voter registration don’t care if you are a citizen.

Richard Svenson

Las Vegas