The Perils of Nonviolence.

• Author: Johnston, William F.

"So the violence is real," Bill Lueders writes in his Comment ("Let's Prepare for the Upcoming Civil War," February/ March issue) regarding Trump and his supporters. And this, he says, "requires progressives to prepare to do something truly difficult: respond to violence with empathy and even love."

I wonder if Lueders has studied American politics of the 1850s? How would slave owners have responded to "empathy and love"? Would Jews in 1933 Germany have changed history by "opening themselves up to others [Nazis] and embracing their humanity"? I think not!

Yes, the right probably does have more guns to carry out violence, but the South had more trained militias in 1861 when it attacked Fort Sumter. Hitler certainly had the best military in the world in 1939 when he attacked Poland, but he had no moral cause.

History tells us at times violence must be met with violence. Trump and his supporters are not only violent but without morals or rational values, and reason, love, or empathy will not work.

--William F. Johnston

Tacoma, Washington

While the piece is beautifully written and I agree with much of it, I think the media needs to be reminded that they control the narrative, and even suggesting civil war could set it in motion. I know it is tough to decide how these issues ought to be approached, especially from a journalistic point of view when the purpose is to tell the truth and report the reality on the ground. I don't envy anyone the challenge that this brings.

--Dean Kotula, online comment

How disingenuous to imply, via quoting a couple of unnamed and perhaps fabricated Trump rally goers, that violence is being advocated by Trump's...