1. United States
2. Ariz.
3. Letter

CONGRESS, Anyone who holds public office has a fundamental duty to protect citizens, maintain civil peace, and defend human life. A leader who brushes off the destruction of major American cities—as President Trump did during his recent speech in Grand Island, Nebraska, when he treated the potential loss of Los Angeles and San Diego as an acceptable "small price to pay"—completely fails that basic test of leadership. It is deeply wrong to casually speculate about nuclear annihilation. Treating the potential mass death of fellow Americans with cold indifference goes against our most basic moral obligations, which call on us to value and actively protect our neighbors' lives, regardless of political differences. Elected leaders must be held to a higher standard because your words and the behavior you tolerate shape the moral conscience of the public. When political figures use or excuse language that makes light of violence or invites casual cruelty, it desensitizes people to tragedy and poisons our society. The fact that the crowd in Nebraska cheered at the thought of domestic cities being destroyed shows exactly how this rhetoric corrodes public morality. As our members of Congress, you are one of these leaders. By failing to condemn this deeply dangerous rhetoric, you are failing in your fundamental duty to stand up for the lives and safety of your fellow Americans.