To the Editor:
Trump’s right about vandals damaging the reflecting pool; however, the truth is Trump is the vandal. His hire-the-incompetent approach to government is ruining more than the reflecting pond.
He vandalized the Kennedy Center when he defaced it with his name. Millions of taxpayers’ dollars brought back the Kennedy (only) Center.
He vandalized the White House by demolishing the East Wing. Like the ignorant Vandals, history means nothing to Trump.
He vandalized the Rose Garden by paving it over. Like ancient Vandals he destroys places of beauty.
He vandalized signage throughout our national parks. Like illiterate Vandals, Trump doesn’t read.
He’ll vandalize the historic view between the Lincoln Memorial and the Arlington National Cemetery with a gaudy 250-foot arch to himself. Trump thinks everything is about him.
He’s vandalizing America’s reputation as a leader of world peace, as a reliable trading partner, and as a wealthy nation willing to help countries in need. His savage actions in Iran reveal his barbarism.
When Vandals invaded Rome in 455 A.D., they used the Roman Senate as a toilet. Trump is doing the same thing to America.
J. Michael Atherton
Dover, N.H.
Michael:
We regret to say, we must disagree. Not about the damage being done by the grotesque creature currently squatting in the White House, of course. Your list is but a fraction of the full tally. We’ll probably never see a complete inventory, and who would want one anyway? To read it would be too depressing.
But you do a great disservice to the Vandals. Widely perceived as an unruly pack of filthy brutes, they were in fact a well organized people whose behavior during the Sack of Rome was hardly any worse than that of those they overthrew.
Trump and his followers have achieved the lowest form of distinction. As he says, we have never seen anything like it.
The Editor
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Layer Upon Layer of Lies
To the editor;
Donald Trump is desperate to keep the Republican majority in Congress in the upcoming midterm elections despite record-setting levels of disapproval. To this end, Trump and his MAGA minions have intensified efforts to convince voters that the election process is fraudulent. He has used the FBI to conduct contrived investigations of alleged fraud in the 2020 elections and attempted to influence state elections through legislation that would restrict voter registration and prevent the postal service from delivering mail-in ballots. Fortunately, the latter two efforts have been stymied.
Recently, Trump has turned to an equally deceitful tactic that has long been part of the Republican playbook—condemning Democratic opponents as being “Communist” or “Socialist.” It is doubtful that Trump, much less his MAGA toadies, could explain what a Communist or even Socialist is, but the terms have long had a pejorative connotation for many voters. American enmity toward Communism can be traced to the fear instigated by the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution and the global labor unrest and anarchist terrorism that followed as well as the decades-long Cold War with the Soviet Union. Socialism has been inaccurately conflated with Communism by many, and the term was used by conservatives as a bête noire during the New Deal era to discredit Progressive legislation such as Social Security. Trump and Republican campaign strategists intend to smear all Democratic candidates with the “Socialist” or “Communist” label as Progressive Democrats such as Bernie Sanders, AOC and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani rise to positions of influence in the Democratic Party. It is not surprising that Trump would seek to engage the hysteria and paranoia that constituted the McCarthy era. It matches his style of craven governance, but it must not be allowed to gain traction in this election cycle.
Socialism as a theory calls for collective ownership of the means of production, usually controlled by the government. Production and prices are set by government direction through public planning boards to meet social needs rather than private profit. Communism calls for the abolition of all private property to create a stateless, classless, and moneyless society. All property is owned by the state, and economic benefits are distributed “from each according to their means, to each according to their needs.” Although some American Progressives call themselves Democratic Socialists, no Democrat that I am aware of has called for total government ownership of the means of production nor the abolition of private property. The focus of the Socialist argument for American Progressives has been on government intervention in economic activities by democratic means to ensure the common good. There has been a long-standing debate between Progressives and Conservatives regarding the role of government in regulating economic activity. The result has been a cycle in the intensity of government regulation, depending on the Party in power. For example, the Gilded Age was a period of laissez faire where capitalists such as the Robber Barons operated with impunity. The result was an era characterized by extractive monopolies and the exploitation of the working class. The Gilded Age was followed by an era of Progressive reforms in which the government took muscular action to regulate monopolies and enact labor reforms, culminating in FDR’s New Deal. We have recently experienced the Neoliberal era, where governments withdrew from active regulation of private corporations, facilitating the globalization of corporations and financial institutions. The Great Recession of 2008, the alarming rise in economic inequality and the immiseration of the working class has likely marked the end of Neoliberalism as a driver of economic policy. Global capital has had a forty-year reign during which the prosperity of the working class was sacrificed to capital gains. Now is not the time for futile debates on economic theory. Rather, Democrats must focus on specific economic issues and policies that will restore working class prosperity. Voters are not likely to be swayed by abstract labels from a bygone era. They will pay attention to policies that provide affordable access to food, healthcare, education, and housing.
Robert D. Russell, PhD
Harrisburg, Pa.
Robert:
In the 1840’s, Karl Marx wrote, in the Communist Manifesto, “The history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggles.” Marx was reviled all his life by the haves and the have-mores. Their animosity survived his death at the dawn of the Gilded Age, and continues unabated. Why, if they hate him so much, do they continue proving him so right?
The Editor
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Vote Sullivan for Education
To the Editor:
While it is certainly true that education is best managed locally—SAU’s, towns, states—there is clearly a role for a Federal Government as well. A centralized education “think tank” can do things that an SAU or state does not have the resources to do, including research in best practices, “angel funding” for new and innovative techniques, and support for competency-based assessments. It also should have the resources to provide funding, when needed, for districts that are severely under resourced.
We have today, in Washington, a Secretary of Education that has embarked on a campaign to downsize the Department of Education, shift funding to “school choice” (read private, sectarian), and downshifting expenses to the states. While she wrestles with these priorities, she seems more concerned with administration than education.
I am supporting Maura Sullivan to be my representative in the First Congressional District. She is a graduate of the public school system, supports pre-K expansion, and she recognizes that a high school education is no longer enough to either enter the workforce or prepare for a profession. I believe she will stand up to the current administration’s efforts to defund public education and will work to rebuild the Department of Education to be what it was intended to be when founded over 40 years ago. I believe that she will also support putting people in place that have qualifications for the job that go beyond having made campaign contributions.
I urge you to vote for Maura Sullivan in the Primary on September 8, 2026. Register to vote. Find out where your local polling place is. If you are unable to vote due to travel or disability, check with your town or city to get an absentee ballot.
Paul G. Brock, Former School Board member and Chair
Bedford, N.H.
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The Election Fraud Fraud
To the Editor:
Recently, the president again served up his stale argument that voter fraud had caused him to lose the 2020 election. Numerous investigations and lawsuits proved otherwise. Voter fraud is rare. The fraud Trump and his enablers engage in is election fraud, the systemic methods of fixing elections. Among these are gerrymandering, elimination of poll locations, limiting voting hours, etc. Trump is fixated on passing his “SAVE Act,” designed to deliver elections to the Republicans well into the future.
Trump’s insistence that millions of non-citizens voted to prevent him from winning in 2020 is misplaced. He’ll probably wrongly claim that the 6,600 non-citizens erroneously on the voter rolls of New Jersey strengthen his case. However, only about 400 of them actually voted. To change the outcome of an election, they would have had to disregard their personal opinions and to have all voted as a bloc for a Democrat in an election in which the Republican would have won by fewer than 400 votes. With more than 4.5 million votes cast in the 2020 presidential race in N.J., Biden won over 2.6 million votes and Trump garnered nearly 1.9 million votes, so even all the non-citizens on the voter rolls could not have changed the outcome.
Trump’s speech was purposed to press Congress to pass the SAVE Act and to sow distrust in our voting system. Its time to reject Trump’s false claims and to face reality even if he cannot. We must insist Congress vote down the SAVE Act.
Lorraine L. Hansen
Rollinsford, N.H.
Lorraine:
It is quite obvious that the person now occupying the most powerful position in our government is, generally speaking, an extraordinarily lazy person. Hell, whenever you see him seated at a public event he seems to be napping. If we may use a favorite right wing trope, why is he so focused on jamming the SAVE Act down the public’s throat? To stave off a Democratic Congress.
As Samuel Johnson said, “Nothing so wonderfully concentrates the mind as knowing you are going to be hanged in the morning.” The Laird of Mar-a-Lardo knows what he’s done. He knows if a Democratic Congress gives him what he deserves, he’ll end up in an un-gilded cage.
The Editor
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Israeli Terrorist Forces Kill Children
To the Editor:
Israeli soldiers systematically target children under 12 to kill or maim them according to a report called “Lethal Precision Without Accountability: Israeli Government Quadcopter Use in Gaza.” These are small armed tactical drones. This report was issued by The Costs of War project at Brown University’s Watson School of International and Public Affairs on June 17, 2026.
Dr. Mimi Syed, a board-certified emergency physician from the U.S. who made two separate medical missions to Gaza in 2024 but was denied entry into Gaza in 2025, has had interviews with Democracy Now and NPR, among others and stated that she and other doctors have testified they saw many children who had been shot in the head or chest with a single bullet. In one month, Dr. Syed recorded in her notes that she had treated at least 18 children with gunshots to the head/neck and as was noted above, also to the chest area. She also stated there were other child victims but that she was unable to record all of them due to lack of time as she and other doctors saw multiple victims every single day for four weeks.
The continuing genocidal attacks on Gaza’s population, especially its children, can best be described as barbaric and completely inhumane.
This regime in Israel and the U.S. supporters of Israel, especially Presidents Biden and Trump, have blood on their hands as well as those many U.S. Congresspeople who have supported Israel unconditionally, including the late Lindsey Graham and our own Rep. Pappas as well as Senator Hassan.
In closing, let us remember what Israeli politician Moshe Feiglin, had to say about the killing of children: “Every child, every baby in Gaza is an enemy, The enemy is not Hamas. Every child in Gaza is the enemy. We need to conquer Gaza and colonize it, and not leave a single Gazan child there. There is no other victory.”
Will Thomas
N.H. Veterans for Peace
Manchester, N.H.
Will,
Our tax dollars at work.
The Editor
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Why Not Go After the Bosses?
To the Editor:
If the economy needed illegal immigrants to be deported, business would have pressured politicians to do so. Employers need to file an I-9 for every employee. If the I-9 system were run like the credit card systems, then it would be extremely difficult for employers to legally hire illegals. All credit card systems alert the business when there are any of several irregularities. Updating the I-9 system and employment regulations to identify irregularities and seriously penalizing the employer or those contracting for day workers for hiring illegal employees would tremendously reduce illegal employment.
Our economy, as well as those of most nations, was built on cheap labor, whether slave, indentured servitude, or immigrant. When the pandemic hit, a sizable percentage of the essential workers in the meat packing business were “illegals.” Their 2000 wages were similar to the union members meat packers’ wages in 1975 which was more than twice as high as the medium 1976 annual wage. As any smart politician will tell you, “It’s the economy stupid!”
Jack Marquess
Haddon Heights, N.J.
Jack:
Why, one might almost think that our political class was more interested in guaranteeing a ready supply of low-wage labor for bosses than fulfilling xenophobic campaign promises to racists.
The Editor
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Beriont for Free & Fair Elections
To the editor,
Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of our democracy, and in 2026, that principle matters more than ever.
It’s alarming to watch Donald Trump undermine trust in our elections. His rhetoric isn’t about protecting democracy; it’s about protecting his own power. Losing public confidence on issue after issue, he has turned lies and fear‑mongering about election security into a political strategy.
But here’s what he can’t change: across this country, thousands of election workers showing up on election day to ensure their neighbors can vote freely and fairly.
Carleigh Beriont, Democratic candidate for Representative in the First Congressional District, is among the thousands of election administrators nationwide who follow strict procedures, guide bipartisan checks, and adhere to transparent processes designed to protect the integrity of every vote. These safeguards have been built over decades through cooperation, reform, and a shared belief that democracy only works when the public can trust it.
As our representative in Washington, Carleigh will vote to pass the For the People Act. As she explains on her website, CarleighBeriont.com, this bill “includes expanded voter access, real campaign finance reform, independent redistricting commissions, an end to the revolving-door lobbying loopholes.”
Fair elections do not happen automatically. They happen because ordinary people show up—at polling places, in town halls, and in conversations with friends and family—to defend the idea that every voice matters. In 2026, let’s recommit to that shared purpose. Let’s elect leaders like Carleigh Beriont whose words and action are consistent with Democratic principles.
Chuck Rhoades
Dover, N.H.
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Urrutia for the First District
To the Editor:
Christian Urrutia, a Democratic candidate for the First Congressional District, is highly qualified. He’s an attorney with an MA in International Relations, a former Special Counsel at the Department of Defense, and current N.H. Army National Guard officer. Excellent qualifications are necessary but not sufficient—because we also need the candidate to be a leader.
How do we identify a leader among the several candidates running? We look at their actions, in this time of crisis, more than their words. How do they react to ICE brutality? ICE has been rampaging across the country, acting outside the law, terrorizing our communities, killing legal immigrants and American citizens. This lawless violence has come ever closer to us, with the recent killing of a Biddeford man and the attempt to place an ICE detention center in Merrimack.
Last August the Pease Development Authority allowed people to testify against the use of Pease airport for ICE flights. Other First District candidates from the Seacoast didn’t show up, but Christian Urrutia drove from Moultonborough, and along with many community members, spoke against ICE. Urrutia assailed ICE’s violations of our constitutional rights. Then, when Merrimack was fighting against a detention center, Rep. Wendy Thomas said Urrutia was the First District candidate who offered help, asking, “What do you need? How can I help? Put me to work.” That’s the kind of leadership we need—someone who takes the initiative, who is bold not timid, who will defend us in today’s crisis.
I’ll be voting for Christian Urrutia on September 8th.
Susan Mayer
Lee N.H.
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Collins Fails Again
Dear Editor:
On July 7th, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agent shot and killed Sebastian Duran Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine. Mr. Guerrero was not the target of an ICE operation. He was authorized to work in the U.S., and had a Social Security number. Since the killing, troubling information has come out about the ICE agent involved in the killing. According to NPR and other news sources, the agent’s ex-wife stated that he called her and asked her not to report his abuse during their marriage. Both she and another ex-wife had restraining orders against him.
The agent was hired by ICE at the end of 2025. This raises questions about the Department of Homeland Security vetting process. This agent’s history of domestic violence should have been a warning. Apparently these warnings were either ignored or never discovered during the hiring process. Now an innocent man is dead and his family destroyed. Why?
We all must remember that Sen. Susan Collins voted to support an additional $70 billion for ICE, and voted to confirm the current leadership of the Department of Homeland Security of which ICE is a part. Of course, now Sen. Collins is calling for investigations and restraints on ICE, much too little and far too late. Her belated actions remind me of how she told us that Mr. Trump had “learned his lesson” after his first impeachment, and how she supported Justice Cavanaugh for the Supreme Court after he stated during his confirmation hearings that Roe v Wade was “settled law,” and then proceeded to vote to kill Roe v Wade. Sorry, Sen. Collins, your words and belated actions once again ring very hollow and represent nothing more than transparent political cover.
Rich DiPentima
Portsmouth, N.H.
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Manzur a Strong Alternative to Pappas
To the Editor:
Chris Pappas, the Democratic perennial, like many DNC plants, has been watered by AIPAC money. Time to pull weeds up by their roots and seed our garden for domestic welfare rather than support of foreign agents and their sycophants. The fruits will be more nourishing.
Karishma Manzur, who refuses PAC bribes, has a good chance of upsetting Chris Pappas in the primary. Many have seen the folly of following those who urge foreign war against our interest and bankroll genocide with our taxes. In this new popular perception, mavericks like Manzur have a better chance against the GOP paladins.
Check out karishmaforsenate.com and consider voting for Karishma in the NH Democratic primary on September 8th.
David Ecklein
Rumney, N.H.
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Wildfires Only a Symptom of the Crisis
To the Editor:
As recent summers have made clear, wildland megafires are no longer a regional anomaly, but have become a global hazard. NASA reports that, due to human-induced climate change, “Extreme wildfire activity has more than doubled worldwide.”
Hotter temperatures evaporate soil moisture and dry vegetation, making it more likely to burn. According to physicist Phillip B. Duffy, “What would have been a fire easily extinguished now just grows very quickly and becomes out of control.”
More intense wildfires are just one symptom of a much larger problem. A study in the journal Science concludes that global soil moisture is in “permanent” decline because of our warming climate.
The drying of continents, driven by increased heat and evaporation, has been so pronounced that the transfer of water to the oceans has altered the distribution of our planet’s mass and affected Earth’s rotation on its axis.
As continents dry and water resources are polluted and overused, researchers warn that the world has entered an era of “global water bankruptcy,” in which critical water systems can no longer realistically recover to their former state.
Water bankruptcy is already evident in the United States. America’s largest groundwater reserve, the Ogallala Aquifer, which supports Great Plains agriculture, is being pumped far faster than it can recharge. Water levels have fallen by hundreds of feet in some areas, with portions now effectively nonrenewable under current climate conditions and irrigation practices.
As evidenced by toxic Canadian wildfire smoke drifting across the U.S., deadly European heatwaves, and rapidly expanding “mega-drying” regions in South Asia, the atmosphere has no borders.
As guests of this world, we must insist that our legislators enact policies to cut emissions, conserve water, and protect Earth’s life‑support systems on which we all depend.
Terry Hansen
Grafton, Wisc.
Terry:
Given what they’ve done, a few hundred fossil fuel execs, lawyers, bankers and political puppets belong behind bars.
The Editor