W.D. Ehrhart

by W.D. Ehrhart So after waging open warfare against Venezuela for months, obliterating a village in Nigeria, and bombing Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Somalia, our intrepid president, in his quest for the Nobel Peace Prize, is making noises about invading Greenland—Greenland, for cryin’ in a bucket!—Cuba, and maybe Mexico. Perhaps most ironic of all, he’s threatening to attack Iran in defense of Iranian civilians being murdered by the repressive ayatollahs for taking to the streets in protest of tyranny.  Given what’s been happening in this country—think Senator Mark Kelly, Renee Nicole Good, Tim Walz and Jacob Frey, just for starters—there’s something laughable about the MAGAPrez …

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by W.D. Ehrhart Right after the Philadelphia Eagles won Super Bowl LIX last year, Coach Nick Sirianni proclaimed, “God’s blessed us very much. He gave us all the talents to be able to get here. So first and foremost, thanks to Him,” adding later, “Thank you, God, thank you, Jesus.” At the time, such proclamations worried me quite a bit. In an essay I wrote called “Thank God for the Eagles Victory,” I found myself wondering if Coach Sirianni believed that God is an Eagles fan who made sure the Birds had enough talent to defeat the Chiefs last year? What about the other thirty …

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by W.D. Ehrhart I recently received an invitation from my Congresswoman, Mary Gay Scanlon (D, Pa. 5th Dist.), to participate in something called the Veterans History Project. Her letter begins: “Our veterans and fallen service members put their lives on the line to serve our nation and protect our freedoms, so it is important that we preserve their stories for our nation’s history and to foster community among our veterans. That is why I am pleased to announce my office’s participation in the Veterans History Project (VHP) run by the Library of Congress.” The problem here is that most veterans since at least the end …

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by W.D. Ehrhart I recently had lunch with a man who’d grown up in my home town. I don’t know him well, but I’ve known him for 70 of my 77 years. He is a good and decent man, a husband, father, and grandfather fully engaged in the life of his community. Before we ate lunch, he bowed his head and folded his hands in prayer. And when we parted, he whispered in my ear, “Remember the empty tomb,” a reminder that Christ Is Risen and alive in this world. But this man also voted for Donald Trump in 2016, 2020, and 2024, and has …

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by W.D. Ehrhart In recent years, I have been writing frequently in support of the people of Palestine. A few years ago, I was introduced to the poetry of Mosab abu Toha by my Jewish American friend and university professor Ammiel Alcalay, and have written about Mosab and his poetry on multiple occasions, especially taking note of his two books in English, Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear and Forest of Noise. But my connection to what is happening in Gaza and the Occupied Territories became much more personal this past spring through another friend of mine, the American playwright Naomi Wallace, who …

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by W.D. Ehrhart Anyone paying any attention at all to what’s been happening in this country since January 2025 has to be aware of the ongoing and vigorous efforts of our Whitewasher-in-Chief to purge American history of anything that isn’t thoroughly upbeat, positive, and—well, let’s be honest here—white. Nothing negative. According to him and his minions, this country is and always has been pure as the driven snow. Like the anthem says, “Land of the free, and home of the brave.” Thus, various Smithsonian museums must remove the Gay Pride flag, Rigoberto Gonzalez’s painting of immigrants crossing our southern border, Hugo Crosthwaite’s images of Dr. …

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