Americans had had it with this administration
Why were the Democrats able to sweep across the dry expanse of Republican rule like a tidal wave?
It wasn’t the high gas prices or inflation in general or the tariffs, or the war in Iran and the broken promise of peace, or the president’s thousands of lies and his corruption, or the inhumane tearing apart of families and lives because the president is racist and xenophobic, or the insults and invectives he has hurled daily against anyone who questions his policies, or the way his policies are whims that flutter in the breeze, or that he has turned our most valued friends and allies against us while he reveres leaders who rule as autocrats and fascists.
No, the reason Democrats swept the land as they did is that all of these fault lines have coalesced into one ancient yet most civilized reaction: disgust. The people cried, “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!”
Tuesday’s vote is a tribute to civilized society.
Elliot Entis
Newton
People will look back at this election with a mix of emotions and interpretations. But to say that the American people spoke is an understatement. They roared.
That’s because they had their Popeye the Sailor Man moment: They had all they could stand and could stand no more.
Norman L. Bender
Woodbridge, Conn.
Voters have saved the Republic from an unhinged Trump 2.0
The road to tyranny has hit a dead end. The American people have been awakened by the hubris, corruption, and generally brutish behavior of the administration, and it may have been just in time.
Donald Trump’s clumsy first term was dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic. It concluded with an abortive coup attempt, and the first half of term two has been unhinged. The president has careened from one irrational fetish to another, driving the nation into economic distress and foreign turmoil, all the while concocting schemes to illegally enrich himself and his family.
Meanwhile, he has created a structure of fear, intimidation, and deceit, raising fears that he could cancel the presidential election in two years and usher in an American fascist dictatorship.
Tuesday’s historic result has saved the Republic. The American citizens are the heroes in this drama, having risen to render Vice President JD Vance, Attorney General Todd Blanche, White House aide (and the next chief of staff) Stephen Miller, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Trump himself virtually impotent. History will treat them as the villains they are, deserving a shameful infamy.
William Koscher
Brewster
The people want to see Democrats and Republicans working together
Voters have sent a very loud message, and all politicians, regardless of political party, should listen and heed the warning. Stop the finger-pointing, the fighting, the hate, and the divisiveness. Voters are fed up with high prices, living paycheck to paycheck, having to choose between putting food on the table or gas in the car. They are fed up with politicians who don’t do their job.
I can only hope Tuesday’s results will make every elected official realize that they are the employee and the voter is the employer. Call me crazy, but politicians should work across the aisle and compromise, with the understanding that they won’t get everything they want. They should work in the best interest of their constituents.
Erika Johnson
Canton
A vote for safeguards in a time of discord
I write in response to the letter from Dimitris Eleas (“Blue wave is a victory for the country as a whole”) that was published in the Nov. 5 letters roundup, “Morning in America: Voters administer a Trump corrective.”
The midterm elections have shown that most people, at the end of the day, believe in being safe. It’s no doubt people cast their votes while hurting in myriad ways, and they expressed it at the ballot box. A still, small voice exhorted voters to employ safeguards. That voice shattered forces that attempted to sway it with money, scathing advertisements, and seeds of utter discord. People prioritized listening to the voice that was congruent with safety. And the world, in turn, has honored their response with thanks.
Peter Mutiga
Worcester
No third Trump impeachment — instead, focus on overriding vetoes
Thursday’s letters, “The next orders of business for the victorious Democrats,” offered a number of comments on the path ahead for a Democratic-led Congress. Thankfully, none included impeachment.
Although President Trump certainly deserves being impeached a third time, it would be a pointless and unsatisfying gesture that would do little to improve the country. Besides being an enormous waste of time and effort, even if it succeeded in getting a two-thirds majority vote of the Senate, it would only make JD Vance president, which could be even worse. A bipartisan vote to censure Trump might be enough to satisfy the legitimate desire to punish him.
I do think it would be well worth the effort, though, to impeach some members of Trump’s Cabinet, especially Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth; Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.; Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget; Lee Zeldin, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and others. Once they are removed, Congress would then need to scrutinize their replacements much more carefully before approving their appointments.
However, a more effective strategy for the next Congress is to focus on overriding the expected Trump vetoes. This would require a lot of bipartisan work to persuade enough Republicans to support the overrides, and that would also help to heal the divisiveness that is paralyzing politics.
The American people have shown politicians what they can expect the next time they ask for their vote in 2028. Hopefully, enough Republicans have learned the lesson that voters provided on Tuesday and will work with the Democrats to improve our way of life.
David Coulter
Natick