Letters to the Editor | Jan. 6, 2026

What possible reason could justify the attack on Venezuela and the kidnapping of its president? Does Venezuela represent any threat to the United States? No. Is Venezuela under Nicolás Maduro an oppressive regime? Yes. But then why revoke asylum status for fleeing Venezuelans? Is the Maduro regime not bad enough to provide asylum, but bad enough to invade and oust the government? Is Maduro a bad man? Many would say yes — but many also would say the same about Donald Trump. Should a foreign country kidnap him? What is it that makes Honduran drug dealers eligible for a presidential pardon, but not Venezuelan drug dealers? Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini invaded Czechoslovakia and Ethiopia, respectively, for colonial expansion — a flimsy reason, but at least a reason. Perhaps our wannabe dictator wants to convict Maduro and then pardon him upon payment of a large bribe. That would at least make some sense.

Barry Lurie, Philadelphia

With regard to the Trump administration’s invasion of Venezuela, what message does that send to China and its desire to control Taiwan? Also, it goes far to legitimize Vladimir Putin’s rationale for invading Ukraine. Once again, an impulsive, poorly thought-out action by this incompetent administration.

Michael Walsh, Elkins Park

The pearl-clutching and bedwetting the Democratic Party devolves into when President Donald Trump says or does anything is predictably laughable. Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro is arguably responsible for magnitudes more American deaths than Osama bin Laden, yet when he was tracked down and killed under the Obama regime, it was roundly celebrated and applauded. Spare us your pious and self-righteous moral indignation and get with the program.

Daniel J. Gribben, retired, Steamfitters Local 420, Philadelphia

Today marks the fifth anniversary of that fateful day, Jan. 6, 2021, when there was an attack on the U.S. Capitol, a day when our democracy might have fallen. To use Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s words about Dec. 7, 1941, the attack on Pearl Harbor, Jan. 6, 2021, is a date that will — or at least should — “live in infamy.” It’s a day when our democratic republic buckled but did not break. It’s also a day President Donald Trump has tried to, if not erase from our history, at least whitewash into being viewed as something it demonstrably does not represent. Mr. Trump views it as “a day of love” when his supporters rose in glorious defiance of authority to pay homage to him. One concrete indicator of how Mr. Trump feels about that day, and those who perpetrated the attack, is that he granted clemency to virtually everyone who participated in that act of insurrection.

How Mr. Trump interprets Jan. 6 further demonstrates that he views adhering to the rule of law and the spirit of our Constitution as merely inconvenient obstacles for him to circumvent when it furthers his personal or political agenda. So, today, Tuesday, Jan. 6, is a day we, the American people, must never forget. It should serve as a vivid reminder that the preservation of our democratic republic is not ordained by God to continue forever. Rather, it’s the responsibility of the citizenry — that’s you and me — to feed it, nourish it, and actively seek to keep it alive.

Ken Derow, Swarthmore

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