Letters to the Editor | Jan. 9, 2024

Former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming has said that she will do “whatever it takes” to keep former President Donald Trump from returning to the White House, and is considering running as a third-party candidate should Trump win the Republican nomination in the primary election. The problem with that strategy is that it will be too late. If Trump wins the nomination as the Republican candidate, he will have the support of many Republican voters. The other candidates — Joe Biden and a few independents — will divide up the support of the rest of us. So if you want to help prevent Trump from being reelected in 2024, you will need to do it in the primary election by changing your registration to Republican, if necessary, and voting for Nikki Haley. One way of doing this is to log on to primarypivot.org.

Norma Van Dyke, Philadelphia, nvandyke121@gmail.com

A bona fide hero is running for the U.S. House from Maryland’s 3rd Congressional District. Harry Dunn — a Black former Capitol Police officer who defended that beloved building and those within on our modern day of infamy — has thrown his hat into the ring. Dunn emotionally testified before Congress as to how he was brutalized and the recipient of racial taunts slung by the mob, many members of which proudly toted Confederate and Trump flags. For his valiant service on that day, President Joe Biden awarded him the Presidential Citizens Medal. Contrast this with Donald Trump, who believes that the criminals who overran the U.S. Capitol are aggrieved and worthy of praise and presidential pardons. Dunn’s platform includes pledges to fight for abortion rights, commonsense gun reform, voting rights, and affordable health care. It all sounds good to me. Dunn is no longer able to serve in his position protecting the Capitol. It would be poetic justice if he were elected to serve as a member of the House.

Oren Spiegler, Peters Township

I’ve read with distress recent stories in The Inquirer regarding people being pressured to resign from school boards for criticizing Israel’s bombardment of Gaza or being associated with those who do. Criticizing a state, in the strongest possible terms, for killing thousands of innocent civilians, many thousands of whom are children, isn’t antisemitic — it’s human. Just as we care deeply about the well-being of children in our communities, so we should care about the well-being of Palestinian children. We are one human family. The children of Gaza can’t attend school. They don’t have school boards watching out for their well-being. Educators everywhere should be insisting that children’s lives be protected.

Deborah McIlvaine, Philadelphia

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