Letters to the Editor | March 18, 2026

Pete Hegseth, former Fox News host and current defense secretary, has been providing fairly regular briefings regarding President Donald Trump’s war against Iran. Hegseth usually starts by rightfully praising our military for their leadership, competence, precision, teamwork, etc. I am pretty sure most Americans would agree with Hegseth’s assessment. The U.S. military is second to none.

What I would also like to hear is why Trump decided to attack Iran in the first place, when it appears there was no imminent threat to the U.S. Likewise, how will we know when the mission, whatever that may be, has been completed? I realize there is no way to predict how long this war will last. However, I think Trump could probably provide a better answer than “when I feel it in my bones.” It would also be good if Trump sat down with his crew of negotiating lightweights — Marco Rubio, JD Vance, Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff — and came up with an explanation as to why Iran was so easily able to close the Strait of Hormuz, thus choking off the global supply of oil coming from the region, and as a result, further driving up gas prices.

It is unlikely that any seasoned presidential advisers would have failed to see this possibility. This oversight now has Donald Trump begging our allies to provide help protecting ships traveling through the strait. Since Trump has spent a great deal of his time in office alienating our closest allies, so far, he has virtually no takers. Meanwhile, the Russian war with Ukraine rages on, and affordability is even more of an issue. Those two items, both of which were supposed to be dealt with on Day One of Trump’s second term, were the centerpiece of his 2024 presidential campaign. It appears Trump is discovering that Iran is no Venezuela.

John Willemin, Jenkintown

Donald Trump has decided to nickname his war with Iran “a little excursion.” I don’t imagine that moniker offers much comfort to the families who have had their loved ones killed or wounded during the last three weeks. In fact, dismissing what they died for as an “excursion” disrespects the ultimate sacrifice made by those service members.

Trump’s use of this kind of rhetoric is hardly accidental — it comes straight out of Vladimir Putin’s playbook. Putin has said that his reason for invading Ukraine four years ago was to “demilitarize and denazify” the country. During World War II, Russia suffered more military and civilian deaths than any other nation, and Putin hoped that by invoking that history as a rationale, his invasion would garner support from the Russian people.

Trump has used the threat of an Iran armed with nuclear weapons in the same way, hoping that fear would generate support from the American people. Among other reasons, he said that Iran was very close to having its own nuclear weapons, and the air and naval assault he ordered was necessary to prevent that from happening. There was one major problem with that explanation: We were assured by Trump and his people that Iran’s nuclear capability was destroyed when he ordered bombings there last year. The question is: Did he lie then or is he lying now? Is he suggesting that Iran, after having its nuclear ability destroyed nine months ago, was able, in very short order, to reconstitute its nuclear ambitions?

Paul S. Bunkin, Turnersville

With two years to go until the next presidential election, voters must start the process of eliminating the Electoral College right now. The Electoral College system essentially has the effect of disenfranchising perhaps as many as 49% of all votes cast nationwide in presidential elections. How does that happen? Because the Electoral College awards all of its votes for a particular state based on that state’s popular vote winner. (Maine and Nebraska are exceptions.) If, in a two-candidate election, Pennsylvanians cast 50.1% of their votes for one candidate, he or she receives all of our Electoral College votes, thereby disenfranchising the 49.9% who voted for the other candidate. If you voted for Joe Biden in 2024 in Pennsylvania, your vote counted for nothing. The same holds true if you voted for Donald Trump in 2020. Five presidents — John Quincy Adams (in 1824), Rutherford B. Hayes (1876), Benjamin Harrison (1888), George W. Bush (2000), and Trump 1.0 — have lost the nationwide popular vote, but still claimed the White House because they managed to win enough Electoral College votes to prevail there. That can’t be allowed to happen again. Periodic efforts to eliminate this archaic system have been attempted in Congress but have never advanced far enough to kick start the long, convoluted process to finally do away with it. We don’t know how this will play out in 2028, but it’s time to start advocating for change.

Ben Zuckerman, Philadelphia

Secretary of State Marco Rubio was completely disingenuous when calling the bombing of an Iran elementary school that killed 175 people — most of them children — an accident. (Of course, it was an outright lie when President Donald Trump claimed Iran did it.) Why? Per Politico, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ignored military officials when he changed protocols and rules of engagement that protect civilians. Simply stated, checks and balances were removed. In the end, the victims at that school were simply collateral damage justified by military objectives.

For reference, does anyone truly believe it’s by accident that Gaza now looks like a moonscape, and that, according to a medical journal, more than 75,000 Palestinians have been killed, mainly women and children? All of this is a reminder that, as former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld put it, we better hope we are killing more terrorists than we create. When you start a war by bombing an elementary school, you lose hearts and minds — and end up looking as bad as the enemy.

Dave Gruber, Mays Landing

The Democrats’ attempt to hurt U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement with a partial government shut down has missed its mark. ICE is fully funded.

There are some Democrats who are critical of the partial government shutdown. There are others who don’t understand that the only people being hurt are the citizens (you and me) of the United States. The effect of the shutdown is that the Department of Homeland Security has halted and curtailed certain nonessential services including border security, immigration processing, Transportation Security Administration, and Environmental Protection Agency inspections. TSA employees are not getting paid. Would you go to work under these circumstances?

By not funding border security and immigration processing, the Democrats are playing directly into the hands of the Republicans. If immigration is the issue: fight it. (By the way, when the Obama administration had control of the House and Senate, why wasn’t immigration fixed?) To Congress, please fully fund the government and fight another day. This is a losing battle.

Gust Callas, Canton, Ohio

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s threat to remove broadcasting licenses from networks that run critical war coverage that he deems undeserving of the “public interest” is beyond disturbing. Regulating content should be distinguished from the fundamental right to express an opinion, especially affecting crucial issues such as war and peace.

Shouldn’t Carr be more concerned with ensuring the nation’s airwaves are preserved for all voices? Instead of corruptly threatening to pull licenses from entities that dare to criticize the administration’s prosecution of the war in Iran, he should be focused on ensuring that government censorship never occurs on his watch. Demanding loyalty and obedience to the nation’s current administration over the journalistic freedom to air coverage it deems newsworthy and relevant to its viewers is a betrayal of the public trust. The warning by the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission not only chills constitutionally protected speech among broadcasters but also diminishes the American viewers’ freedom to choose among a range of powerful media sources.

Autocrats around the world are taking note.

Anthony Arnaud, Laguna Niguel, Calif.

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