Letters to the Editor | Oct. 22, 2025

President Donald Trump’s shifting stance on Ukraine’s war with Russia has emerged once again. Less than a month ago, Trump, on his Truth Social platform, asserted that Ukraine’s territorial integrity could be restored to its prewar borders if support by the U.S. and its allies remained resolute.

In a predictable about-face — and in preparation for the meeting with Vladimir Putin in Budapest, Hungary — Trump is once again pressuring Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to cede territory. With territorial reclamation presumably a nonstarter, Trump, in another apparent strategic misstep, denied Zelensky’s request for advanced military weaponry, the Tomahawk missile. Ukraine’s possession of this cutting-edge military technology could have weakened Putin’s hand at the negotiating table. Instead, it increased the odds that his intransigence will continue.

Should the Budapest summit end without an agreement being announced (as happened in Alaska), look for Zelensky to be the scapegoat, not Trump’s misapplication of leverage.

Jim Paladino, Tampa, Fla.

Recently, President Donald Trump listed some people who had opposed him and said, “They’re all guilty as hell.” Thankfully, in our judicial system, people are not convicted because of “opinions,” but based on facts and laws. Nonetheless, it is disheartening and dangerous for a president to attempt to influence the Justice Department in deciding whom to prosecute and who is guilty of crimes. Would that an independent attorney general stand up to him and not pursue perceived enemies in search of a crime?

Joe Stoutzenberger, Erdenheim

Let the word go out. The Republican Party just destroyed its very last vestige of being the party of law and order and personal responsibility. Dead. Gone. Disappeared. George Santos stole, robbed, cheated, and lied about every aspect of his entire existence. People were hurt by him. Apparently, his only saving attribute was that, in his ignominious and short congressional career, at least he voted for Republicans. In the rubble of the former Republican Party, that is sufficient to gain you a commuted sentence. It is no longer a political party; it is a shallow gathering of cult followers who have ceased to be able to exercise independent moral judgment. Brian Fitzpatrick, for your own sake, I suggest that you leave that cult.

Tom Taft, Chalfont

“Below the fold” — that is, articles that appeared at the bottom of newspaper pages — is the old expression for suppressing news that upsets the Powers That Be. Placing the well-written report of Saturday’s massive “No Kings” rally on Page A4 of the Sunday Inquirer — and below the dozens of less important articles on the website — is unconscionable. Bowing and scraping to MAGA is complicit with authoritarianism.

Elizabeth Malone, Glenside

I have been participating in a weekly “No Kings” rally for several months. I protest because it makes me feel better. Rather than sitting around feeling helpless, it offers me an outlet to express myself and to see that I am not alone in my frustration. Saturday’s “No Kings” rally was an exceptional experience. There was an exhilarating feeling of hope and kindness and warmth. It highlighted for me both who we are and what kind of country we need to be. There was music and laughter and costumes. Horns were honking and flags were waving. There were peacekeepers who ensured we did not engage in hate speech or unwarranted behavior. There were a few MAGA supporters who drove in circles around the crowds and revved their engines, but no one seemed to pay attention to them. It was a good day. It was a reminder that at our core, we are a peaceful, caring nation. I urge anyone who is feeling alone and scared by the current administration to take heart and join a peaceful protest. It is, after all, what makes us a democracy. I only wish The Inquirer had put the pictures and the story about the demonstration on its front page. It deserved that attention.

Kathleen Coyne, Wallingford

I’m outraged that The Inquirer didn’t give more prominence to its coverage of the “No Kings” protests in Philadelphia and around the country. Your articles about the demonstrations appeared on Pages 4 and 5 of the next day’s paper. They should have been on the front page.

The Inquirer covers daily the Trump administration’s efforts to eliminate our system of checks and balances, to punish the president’s political opponents, to deprive millions of Americans of affordable, healthy, and decent lives, to strip citizens of their express constitutional rights, and to send unrestrained and violent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to so called Democratic cities to detain, deport, and terrorize millions of people who have not committed crimes. These are steps right out of the playbook for turning a democracy into an authoritarian state.

On Saturday, some seven million people around the country, including in Philadelphia, took to the streets to protest these actions in perhaps the largest protest in U.S. history. This is an event of singular importance. The coverage of it should be treated as such.

Sharon Weinman, Philadelphia

As he attempted to do with the Abraham Accords, President Donald Trump (with Egypt and Qatar) is working tirelessly to bring some peace to the Middle East.

The unique negotiating team engineered by Trump, to encourage an agreement between Israel and Hamas, appears to be an effective strategy to ensure a monumental achievement.

While most of the mainstream media, with their Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS), will resist praising The Donald with any accolades, he most assuredly should have received a Nobel Peace Prize if these peace negotiations come to fruition.

And, riding on this astonishing accomplishment, he will then exert his newfound influence to achieve a similar peaceful resolution to the Ukraine-Russia conflict — without sacrificing the lives of American troops.

Thus, Trump will have achieved peaceful negotiations on a scale not achieved since Ronald Reagan (with the USSR in the 1980s) or Dwight D. Eisenhower (with North and South Korea and the Suez Canal conflicts in the 1950s).

Reagan’s unyielding tactics laid the groundwork for the dismantling of the Soviet Union. Ike entreated India’s Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to influence the Chinese to support a Korean armistice.

Presidents Eisenhower and Reagan firmly understood the critical aspects of The Art of the Deal.

Ron Smith, Brigantine, ronaldjsmithsr@comcast.net

It is ironic that President Donald Trump thinks he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for a possible settlement in Gaza. Although we all want a just peace in that area, it has not happened yet. And the “Trump Plan” closely follows what some Arab nations proposed earlier this year. Trump’s choice of envoys, developers Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, causes one to wonder if the quest for peace is so that money can be made off Palestinian land. That follows an earlier Trump-Netanyahu plan for a Gaza Riviera.

Trump is not a man of peace.

He has threatened to “take” Greenland and Canada.

He has ordered the illegal bombing of boats off Venezuela because he claimed they contained drugs. Most U.S. drugs do not come from Venezuela. Trump has intimated he wants regime change there.

Trump took credit for peace between Azerbaijan and “Albania.” How involved was he? The countries are Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Trump is certainly not a peaceful unifier of the U.S. Any American who disagrees with him is an “opponent.” He “hates” his opponents, as he stated at Charlie Kirk’s funeral. He considers Americans who demonstrate against government policies “domestic terrorists” and “the enemy within.” Trump is sending the National Guard to some cities.

Before people consider a peace prize for President Trump, I hope they realize that his actions are based on a desire for vengeance, a quest for power, and his endless grifting.

Ellen Danish, Philadelphia

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