Donald Trump and his maga cult are dealing with the reality of their failed leadership after the November 3 mid-term elections

The writing is on the wall: Trump’s GOP is dead.

Echo opinion published in The Boston Globe by Abdallah Fayyad

If you wanted to test anti-Trump voter sentiment in a vacuum, look at Maine and New Hampshire’s Senate races.

One of the biggest headlines after the mid-term 2026 election is that Susan Collins, the five-term Republican senator from Maine, will be packing up her Washington office.

For years, Democrats tried to unseat her. And in Collins’s last election in 2020, every single poll had her down going into Election Day, and yet she still managed to claw her way back to victory — making her one of the few New England Republicans that Democrats feared. After that election, it seemed like she could stay in her seat as long as she pleased. 

But on November 3, Democrat Troy Jackson, the former president of the Maine Senate, managed to eke out a win, helping Democrats secure a comfortable Senate majority.

Up until these midterms, Collins had managed to successfully walk a tightrope throughout the Trump era in a state that rejected the president three times. She presented herself as a moderate Republican, willing to work with Donald Trump when it was in the interest of the people of Maine and to stand up against him when he went too far. (She voted to convict him, for example, in his second impeachment trial.) She often pitched herself as a moderating force, someone who could protect Mainers from Trump’s worst impulses.

But this time, her message failed to convince. Voters told me that her vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh — who helped upend abortion rights — was one turning point. And Trump’s unabated and cruel immigration crackdowns were another. 

On July 13, shortly after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent shot and killed a man in Biddeford (Mr. Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero), protests erupted outside of her office there, where people repeatedly shouted, “Vote her out❗”

The end of Collins’s political career shows just how toxic Trump’s presence is for the GOP. While she did better than some of her Republican counterparts in other states — likely because she’s not a Trump loyalist — the mere association with the current Republican Party was enough to sink one of the most powerful US senators. And Collins’s loss makes one thing clear: It’s going to take a lot to rehabilitate the GOP’s image.

But Maine is just the tip of a blue iceberg.

Not too long ago, Democrats in New Hampshire were panicking over potentially losing their Senate seat to a Republican. But nothing lasts in politics, and Chris Pappas, the Democratic candidate, handily defeated Republican former senator John E. Sununu on Tuesday night's election. Pappas’s comfortable victory was one of the first signs that the polls did not underestimate the GOP’s strength this cycle, as many Democrats had feared.

What’s most interesting about the result in New Hampshire is that both Pappas and Sununu ran safe, boring campaigns. There weren’t any flashy policies or slogans, nor were there any big personalities. Just two conventional politicians operating run-of-the-mill campaigns. And as a result, it’s hard to argue that the election boiled down to anything other than being a referendum on Donald Trump’s second term. Indeed, when I spoke to voters there last month, Pappas’s supporters told me less about why they liked their candidate and more about how they wanted a check on Trump’s power.

If there was a race, in other words, that provided a measure of anti-Trump sentiment among voters in his final term, it was this one, especially given that there were few variables in the race other than Trump.

After all, Pappas seemed happy to blend into the background and avoided touching anything controversial. The list of priorities on his campaign website were mostly issues that have broad appeal — cracking down on corruption, taking dark money out of politics, and various tax cuts. (On more hot-button topics like immigration, Pappas took a more muted stance than some of his Democratic counterparts in other states, vowing to reform ICE not to abolish it.) Meanwhile, Sununu’s priorities included policy proposals like congressional term limits and suspending pay for members of Congress during government shutdowns.

Contrast this with other Senate races. In Texas, for example, there are factors other than Trump that contributed to Democrats’ victory. The Republican candidate, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, had plenty of baggage that bogged down his campaign. He was impeached by members of his own party over charges of corruption. In a separate matter, he was indicted by a grand jury for securities fraud. (He avoided a trial by agreeing to community service hours and paying restitution.)

He was also an uncharismatic candidate, so much so that Trump couldn’t help but say so at rallies endorsing him. “[Paxton] may not dress right, he may not talk exactly perfectly, and he may not be the best-looking guy I’ve ever seen,” Trump said, before praising him as the “greatest” attorney general Texas has ever had. So while Trump’s unpopularity may have boosted the chances of the winner, Democrat James Talarico, it’s hard not to wonder if another, more polished Republican might have avoided defeat.

New Hampshire, on the other hand, basically had one major animating factor: Trump. So if you wanted to test anti-Trump voter sentiment in a vacuum, this race was as close as you could get. For Republicans focusing on 2028, the writing is on the wall: It’s time to jump ship. The Trump era is finally coming to an end.

Donald Trump and his maga Republican cult cabinet would be better advised about Iran using the Carnac mayonnaise jar! JMO

To the Editor echo published in the New Hampshire Union Leader: Donald Trump should have known better. On Trump's ever changing grocery list of made up reasons for igniting an illegal war against Iran, regime change was supposed to be at the top of his list. 

Donald Trump is a 79 year old (will turn 80 this year) confused old man😕😝❗😴😵

Trump's completely uninformed instincts told him so. Drop bombs — kill despotic leaders along with innocents and hundreds of children — and the people will rise up and rejoice at America’s intervention, opposing a brutalist regime that will lay down its arms. Suddenly, like magic, democracy will rise up and bloom in a political desert where it has never existed❓

Yet from personal experience, Donald Trump knew that autocrats do not give up power without a fierce struggle. In America, where democracy has a 250-year-old history, he refused to give up power in 2020. He lied and conspired with others to keep a strong grip on the reins of power. Why did he think the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps would act any differently❓*

From Steven Gordon in Hopkinton, New Hampshire

Why not❓  Try to ask Carnac the Magnificent❗

*Perhaps Donald Trump and his inept cult advisors should try to summon the ghost of Johnny Carson, as the seer Carnac, The Magnificent".  They would likely receive better advice from Carnac's mayonnaise jar than what they are acting upon now in the failed Trump Iran World War. In my opinion, Donald Trump's fake cabinet cult meetings are conducted more like seances so why not try to give the ghost of Carnac a call❓

Republicans must bring reason into political discourse rather than carry the lable of "maga", a four letter euphamism for Nazi

Bravo❗ (Well, sort of...😕)Brandon Ambrosino for offering us the only antidote to the current climate of acrimony and hate (“What if we brought love into politics?” Ideas, Dec. 7)*.   

Echo opinion letter published in the Boston Globe:

But, here is my question: If I’ve tried numerous times to befriend my enemy, if I’ve given everything in me to engage in civil discourse with people who disagree with me politically, and if each and every time I’ve failed, what then❓

Although I agree with Ambrosino in theory, in practice I’ve never succeeded in getting anyone to listen to reason or embrace love if hate is one of their main modes of being and their identity is inextricably intertwined with their politics.

The thing about hate: It’s so satisfying, so comforting, so reinforced, so electric that it makes people feel alive, justified, imbued with a strong sense of purpose. It’s not a state of mind people will let go of willingly, nor one they’re easily seduced into relinquishing.

Maintaining a poetic idealism that love can cure hate may be a necessary survival mechanism for some people. Nevertheless, holding on to false hope in the face of facts, reason, and experience is a prescription for despair.

From Elaine Mintzer in Merrimack, New Hampshire

*What if we brought love into politics❗
Our civic life is poisoned by hatred for people we don’t know. Maybe we can fill it with the opposite. ❓

Brandon Ambrosino teaches theology and ethics at Villanova University and is the author of “Is It God’s Will? Making Sense of Tragedy, Luck, and Hope in a World Gone Wrong.”

Donald Trump and maga Repubicans are destroying our nation's democracy. Donald Trump is toppling democracy and Republicans are responsible

An American president toppling American democracy is uncharted territory: No, we haven’t been here before. By Renée Graham Globe Columnist, echo opinion published in the Boston Globe.

A common refrain on social media these days is to tell those fretting over democracy in retreat that “we’ve been here before.” 

It’s usually intended as a bit of tough love to counter scary and rampant fears about what the Donald Trump administration is doing to this country and the world.

While the idea that this nation has been in dark places before is true, it also misses a salient point about this particular petrifying moment in American history: Those of us alive today haven’t been here, in a place this dire, before.

Never before has this nation suffered under an American president using all available means to topple American democracy. By comparison, President Trump makes former president Richard Nixon, who ducked impeachment for his criminal activities by resigning, look like an ornery child.

Donald Trumps vision for our nation's crumbling democracy
is clearly Nazism ❗

In a social media post, Doanld Trump demanded that Attorney General Pam Bondi (aka "Nurse Rached" of the Justice Department) act on his promised vendettas against his perceived political enemies.

At a memorial service for Charlie Kirk on Sunday, Trump said that, contrary to the far-right podcaster who he claimed “did not hate his opponents,” “I hate my opponent and I don’t want the best for them.”

On Monday, Trump spread unproven claims linking autism to Tylenol use by pregnant women, repeated the discredited idea that vaccines may be tied to autism, and promoted an untested treatment for children with “autistic symptoms.”

Trump hasn’t said anything about reports his Justice Department shut down a 2024, FBI investigation into Tom Homan, now his border czar, for allegedly accepting 💲50,000 in cash from undercover agents posing as businessmen in exchange for future government contracts connected to border security.

But after last week’s sudden suspension of ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” show, which was scheduled to return Tuesday night, Trump had plenty to say about revoking licenses for networks if people there say negative things about him. (Awwww ❗ 😝😒)

That doesn’t even cover the ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids that are upending families and communities by disappearing people everyday and subjecting them to inhumane conditions, including some who are legally documented or American citizens.

Congressional Republicans have surrendered their constitutional obligations. Democratic leadership is stupefied. The conservative-led Supreme Court is using its shadow docket like a sledgehammer against democracy on Trump’s behalf.

Recent generations have never seen anything like this, as the worst president in American history surpasses his first term as the worst president in American history. Millions are justifiably bothered and bewildered, and Trump’s return to the White House is still several months shy of a year.

If many are mired in feelings of doom in a country that seems unrecognizable, it’s because we haven’t witnessed anything like this. And so long as the Trump administration remains in power, things will only get worse.

Of course, we’ve known national horrors like Sept. 11, 2001, and Jan. 6, 2021. We’ve lived through white supremacist massacres at a Buffalo supermarket, a Pittsburgh synagogue, a Walmart in El Paso, and a historic Black church in Charleston, S.C. This nation continues to have more mass shootings than any other country in the world.

Threads of fascism have always been woven into this nation’s flawed and incomplete democracy. Jim Crow laws thrived for nearly a century after the end of the Civil War and barred Black people from their constitutional rights as American citizens.

People of color continue to live under what those least affected accept as racial profiling, which the Supreme Court’s conservatives recently and temporarily endorsed as a tool for federal immigration enforcement. (Check my Maine Writer substack article at this site here- SCOTUS and the Nuremberg Laws.)

As Americans, we are the descendants of those who fought against codified racism and for suffrage. We are the children of the Stonewall Rebellion in 1969, and the yearlong Montgomery Bus Boycott that started in December 1955, when Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of a city bus as the law dictated.

We are the beneficiaries of warriors known and unknown who gave their lives but never sold their souls to move this recalcitrant nation closer to its promise of “a more perfect union.”

In this moment, Americans of conscience now charged with meeting these hard times with determination, courage, and eyes toward a future that this malignant administration has made feel further out of reach than ever.

To say “we’ve been through this before” is to diminish the dangerous churn of current events. Most Americans today — excluding those who fled autocratic regimes for the promise of freedom here — have never lived under fascism. But Trump is destroying the Constitution as blithely as he destroyed the White House Rose Garden and replaced it with a tacky patio.

To fight against what Trump is doing to democracy and America requires recognition that his willfully catastrophic actions are a stark departure from all that has come before. History may serve as a guide, but its echoes and outcomes alone won’t save us.

P.S. Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.😳😧😰

Reader response: Thank you, Renée Graham, for calling out the denialism, minimization of reality, and cataclysmic head-in-the-sand mentality that has washed over this country. The visceral horror of eroding democracy has proven too much for many to bear. And so, just like when one’s child is on drugs, one’s partner is cheating, or one’s business is failing, people are reverting to “this too shall pass.” Or “we’ve been here before.”

For too many Americans, if they allowed themselves to fully grasp reality, they would fall apart. The anxiety and looming sense of hopelessness would be overwhelming. One can only hope that luminaries in the media continue to try to break through the country’s willful blindness, because democracy is worth fighting for.

T.S. Eliot famously wrote, “Human kind cannot bear very much reality.” But we, as a nation, to save our country, have to find the courage to man-and-woman- stand up to defeat Trumpziism.

From Elaine Mintzer in Merrimack, New Hampshire

Donald Trump cult MAGA followers believe everything he says even when they know he is telling lies!

Echo opinion letter published in the Laconia Daily Sun in New Hampshire:

I have been sitting and watching a very power-hungry narcissist as he tries to model what happened in Germany in the 1930s. He wants to be king, not only of the USA but the world. He seems to think whatever he says is the truth, and I am dumfounded that many of the MAGA world believe every word out of his mouth. I can come up with a few words that describe my emotions ... disgust, disgust, disgust.

How in the heck this space-shot was elected on promises he cannot keep, and has not kept, is beyond me. I am not sure we can survive four years under this guy. He is a living, breathing disaster. For our country, and the world as a whole.

Governor Gavin Newsom said it best ... “He is a stone cold liar.”

John Walker in Laconia, New Hampshire

Canadians speaking against Donald Trump by staying home and boycotting American products

Businesses across the New Hampahire "Granite State" are bracing for what could be a momentous decline in the number of Canadian tourists this summer, the result of souring relations between the U.S. and its northern neighbor. Echo report published in Ink Link by The New Hampshire News Collaborative. 

A sign on display at a liquor store in Vancouver, British Columbia. Stores throughout the country are emphasizing purchasing Canadian-made products over American ones as part of a wider boycott of the U.S., including travel. (Photo by Jeff Feingold). IMHO, when Candians boycott American liquer, this is the protest equivilent of the tea boycott, caused by the 1773, Boston Tea Party.

Many Canadians have essentially been boycotting the United States in response to Donald Trump’s trade policies and rhetoric. The president threatened to make Canada the 51st U.S. state on Jan. 23, shortly after he took office — a threat he has repeated several times since. He followed that up by implementing 25% tariffs on Canadian exports to the U.S.

Since then, land travel has declined 32 percent from March 2024 to March 2025, according to Statistics Canada. The U.S. Travel Association reports air travel from Canada dropped 14% during the same period.

Canada is the top source of international visitors to the U.S. as well as to New Hampshire. In 2024, there were 20.4 million visits by Canadians to the U.S., generating $20.5 billion in spending and supporting 140,000 American jobs. A 10% reduction in Canadian travel could mean 2 million fewer visits, $2.1 billion in lost spending and 14,000 job losses, the organization estimated.

“It’s not so much the tariffs,” said Nathale Hirte, assistant director of Manchester’s Franco-American Centre. “It’s the attitude, not of Americans in general. It’s the whole ‘Canada is the 51st state,’ disrespect of calling the prime minister the governor. It’s the disrespect towards the country of Canada that has been the biggest impact.”

As a dual citizen, Hirte travels frequently between the two countries to visit family, and vice versa. 

This year, (2025) Hirte says, her family will not be visiting the U.S. They’ve even started avoiding American-made products in their day-to-day shopping.

“That started before the tariffs. That started more because of the disrespect,” Hirte said. “The attitude is ‘F you Trump.’”

Trump’s comments may even have played a pivotal role in boosting the floundering Canadian Liberal Party to electoral victory last month.

Stores throughout the country are emphasizing the purchase of Canadian-made products over American ones, while marketing campaigns encourage citizens to travel within the country and keep their money out of the U.S.

“At night, when I was going through New York and Ohio, I was listening to a Canadian station, AM 740. They have ads every few hours that say, ‘Stay in Canada. Spend your money here,’” said Charlie St. Clair, president of Laconia’s Motorcycle Week, the annual event that will take place this year from June 14 to 22. “There is a concerted effort in Canada to get that message out, and it’s resonating.”

St. Clair heard the ads on his annual journey to spread the word about Motorcycle Week. 

According to St. Clair, the motorcycle festival world has already been hit by the Canadian travel boycott.

“It affected Bike Week in Daytona in March,” St. Clair said. “I’ve had nine different people call me personally to say they were canceling their trip to Laconia. They felt it was important enough to call me to say their piece.”

While nine people doesn’t seem like much, St. Clair iterated that every single Motorcycle Week visitor is economically significant to the Lakes Region. The event attracts between 275,000 and 300,000 bikers each year.

“Even if only 50 tourists don’t come because of this, that equals a lot of money in Motorcycle Week,” St. Clair said. “Talking to other business owners, this is not good.”

St. Clair acknowledged Trump’s ultimate alleged goal of using tariffs to bring manufacturing to the United States, but noted that most of the businesses moved production overseas on their own accord.

“It’s going to take a long time to build that stuff up,” St. Clair said. “Meanwhile, we’re going to suffer greatly, and I don’t know if this is the way to do it. 

This is just like the high school bully going nuts.”

‘Volatility and uncertainty’

Hirte of the Franco-American Center became a U.S. citizen 29 years ago. Her love of both countries has only made the current situation more painful, she said.

“It’s so hurtful, sad and stupid, and there’s absolutely no reason for it,” Hirte said of Trump’s tariffs and comments. “I feel bad for those small businesses, especially on the border, that live off of tourism. The businesses, the hotels, how are they going to suffer? They suffered bad enough over the pandemic, and they’re finally recovering, now this crap? My heart goes out to them.”

“Certainly, Canadian visitation is a topic of interest right now,” said Mike Somers, president of the N.H. Lodging & Restaurant Association. “We’ve seen that in the first quarter — Canadian visitation to the northern border was down 20%, or something like that. There is concern that will carry through the important summer season.”

Somers stated that some of his members have already seen cancellations from Canadian visitors, but the exact forecast for the coming summer is uncertain. Decreased gas prices, he said, could offset some of the loss by increasing the total number of drive-in visitors to the state. Anecdotally, Summers said, the areas where Canadians stay — including North Conway, the Lakes Region and Hampton Beach — could account for 5 to 15 percent of New Hampshire tourism.

“We had a discussion with our board of directors this morning,” Summers said. “Most are anticipating they will be flat, slightly up by the end of this year, maybe next year with slight growth.”

“The whole tariff thing, quite frankly, causes a lot of volatility and uncertainty,” said René Sylvestre, delegate of the Quebec Government Office in Boston. “It costs more for Canadians to travel to the U.S., and more people are afraid to lose their jobs because of the tariffs.”

Sylvestre did say that economic impacts of the tariffs vary greatly from industry to industry, and many Canadian businesses are continuing to trade with their American counterparts.

“The real impact is around tourism. In Vermont, in New Hampshire, Maine as well,” Sylvestre said. 

Because of the U.S. immigration crackdown, htraveling in and out of the states is a much more uncomfortable process, Sylvestre said. “More questions are being asked of more travelers, and some are now afraid to travel to the U.S., based on perceptions,” Sylvestre said.

“It’s unfortunate, the current situation. We have to get through this, because our economies are intertwined, especially upstate New England,” Sylvestre said. “Today I was in Maine, and we get the same kind of comments; ‘I’ve been doing business with Canadians for decades, and we have great business partners, so let’s find ways to get through this.’”

Dampened expectations

Scott Labnon, owner of the Town & Country Inn in Gorham, said he doesn’t expect to be affected by a Canadian travel boycott, but it’s tough to gauge or predict the number of Canadian travelers this early in the season.

“A pretty good percentage of people don’t book as far out, like they used to,” Labnon said.

According to Butch Ladd, executive director of the North Country Chamber of Commerce, the brunt of the boycott has yet to come to his territory, and it will be a few more weeks before the picture becomes more clear.

“The general thought is that business is probably going to be down,” he said. “I don’t think it will be as bad as Covid. If something doesn’t change, there will be people that just decide to spend their money in Canada. I hope not, but I get it.”

At Hampton Beach, John Nyhan, director of the Chamber of Commerce estimated that Canadians provide 10 to 15 percent of the tourism revenue in his neck of the woods.

“They’ll spend three to three and a half million (dollars) during their stays at Hampton Beach,” Nyhan said. He expects a drop in the number of Canadian visitors, but “I don’t project it right now to be a massive drop.”

In March, Nyhan and other U.S. Chamber of Commerce heads attended an outdoor recreation event in Montreal to speak face-to-face with Canadians in light of the “confusion in Washington,” he said.

“Everyone coming to our booths were very friendly. We found that the seasoned travelers, the people over 50, would come up and say, ‘We love Hampton Beach, we’ve been coming for years, and we’re going to postpone this year,’” Nyhan said. “Those in the range of 25 to 40, primarily couples, didn’t care about what was going on in Washington. They were going to come because they really want outdoor recreation and that the state offers a variety of outdoor recreation, from the mountains to the lakes to the beaches.”

Karmen Gifford, director of the Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce, said she had a similar experience at the expo.

“‘Not this year’ was the comment that came back, but it was very positive other than that,” Gifford said. “There’s just uncertainty. That’s their way of addressing it.”

Regardless of the economic impact this summer season, the relationship between the two long-term allies is clearly strained.

“Saying sorry is not enough,” Hirte said. “I think the injuries are so deep, it’s like a cancer that needs to be completely cut out. It’s going to take decades.”

But she hopes for signs of improvement over the next few months.

“There are people who still work together, talk to each other, and so on,” she said. “At the end of the day, we live in the same region, so hopefully things will be back to normal.”

She pointed out that her daughter recently drove through Vermont with Nova Scotia license plates on her car and found a note on her windshield that read:

“Dear Canadian friend, thank you for being here.”

These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visitcollaborativenh.org.

Republicans who rubber stamped Pete Hegseth are responsible for hs incompetence and chaos at the Pentagon

Echo opinion letter published in the Boston Globe: 

Heat on Hegseth ought to be a lesson to GOP rubber-stampers

Pete Hegseth SignalGate Scandal with J.D. Vance "ooops!"

I am wondering whether Republicans in Congress can learn something from approving the unqualified Pete Hegseth to lead the Pentagon.

Clearly Hegseth was unqualified in many ways, including lack of experience, a history of financial mismanagement, and questionable character. If Republicans are serious about wanting to be successful in the future, perhaps they should use their best judgment rather than acquiesce to Trump’s demands.

Rubber-stamping a Cabinet nominee who everyone could see was a poor candidate risks exactly what we are seeing now: a defense secretary who is in way over his head, causing embarrassment to the administration and putting our nation in jeopardy. The personal risk of being primaried may have been too great for many Republicans in Congress, but the risk to the administration, the Republican Party, and the country may be even greater.

From Cathy Putnam in Littleton, New Hampshire

An Easter Season lesson about our political times: Republicans selling their moral souls

An Easter Season humanitarian and political lessons for all of us from the Scriptures and the Christian world. 

Echo opinion published in The Laconia Daily Sun newspaper published in New Hampshire: 

Catherine Goegel: Is 30 pieces of silver worth price of souls, self-worth, self-respect❓

During the Holy Week and Easter Season, this reflection is about the many beliefs, as a Christian, I was taught and have practiced for many years. 

On Holy Thursday, the most famous story of all is that of Judas, a disciple of Jesus, who we were taught betrayed him and turned him over to the Roman tribunal for 30 pieces of silver. 

Then, there is Peter, another disciple, who Jesus famously foretold would deny him "three times before the cock crowed." Peter vehemently denied he would ever do that, yet he did. 

Lastly a lesson from the parable of the Good Samaritan — a man lay wounded in a ditch and called out to passersby for help. His cries went unheeded until a man of another faith stopped and gave him aid. Each of these stories were told, as I remember, with the implication that Judas, Peter and the many passersby were hypocrites to the values they vowed but in truth they lacked the moral courage to act on. We were taught which choice was the better one. 

My question to the Evangelical Christians of today, the powerful law firms, the universities around the country, the chief executive officers of large business firms, and lastly to all elected officials who have surrendered to the (evil❗) threats of Donald J. Trump and his Republican associates — Is 30 pieces of silver worth the price of their souls, their self-worth and self-respect? 

Will it buy enough cleanser to erase the stench of betrayal to our Constitution, democracy and our country❓

From Catherine Goegel in Canterbury New Hampshire

Hard working federal employees dedicated to work for our country: "Ask what you can do for your country"

Donald Trump does not have the cards to exploit the Ukraine, Greenland, Panama or Palestine. #ImpeachTrumpNOW

Echo opinion letter published in The Laconia Daily Sun, in New Hampshire: 

What happened to the words of President John Kennedy "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." It is not about enriching Trump. Trump policies causes pain every day. Cost of living has not gone down. 

Many good departments in our country are being demolished. People appointed to powerful positions are not representing us well bringing their inexperience (and incompetence❗) to the table. 

For example, when executing bombing raids, one goes to the protected Situation Room. 

Trump and the MAGA Republicans are insulting allies with whom our friendships and treaties go back decades. Trump is abusing and manipulating tariffs with Canada, Mexico and China, creating a crisis in trade. This is not who we are as a country.

The majority of people work hard in what they do to support themselves, their families, communities, country, and the members of this beautiful world which we are a part of. We pay taxes for these reasons, not because we are stupid. Trump has fooled good people. A budget with $4.5 trillion in tax breaks for the rich and $4 trillion increased debt limit is unacceptable.

Illegal firings include: National Institute of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, National Parks, Armed Services, Veterans Affairs, USPS, air traffic controllers, Department of Education, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, FEMA, State Department. Money being held by the president from approved funds include infrastructure funds, emergency funds for international assistance, migration and refugee assistance, National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and International Narcotics Control and Reinforcement. We are experiencing daily government deportations without due process.

The majority of people work hard in what they do to support themselves, their families, communities, country, and the members of this beautiful world which we are a part of. We pay taxes for these reasons, not because we are stupid. Trump has fooled good people. A budget with $4.5 trillion in tax breaks for the rich and $4 trillion increased debt limit is unacceptable.

Illegal firings include:

• National Institute of Health 
• Department of Health and Human Services
• Social Security
• Medicare 
• Medicaid
• National Parks
• Armed Services
• Veterans Affairs 
• USPS (post office)
• Air traffic controllers
• Department of Education
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• FEMA (Emergency Management)
• State Department 

Money being held up by Donald Trump from approved funds include infrastructure funds, emergency funds for international assistance, migration and refugee assistance, National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and International Narcotics Control and Reinforcement. We are experiencing daily government deportations without due process.

Readers have the power to vote and change all of the above.

From Susan Curtis in Gilford, New Hampshire

Republicans make excuses for Donald Trump crude behavior even as they would not tolelrate it in their own children

Donald Trump gets a pass from MAGA Republicans to call people names. But, we teach children to respect people and not to tolerate what the MAGA cult excuses in Donald Trump's disgusting behavior.

Echo opinion published in The Laconia Daily Sun a New Hampshire newspaper:

"My father did not fight in World War II to have this happen to this country" 

Example: 

• Trump's names for Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, etc. even people from his own party if they don't agree with him.
• Item two, defending against the destroying of (Elon Musk's) Teslas (I don't condone it), but an insurrection (January 20th attack on the U.S. Capitol) is OK❓ 
• Then the definition of "illegal". So, shredding our Constitution with executive orders to achieve one's complete demolition of our democratic republic isn't illegal when most of what he and Elon Musk have done should've gone through the proper channels. 
• Then he goes on about what is given freely to immigrants and people leaving Democratic states, where is the proof❓ 

This litany is just more lies from MAGA and its cult leader Donald Trump. If he wants to talk about veterans not getting what they need, has he missed what is happening to our veterans since Trump and Musk have taken a chainsaw to not only what they're entitled to but, women, children, Medicare, etc.❓ 

God has absolutely not blessed Trump and never will because Trump has sold his soul to the devil. 

But may God bless America and keep it free from would be dictators and kings. My father did not fight in World War II to have this happen to this country and freedoms he and my uncles fought to defend nor, I pray, for what our veterans since have fought and given their lives for. I know many veterans who voted for Trump the first time but realized what he was like quickly during his first term.

From Barbara Barnes in Sanbornton New Hampshire

Legal refugees are treated like criminals by Donald Trump and the ghoul Tom Homan: Legal refugees have noplace to go!

Echo opinion reported in the New Hampshire Concord Monitor:

Richard Minard is executive director of Building Community in New Hampshire, a nonprofit organization based in Manchester that works statewide to help refugees and other immigrants navigate their way to safe, healthy, prosperous, and productive lives in New Hampshire.

Should we call the Department of Homeland Security a domestic terrorist organization❓😱😰😡

At 10 a.m., Friday, April 4, my organization started getting agitated calls and emails from our Ukrainian clients. 

We help refugees and “humanitarian parolees” restart their lives in the United States. The Ukrainians had just opened their in-boxes and found the following email from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, delivered during the night:

“Notice of Termination of Parole

It is time for you to leave the United States. You are currently here because the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) paroled you into the United States for a limited period. Pursuant to 8 U.S.C. §1182(d)(5)(A) and 8 C.F.R. § 212.5(e), DHS is now exercising its discretion to terminate your parole. Unless it expires sooner, your parole will terminate 7 days from the date of this notice.

If you do not depart the United States immediately you will be subject to potential law enforcement actions that will result in your removal from the United States — unless you have otherwise obtained a lawful basis to remain here. Any benefits you receive in the United States connected with your parole — such as work authorization — will also terminate. You will be subject to potential criminal prosecution, civil fines, and penalties, and any other lawful options available to the federal government.

DHS encourages you to leave immediately on your own. You can use the CBP Home mobile app on your phone to make arrangements for your departure. If you are departing the United States via land, you should report your departure once outside the United States via that same app. If you are having trouble reporting your departure via land, visit https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/home for more information about voluntarily reporting your departure.

Again, DHS is terminating your parole. Do not attempt to remain in the United States — the federal government will find you. Please depart the United States immediately.”

Was the email a real message from the federal government or a cruel hoax? Our clients from across New Hampshire told us that Ukrainians in other states had received the same email. I raised the alarm with the New Hampshire State Refugee Coordinator, who works closely with the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement. Her counterparts across the country were asking the same question and getting no response from Homeland Security.

I turned to Sen. Shaheen’s office to try to pry an answer out of the federal government. Shaheen’s staff understood the gravity of the question. They couldn’t get an answer, either. By 1 p.m., we heard that Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts was also trying to get answers from Homeland Security. Markey’s staff said they believed that the email had indeed originated from a federal office, but they could pass on no useful information.

As our email chains expanded, our Ukrainian clients waited.

Imagine getting an email at work from your local police chief saying that your children might have been among those shot at the elementary school. No further information. No phone number to call.

Or imagine being told that in 10 days you would have to take your children home to Ukraine, even if your home had been destroyed by Russian bombs or your city was occupied by Russian soldiers. Would you start packing? Would you take your children back to a war zone or look for ways to leave them here?

Ukrainians know that the administration is capable of enforcing such cruelty because they see what is happening to their Haitian neighbors. Even though the violence in Haiti is escalating, President Trump issued a “get out” decree last month to the thousands of Haitians living and working here legally with temporary protected status. Their termination order, which came well publicized and with no ambiguity, gave them 30 days. On Thursday, April 24, they have to disappear.

Since the Haitian decree, Ukrainians and Afghans in New Hampshire — all here legally — have been on edge, expecting the worst. The Ukrainian email heightened their fear.

Finally, at about 7 pm Friday evening, Ukrainians across the nation found this in their email inboxes:

“Retraction of Notice of Termination of Parole

We understand that yesterday, you may have received an email notification titled ‘Notice of Termination of Parole.’ The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sent this email to you in error. No action will be taken with respect to your parole as indicated in the April 3, 2025 e-mail; the terms of your parole as originally issued remain unchanged at this time.”

I find no hint of an apology or explanation in that email. Instead, the last three words are an implied threat: The Department could change its mind tomorrow.

Immigration policy is complex, but using terror as a policy tool is simply wrong❗

Republicans against Donald Trump must stand up to defend democarcy to put country over party

Signing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, a once-in-a-generation investment.

Echo opinion published in The Boston Globe by Kimberly Atkins

Republicans against Trump can banish him with one trip to the ballot box:  If there was ever a moment to really put country over party, it’s now: by voting, just once, for President Biden. 

Governor Chris Sununu of New Hampshire has a history of speaking frankly about Donald Trump. “He’s (expletive) crazy!” the four-term Republican governor said in 2022 at the Gridiron Club’s dinner roast in Washington.

“I don’t think he’s so crazy that you could put him in a mental institution,” Sununu continued. “But I think if he were in one, he ain’t getting out!”

Less than two months ago, as a surrogate for Trump’s GOP primary opponent Nikki Haley, Sununu was still as blunt while speaking at Politico’s Governors Summit. “Assholes come and go,” Sununu quipped. “But America is here to stay.”

Is it?

America as we know it, based on foundational principles such as democracy and respect for the rule of law, may not last another Trump term. Trump left Washington in 2021 as it reeled from the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol that he helped incite in an effort to hold on to power like a dictator. Now he’s plotting his path back by campaigning on a platform of autocracy, promising a dark, dystopian future for the nation that is built on revenge, hatred, destruction, and even violence.

Trump has promised to on Day One free from jail convicted January 6 insurrectionists, whom he calls “hostages.”😡 He said he would task the Justice Department with locking up his political enemies. He promised to sic the military on American cities. He praises and sidles up to “strongman” leaders like Kim Jong Un of North Korea, Vladimir Putin of Russia, and Viktor Orbán of Hungary. His massive debt and carelessness with the nation’s sensitive secrets make him a severe national security threat. He is the polar opposite of what an 

American leader should be.The tone of his bid to return to the White House is summed up by his Truth Social video post featuring an image of President Biden hog-tied in the back of a truck.

Yet among Trump’s endorsers is Sununu, who promised even as a backer of Haley to vote for the eventual Republican presidential nominee. I guess that applies whether that nominee is a lying, insurrection-spurring, election-denying, conspiracy theory-peddling, fraud-committing, criminally charged, rule of law-defying despot or not.

This decision may defy all rules of common sense, but it unfortunately doesn’t defy conventional political wisdom. 

Though Sununu prides himself in — and has been lauded for — his bipartisan approach to governing, he’s still a Republican. And to him, a GOP win is a win.

Here’s a wake-up call for Sununu and other prominent Republicans who have rebuked Trump and Trumpism but have stopped short of promising to do what is necessary in 2024 to stop him: If there was ever a moment to publicly embrace country over party, it’s now.

This presidential election is not just a contest between a Democrat and a Republican. It is not, as some members of the press seem to insist, a choice between two unpopular old men. It is a choice between democracy and its destruction.

To quote Trump directly, “You either have a country, or you don’t.” With Biden, you may not like his policies, but you have a country. If he is defeated, all bets are off.

If GOP Trump foes truly want to end his (strangling❗) reign, they can make a limited, one-time vow to help defeat him in November by voting for Biden, and — perhaps more important — urging others to do so as well.👍

I’m not suggesting Sununu forge this path alone. That would just ensure the kind of banishment he is clearly seeking to avoid. I reached out to Sununu for comment, but got none as of press time.

But this message is for all democracy-respecting Republicans who understand the stakes but have stopped short of embracing the only clear solution. I’m talking to you, Senators Mitt Romney of Utah and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Also to Haley and other former GOP primary rivals like former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson, and the very man whose life Trump endangered on January 6, former vice president Mike Pence.

I’m hoping that former Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who so valiantly worked to ensure the American people and the Department of Justice got the real facts about what happened on Jan. 6, will step up. And given the strength that comes with numbers, that the balance is tipped to allow others to follow suit.

I’m heartened that the group No Labels dropped its third-party presidential ticket bid. Pushing past partisanship, as Sununu does, is a valiant goal, but it is out of step with the reality of the 2024, election if it just helps Trump win. 

And as for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his tin-hat campaign: Shame on you for threatening the nation for which members of your family paid the ultimate price.

The moment Biden is inaugurated into his second term, Republicans and activists can go right back to opposing Biden policies with all the vigor they can muster. That’s how democracy works. But it works only if democracy lives. One vote — just one vote — can help save it.

Kimberly Atkins Stohr is a columnist for the Globe. She may be reached at kimberly.atkinsstohr@globe.com. Follow her @KimberlyEAtkins.

America's founders never intended to create a white Christian nation

Christian-nation idea fuels conservatives, but historians say it misreads Constitution and the founders’ intent.

The notion of America as a uniformly Christian nation (“Christian US concept misreads Founders, historians say,” Page A8, Feb. 18) flies in the face of the longstanding view of the United States as a multicultural society. 

For more than a century, our country has been viewed as a “melting pot,” a confluence of immigrants from diverse cultures blending together to create a shared American culture. 

More recently, critics of the melting pot concept proposed a “salad bowl” metaphor to more accurately reflect a heterogeneous society where members retain many of the unique characteristics of their culture, while coexisting as Americans.

We can debate whether melting pot or salad bowl is a more fitting description of current American society, but let’s hope future generations will not be left to debate the relative merits of “a loaf of white bread” or a “bowl of cream soup” as metaphors for a Christian American nation.  

From Elizabeth Tragash in Amherst, New Hampshire

American voter must demand for Congress to end the national gun violence epidemic

To the Editor echoes in the New York Times:  OMG❗  Unbelievable but it happened again, this time in Perry, Iowa, and it will keep happening until voters confront the politicians. 

With a majority of Americans saying they favor stricter gun laws such as universal background checks, there is no better time than now, in this election year, for voters to ask the candidates to support efforts to reduce gun violence in America.

Republicans, especially recently, are demanding yes or no answers to critical questions. In town halls and at rallies and caucuses, candidates need to be confronted: Will you commit to specific steps to insure the safety of our schoolchildren, yes or no?

There is no better time or place to demand yes or no answers to questions about gun safety than in Iowa in the next two weeks.

David Simpson in Rindge, New Hampshire

To the Editor: I am distressed and angered about another public school shooting (Perry, Iowa!)— and still no action from state and local governments regarding protecting our children from these violent acts. As a public-school teacher and a parent, I fear for my own children as well as my students❗

Will Nikki Haley direct a rewrite about American Civil War history if she God Forbid happens to become president?

An echo opinion letter published in The Press Democrat in Santa Rosa California: Haley’s Civil flop! A Civil War gaffe

Dear Editor: So, the GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley was recently asked while campaigning in New Hampshire, “What was the main cause of the Civil War?” In order to avoid a hot button GOP word, slavery, she spoke about what governments can and can’t do. She never mentioned slavery at all, not even in the ensuing discussion.

Almost immediately, politicians, the press and others attacked her for her omission. By the next day, she tried to recover by saying “of course the Civil War was about slavery.” Then she accused the questioner of being a Democrat plant. And perhaps he was, asking a question with an obvious answer that presents difficulties for right-wing Republicans.  (So what if the questioner was a "plant"?  Haley cannot blame her stupidity and ignorance on a questioner. It was an easy answer and she failed to say the word the Republicans will not admit to...S-L-A-V-E-R-Y.)

Haley comes from South Carolina, a GOP-controlled state that restricts teaching about race in public schools. 

Haley’s original answer was likely given to avoid angering the MAGA crowd whose votes she wants, but it might also be the one they now teach in South Carolina.

By the way, if one were looking for the accepted answer to the question, (Civil War History 101!) just ask ChatGPT. The artificial intelligence reply, “The primary cause of the US Civil War (1861-1865) was the issue of slavery and its expansion into new territories.”

From Sherman Schapiro in Eureka California

Failed presidential candidate Nikki Haley must leave the campaign because she flopped on Civil War 101

BREAKING: Flopped MAGA presidential candidate Nikki Haley concocted a truly insane excuse for refusing to admit that the American Civil War was about slavery — and tried to somehow blame Democrats for her enormous blunder. Check out Haley's political mess on Occupy Democrats.

This is about as pathetic as it gets...😔

It all started at a town hall event on Wednesday, while speaking in New Hampshire, when Haley was asked what she thought was the specific cause of the American Civil War?

As anyone with even an elementary school education knows, the Civil War was about slavery. Specifically, the southern states wanted to hold onto their "peculiar institution" that formed the economic backbone of their cruel system. Rather than state this undeniable fact — which would have risked alienating the white nationalist voting bloc within the Republican Party — Haley cowardly stated that war was really about "how the government was going to run." 😟😲😦❗ "I think it always comes down to the role of government and what the rights of the people are," she said. "And I will always stand by the fact that I think government was intended to secure the rights and freedoms of the people." The backlash was widespread and immediate. Early this morning, Haley attempted some damage control.

Say this: "Slavery caused the Civil War" 100 times!

"Well, two things on this track. I mean, of course, the Civil War was about slavery. We know that, that’s the easy part of it," Haley said on the Pulse of NH — News Talk Radio Network. "What I was saying was, what does it mean to us today?" she went on. "What it means to us today is about freedom. That’s what that was all about. It was about individual freedom. It was about economic freedom. It was about individual rights. Our goal is to make sure, no, we never go back to the stain of slavery." Proving that she is just as conspiracy-addled and brain poisoned as the rest of the MAGA movement, she then tried to shift the blame for her craven remarks to her political enemies. "It was definitely a Democrat plant," claimed Haley. "That’s why I said, what does it mean to you? And if you notice, he didn’t answer anything. The same reason he didn’t tell the reporters what his name was." Is that so Nikki? Is the Democrat plant in the room with us right now?

Nikki Haley "clean up on aisle 2024!"

This woman is utterly spineless. She is willing to cater to the worst elements of her party to gain votes and she must be denied the White House. Please retweet and if you will NOT be voting for Nikki Haley — and consider joining the growing exodus to Tribel, a new pro-democracy social network that is exploding in popularity because Twitter and Facebook are trying to stop its growth — which is only making Tribel grow even faster.

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