Democracy is what we do next after No Kings

The No Kings demonstration was an exhilarating experience. Millions of people got to express their disgust at Trump.

What comes next is the big question. Can we build on the energy of the No Kings experience and improve it?

Trump is still in power and is not going to change his ways. Can we focus instead on some real demands for the future? How about demanding an end to polluting fossil fuels? How about demanding an end to sending American weapons to carry out genocide? How about ending the deportations? How about medical care for all? How about stopping the erosion of the rights of women and minorities? How about stopping taxing the poor to give tax breaks to the rich?

Raising all of these issues would move the No Kings movement forward. But it can’t be done without organizing people power to oppose the present drift toward fascism.

And that’s a larger problem than just Trump’s aberrant behavior.

We need to focus the No Kings energy on real change. Democracy is what happens next.

John Koethen

Albany

Trump’s human (and historical) carnage

Trump promised in his inauguration speech in January 2017, “The American carnage stops right here and right now.”

So much for that.

The demolition of the East Wing is symbolic of Trump’s wrecking ball wielded against our country. If Trump leveled the White House and erected a Trump Tower to dominate the landscape, the congressional Republican bobbleheads would nod their approval.

The photographs of the East Wing demolition site convey concrete concepts of Trump’s presidency that mere words are inadequate to express.

Truth decay — Trump told the American people in July about his ballroom project. He said, “It won’t interfere with the current building. It will be near it but not touching it.”

Wrecking ball — Trump is dismantling and gutting the federal government. DOGE and Vought are carrying out the plan laid out in Project 2025, which Trump repeatedly claimed to know nothing about during his 2024 campaign.

Cut first, measure later. Fired federal workers had to be rehired, because tasks like monitoring nuclear power plants were discovered to be important.

Our military is bombing boats in the Caribbean, providing no proof that there are drug smugglers on board.

Let them eat cake. Trump won the election in 2024 due to his promise to lower prices on Day 1. His tariffs increased prices. Trump’s tax cuts to billionaires and this vanity Versailles project speak volumes.

Veil of secrecy — Information is being suppressed about the demolition, Epstein, and ICE.

The East Wing photos are worth 1,000 words.

Vesta Bartholomew

Ballston Lake

Use diplomacy and sanctions in Venezuela

The time to oust Nicola Maduro from office peacefully in Venezuela may have come and gone. President Trump should stop threatening military action there. Instead, he should try strong economic diplomacy with severe sanctioning.

President George W. Bush could have invoked the Monroe Doctrine, when the late Hugo Chavez defied the Venezuelan Constitution in the early 2000s. This would have stopped Chavez from serving illegally a second consecutive term.

The 18th........

© The Leader Herald