Regarding Karen Tumulty’s Dec. 21 The Sunday Take column, “Trump’s naming fixation would vex his predecessors”:
President Donald Trump has added his name to the Kennedy Center as well as the Institute of Peace, demolished the East Wing of the White House, bombed boats and killed people on flimsy pretenses, violated our Constitution again and again, and broken just about every norm previously taken for granted. His entire administration operates under the premise “Stop us if you can.”
Larry Checco, Silver Spring
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is a memorial to JFK by act of Congress. Renaming it for President Donald Trump makes it Trump’s memorial to JFK. This is the equivalent of the Donald J. Trump Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Joseph R. Conte, Coral Springs, Florida
The way things are going, I will soon be having a conversation with out-of-town friends that will go something like this: “After you land at Trump International Airport, take the Trump Train all the way to Washington, D.T. Meet me by the Arc de Trump and we can go to the Trump Kennedy Center for a show or to DJT Stadium to see the Commanders in Chief.”
Once we get a rational Congress, hopefully in about a year, can we get a law passed that no federal entity is allowed to be renamed for a living politician? If that is too far, at least no renaming while they are in office. Even in the sports world, ex-players usually need to wait five years before being nominated to a hall of fame.
Joe Facenda, Vienna
The president might solve his tariff-induced shortage of dolls and pencils by declaring the Donald J. Trump – S. Claus Memorial North Pole, with “the biggest toys and best reindeer the world has ever seen.”
Joyce Winslow, Bethesda
A missing memorial
This year, the United States celebrated the 250th anniversary of the founding of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps. Today, there are three memorials to branches of our armed forces in the Washington area: the U.S. Navy Memorial, in Washington, and the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial and the U.S. Air Force Memorial, in Arlington. The Navy Memorial includes the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine, being all of the sea services.
But the Army, the first branch of our armed forces, has no memorial near Washington. This is a shame. I propose that in 2026, when we celebrate our nation’s 250th anniversary, a U.S. Army Memorial be erected in the Washington area.
Tim Duskin, Centreville
Finish the job on solar power
In October, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth extended the deployment of National Guard troops in Washington through February.
I asked my father why Hegseth would do this, and he gave the simple answer “Because they needed more time to thoroughly complete the job.”
The 30 percent federal tax credit for solar energy is set to expire on Wednesday, and installers are working overtime to get as many homeowners as possible “under the wire.” Transitioning to solar can be costly, so that tax credit is a make-or-break factor for many middle-class homeowners.
At the same time, artificial intelligence, whose boosters claim it will radically change our lives for the better, is poised to need massive amounts of electricity to maintain its data centers.
Would it make sense for the Trump administration, which touts itself as “commonsense,” to extend the tax credit for one more year so that more homes (and businesses) can be taken off the grid to make for a smoother transition for artificial intelligence? Does the tax credit, like the National Guard, need more time to thoroughly complete the job?
Julianna Dunn, Medford, New York
What children cost their parents
The price of meeting children’s basic needs has increased in recent years, but the greater increase has been in the expectations of parenthood: to provide each child with nonstop enrichment, parental hovering, his own bedroom, tuition for the travel soccer team and a college education. In turn, paradoxically, higher incomes are associated with lower enjoyment of parenting.
If money were the biggest obstacle to having kids, we would expect wealthier Americans to have bigger families — and richer countries to have higher fertility rates. But this isn’t the case. Other countries’ attempts to subsidize births have made little difference. The U.S. would have to spend an estimated $250 billion annually to increase our fertility rate by 0.2.
When 7 in 10 adults say having another child is “too expensive,” as The Post reports, they are right — in a way. Having a child will cost you some freedom, sleep, leisure time and career opportunities. A healthy culture would view each child not as a great expense but as the most important investment in our shared future. We would prioritize marriage — the best foundation on which to build a family — as well as community, religious practice and workplace flexibility, all of which reduce pressures on parents.
It’s not just the money. Politics is downstream from culture. Fertility rates are, too.
Hadley Heath Manning, Denver
The writer is a senior fellow at Independent Women.
Happy old year
My favorite part of 2025: when, for a short time, The Post’s AI reader pronounced “MS NOW” as “Mississippi Now.”
Don Utton, Hopewell, Virginia
Post Opinions wants to know: Have you or someone you know found an antidote to loneliness? Tell us about it, and your response might be published in the letters to the editor section. wapo.st/loneliness
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