Regarding the Jan. 17 news article “Machado gave her Peace Prize to Trump. Is that allowed?”:
María Corina Machado’s gifting of her Nobel Prize to President Donald Trump seems to have made him happy, resulting in declarations that he will look favorably on Machado and Venezuela.
D.C. residents and policymakers should follow a similar strategy to encourage more beneficent treatment of our city. Personally, I have mailed my Marine Corps Marathon “Participant” certificate to the White House and am looking for parts to repair my “Third Place, Class B Mixed Doubles” trophy from a Florida recreational league to send also.
Every gift counts, so I am calling on Mayor Muriel E. Bowser and D.C. Council members to join all other Washingtonians in gifting their awards and certificates to the president.
Jerry Sroufe, Washington
After the International Olympic Committee stripped Jim Thorpe of his gold medal in the 1912 decathlon, the second-place finisher, Swedish athlete Hugo Wieslander, refused to accept it. Wieslander explained that the only way he wanted to get a gold medal was by winning one in a fair competition. That’s how an honorable person responds when offered an award that was earned by someone else.
Keith E. Smith, Silver Spring
Keep faith with Virginians
Regarding the Jan. 16 Metro article “Democrats bid Virginians to join national redistricting fight”:
The proposed amendment to Virginia’s Constitution to redraw congressional maps mid-decade is not in the long-term interest of the commonwealth. The Democratic majority in the General Assembly is telling voters that this wouldn’t be necessary if Republican-majority states backed off their own redistricting plan.
But Virginia is purple, not blue. Many Virginians would be put off by this reversal of the bipartisan redistricting committee that voters approved only a few years ago. There is already talk of litigation to challenge the new redistricting plan. Once a map is in place, it is likely to be contested, too. Moreover, disaffected voters would have one more argument to buttress their view that politicians are not to be trusted.
People are parochial; they care about what their own states are doing. The people of Indiana pressured the legislature to oppose mid-decade redistricting. The legislature followed the people.
Let’s be like Indiana, not Texas. The General Assembly should keep faith with Virginians.
Sidney Johnson, Reston
Recognize reality in Somalia
Joshua Meservey’s Jan. 12 online op-ed, “Israel recognized this small enclave as a country. America should, too.,” mischaracterized how sovereignty is determined and why U.S. policy toward Somalia has remained consistent.
Somaliland’s internal governance does not alter its legal status. International recognition follows constitutional and multilateral processes, which is why the African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the European Union, the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Saudi Arabia, Britain, Egypt, Turkey, Qatar and the United States have all affirmed that Somalia’s internationally recognized borders include Somaliland.
Meservey also underplayed the regional consequences of unilateral recognition. The Horn of Africa and the Red Sea sit at the center of global trade and active security challenges. Introducing selective recognition into this environment risks destabilizing a maritime corridor already under pressure from conflict in Yemen and repeated attacks on commercial shipping. U.S. counterterrorism efforts depend on cooperation with Somalia’s recognized federal institutions across its territory. Weakening that framework does not improve security outcomes and risks undermining coordination against al-Shabab.
Somalia’s political dynamics are very complex and are being addressed through constitutional processes supported by regional and international partners. Bypassing these mechanisms creates a precedent without resolving disputes on the ground.
Dahir Hassan Abdi, Washington
The writer is Somalia’s ambassador to the United States.
Twisting MLK’s dream
The Jan. 20 editorial “Who’s watching DHS and ICE?” noted that “the killing of Renée Good in Minneapolis is just the most high-profile incident of a confrontation getting out of hand.”
Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream of a colorless society might have moved a little closer at the hands of the most unwitting practitioner of DEI, President Donald Trump. White privilege is dead, in some cases literally. Driving while Black has met its match in driving while White. It’s no longer just Black and Brown parents who have to teach their children how to behave in the presence of law enforcement. Good was killed only blocks away from where George Floyd, a Black man, was murdered by law enforcement in 2020.
Raj K. Gupta, Rockville
It occurs to me that President Donald Trump and his administration have an excellent strategy for curtailing immigration to our country. By ignoring ideals, laws and political traditions, he is getting rid of reasons for anyone to want to come to our country. Brilliant.
Ken Mead, Marietta, Georgia
A word from Thomas Jefferson
The Jan. 15 editorial “The Post and the First Amendment” declared that “an FBI raid won’t stop reporters from continuing their important work.” Indeed, the FBI’s search of Post reporter Hannah Natanson’s home is one more reason that The Post, as well as every other newspaper in this country, should begin printing, daily, this quote from the author of Declaration of Independence, whose 250th anniversary Americans will celebrate this year: “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”
Richard Siegelman, Plainview, New York
Following Sarah Fletcher’s Jan. 4 Sunday Opinion essay, “The magic has gone out of flirting. Maybe this infamous book had a point.,” Post Opinions wants to know: What should flirting look like in 2026? Send us your response, and it might be published as a letter to the editor. wapo.st/flirting
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