To the Editor:
On Wednesday I woke with a feeling of relief and joy. The country had moved further than I had ever expected. As I sat and read the results, I couldn’t help but think that I am so grateful for the community members who spent every month protesting.
As I drove my son to soccer, there they were. As I passed by the Tesla dealership in Superior, Colo., there they were. And when my daughter wanted to skip high school to protest, I told her to take her middle-school brother. They needed to witness history and participate in fighting back.
The No Kings protests were regular reminders that we needed to fight for our democracy and, most important, that we were never alone in our dismay about what was happening to our country.
I am so grateful for the time and effort put in by each person — for marching, for hanging banners across Foothills Parkway in Boulder, Colo., and for braving the cold, warning us that fascism was taking hold. No amount of money was going to stop them.
When historians unpack this time, they are likely to look back at these regular protests as a factor in making this blue tidal wave happen.
Indira Gujral Boulder, Colo.
To the Editor:
The Trump administration has been a dumpster fire of corruption, greed and incompetence. Amid all this, President Trump has taught American citizens an important lesson: Change isn’t as hard as politicians make it out to be.
Immigration reform never sounded all that complicated to me. Close the border, deport criminals and make it easier to come in legally. Yet my whole life, politicians said it isn’t easy to bring about change. “These things take time. Be patient.” Nothing happened.
Then, Mr. Trump overhauled the immigration system in what seemed like a single day.
It helped that Republicans had control of both the Senate and the House. It also helped that Mr. Trump built a coalition of yes-men and -women to do his bidding. But the fact of the matter is that he said he would change immigration, and then he did. It was quick and simple. Disastrous and inhumane, but nevertheless quick and simple. Most of what he wanted to do, he just did.
While none of us want another flippant president who does whatever he wants, it raises questions of just how much our politicians’ hands are tied when making decisions. The next time a politician says change is hard and it takes time, America will collectively raise an eyebrow. Is it actually hard? Or do you just not want to do your job?
The Democrats need to wise up to it if they want to win more elections.
Teralyn Pilgrim Beavercreek, Ore.
To the Editor:
Moderate Republicans have warned the G.O.P. leadership for years that President Trump was damaging the Republican brand, a once dignified set of political convictions that prized private enterprise, fiscal discipline and limited central control. It shouldn’t have taken last Tuesday’s massacre to make the leadership wish it had acted sooner rather than later to stand up to MAGA madness.
The danger in an election in which one side is so clearly objectionable is that opponents who are also a threat, just less so, slip in under cover of night, so to speak. Democrats ran a good race, as the president himself has acknowledged.
Let us hope that they won’t let this victory, stunning as it was, go to their heads and in their zeal allow their far left to talk them into policy that is against the best interests of the American people. May they do better than their G.O.P. counterparts at listening to the sound advice of their majority centrists.
Margaret McGirr Greenwich, Conn.
To the Editor:
Re “A Forceful Rebuke” (front page, Nov. 5):
It will be interesting to see whether some congressional Republicans, recognizing that President Trump’s ability to seek retribution has weakened, will show courage in 2027 and support some Democratic legislation.
Charles Merrill New York
To the Editor:
Re “MAGA Finally Gets What It Deserves,” by David French (newsletter, nytimes.com, Nov. 5):
The country has endured a deeply divisive and self-serving presidency, enabled by a political movement and a Republican Congress unwilling to restrain President Trump’s worst impulses.
The Democratic victory in the midterms represents not only a repudiation of Mr. Trump, but also a rejection of a movement whose cruelty and divisiveness have dominated our politics for far too long.
Mr. Trump’s agenda, driven by personal gain rather than the public good, has ultimately harmed even those within his own MAGA base who placed their unwavering loyalty in a leader who has repeatedly failed to deserve it.
With Congress now in the hands of the opposing party, we have an opportunity to restore accountability, confront the damage caused by Mr. Trump’s policies and begin putting the interests of the American people first again.
Amy Ferguson Dunmore, Pa.
To the Editor:
A little more than 100 years ago Mohandas Gandhi, speaking of the masses of Indian citizens, said: “They are as yet untouched by politics. Their politics are confined to bread and salt … ”
All of my liberal friends are overjoyed about the midterm results. They are wealthy. I am not. I am untouched.
My politics are confined to the cost of food, rent, fuel. I will soon exhaust my resources. And I am not alone. There are 50 million of us living on the brink, and neither Republican nor Democratic politicians speak to us from their homes in the hills.
Dan Weintraub White River Junction, Vt.
High School Applications Agony
To the Editor:
Re “The Misery of Applying to New York High Schools,” by Michelle Goldberg (column, Oct. 25):
Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on education research. As a result, we know what safe, supportive, academically sound high schools look like. Those families lacking the resources and savvy of Ms. Goldberg’s family — and the well off lacking luck — should have reasonably easy access to an education that will prepare their children for the challenges they will inherit in adulthood.
Every neighborhood deserves schools to which even the most privileged would send their children. This may require the equivalent of a Marshall Plan by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, but it would be hard to imagine a more laudable legacy.
Maurice J. Elias New Brunswick, N.J. The writer is a professor of psychology and co-director of the Academy for Social-Emotional Learning in Schools at Rutgers University.
To the Editor:
In 2001, with a 3-year-old son and another child on the way, my wife and I were looking for an excellent preschool program in New York City for our son. We called a few schools and were told that we would be put on the wait list to receive an application.
If applying to preschool was this difficult, I could not imagine the misery of applying to high schools. We promptly decided to move to Scarsdale and never looked back.
Jay K. Musoff Scarsdale, N.Y.
The post What Led to the Blue Wave, and What Comes Next appeared first on New York Times.
