To the Editor:
Re “Win in Michigan Sets Up Left’s Real Test in Fall” (news analysis, front page, Aug. 6):
The recent primary victories by Dr. Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan and other progressive candidates across the country demonstrate that the left is energized and ready to fight for the soul of America in the fall elections. Voters are increasingly recognizing that our current system is broken and that a wishy-washy, middle-of-the-road approach won’t cut it anymore.
Right now, we have a system in which corrupt politicians and their fat-cat friends are getting wildly rich and the rest of us are getting poorer. Voters can see through the Republican Party’s desperate, hysterical attempts to use scare tactics about socialism as a distraction from the failures of the current administration. It’s clear that people are fed up with a government that prioritizes the interests of corporations and the wealthy elite over the well-being of everyday citizens.
Dan O’Neill Los Angeles
To the Editor:
The media may be overlooking an important political possibility. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate candidate from Michigan, must reach out to centrist Democrats. But he may also appeal to a less obvious constituency: young men who previously supported Donald Trump and have since become disillusioned.
Many of these voters may have been drawn to Mr. Trump less by a deep understanding of — or commitment to — his policies than by frustration with a political system they believed had failed them. They wanted genuine change and saw Mr. Trump as the candidate most likely to disrupt the status quo.
Dr. El-Sayed has an opportunity to speak directly to that frustration — one the Republican Party has woefully ignored. Economic security and access to affordable health care, child care and housing are not merely progressive talking points; they are also urgent concerns for a generation of young men who increasingly feel economically stranded and politically overlooked.
If Dr. El-Sayed — and, more broadly, the progressive wing of the Democratic Party — can address their concerns without dismissing these voters or condemning their past political choices, they may find that these voters are far more receptive to the Democratic message than conventional political wisdom suggests.
Brian L. Tell Minneapolis
To the Editor:
Dr. Abdul El-Sayed’s win over the better-funded, more moderate candidate, Haley Stevens, in the Michigan Democratic Senate primary paints a vivid portrait of a vast swath of American voters who are increasingly frustrated with, and fed up with, the Democratic establishment’s status quo.
Nonetheless, despite what polls predicted, Dr. El-Sayed defeated Ms. Stevens only narrowly, and that sends a cautionary message to Democrats hoping to defeat the Republican candidate, Mike Rogers, in November.
It will be interesting to see whether Dr. El-Sayed tones down some of his more potentially contentious and divisive rhetoric on issues such as Israel and his criticism of what’s wrong with the Democratic Party, and instead focuses his messaging on how he’ll work to save America’s decaying democracy and its fragile economy from the daily chaos being unleashed by the Trump administration and the increasingly feckless Republican senators enabling it all.
Cody Lyon Brooklyn
To the Editor:
Re “Some Top Democratic Centrists Prepare for ‘War’ Against a Rising Left” (news article, Aug. 7):
Now is not the time for Democrats to wage “war” against themselves. Republicans are destroying our country across the board, with terrible economic policies, deep corruption, explicitly racist and sexist practices, anti-vaccine and anti-science policies causing so many deaths, and so much more.
Is it better for Democrats to be moderate or more leftist? Let Democrats of all stripes win in 2026. They will all be better than anything the Republicans are offering. My big hope is that if the next Congress is majority Democratic, then the left and center will work to compromise, and those compromises will most likely result in better policies than either side could have achieved alone.
So please drop the circular firing squad, Democrats, and let’s defeat the true enemy of democracy and freedom.
Richard Dine Silver Spring, Md.
To the Editor:
I’m a Democrat in Maine who once volunteered for Graham Platner and now supports Troy Jackson and other Maine Democrats. The midterms are critical: Americans cannot stand for another two years of President Trump in which the world will continue to suffer his egotistical wrath.
We need checks and balances on the Trump administration to protect our democracy, and the only way we will win the midterms, and the next presidency, is by uniting, not dividing. We should be one big tent with a shared message, not a party weakened by labels like “socialist” or “moderate.”
Many voters are drawn to progressive policies because they see the rich getting richer while working people struggle. Instead of groups like Third Way spending money to attack progressive Democrats, we need to unite and focus on what voters need most: affordable food, health care and gas, fair taxes, an end to harmful tariffs, support for renewable energy and a resolution to a war that is hurting the global economy.
Please give us three to five clear priorities we can rally around as we knock on doors and get out the vote. Help us unite, win and stop the insanity in the White House.
Sandra Smith Congdon Saco, Maine
Trump’s ‘End Run’ Around the Birthright Ruling
To the Editor:
Re “President Signs Two Executive Orders Aiming to Limit Birthright Citizenship” (news article, Aug. 7):
The most important fact that people running for or holding office in a democracy must accept is the possibility that they will lose. Whether it’s legislation, a Supreme Court decision or an election, politicians may not always get what they want.
All U.S. presidents, and their opponents, have accepted this fundamental principle, often with grace and maturity. All except President Trump.
Mr. Trump’s damaged psyche cannot accept losing. He lost the 2020 election, he lost on birthright citizenship, and he’s losing the Iran war. He continues to fruitlessly fight all three, probably based on a foundational fear that in his father’s eyes he would be a loser.
The country is fighting with a profoundly selfish, corrupt president. We can help rein him in with our votes in November.
Eric Beldoch Bronx
To the Editor:
This could be the defining moment of both Donald Trump’s presidency and the Supreme Court.
Mr. Trump has been angling toward a “no limits” presidency since he was elected a second time. Birthright citizenship is enshrined in the Constitution in the 14th Amendment: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
Mr. Trump wants to decide who is a citizen and who is not. To do that, he has to invalidate the Supreme Court’s June ruling in Trump v. Barbara. He is trying an end run around that ruling with his executive orders.
The Supreme Court is going to have to establish the principle that Mr. Trump is subject to the court’s rulings and that they can’t be circumvented with cheap tricks. The birthright ruling stands, and Mr. Trump must obey it. It is time to establish that the rule of law applies to Mr. Trump. Full stop.
Bruce Higgins San Diego