To the Editor:
Re “Trump Came for Their Party but Took Over Their Souls,” by David Brooks (column, Feb. 9):
I’m still here, the moderate conservative who pundits have declared has vanished from the Republican Party. I can’t be the only one.
My soul is intact. I haven’t sold it to Donald Trump. I am pro-choice, pro-gun control, pro-aid to Ukraine, pro-private sector.
I wait patiently for the happy day when the pendulum swings, the political fashion shifts as fashion always does, and we redesign the G.O.P. in the old mold. I already have the slogan: Make Republicans Great Again (MRGA). The acronym will fit on a (not red) visor.
I will be sure to place a large order so there will be plenty to pass out. The demand will be strong.
Margaret McGirr
Greenwich, Conn.
To the Editor:
If one seeks to identify the moment the Republican Party lost its soul, I suggest Feb. 13, 2021. On that date, 43 Republican senators voted “not guilty” on a “resolution impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.” They thereby enabled the ongoing saga of Donald Trump, presidential candidate.
If a handful of Republican senators had shown the courage of their seven Republican colleagues and voted on the evidence the world saw live on Jan. 6, 2021, Donald Trump would not still be defining the Republican Party in 2024.
Clayton Austin
Fairfax, Va.
To the Editor:
David Brooks highlights the essential problem of today’s Republican Party. Alas, I’m afraid those very Republicans who would benefit most from reading an educated and measured analysis of today’s political situation in Washington are simply not reading The New York Times, or any other deep-thinking publication.
The current crop of Republicans in Washington don’t seem to have much knowledge of world (or Republican) history. Their bottom line is based on entertainment and a very limited comprehension of how their vote affects both Americans and the entire world.
Kudos to David Brooks for having the courage and the clarity to see things as they really are.
Jeff Morgan
Berkeley, Calif.
To the Editor:
Re “My Father Would Weep for America,” by Patti Davis (Opinion guest essay, Feb. 12), about Ronald Reagan:
Dear Ms. Davis: My late father, a liberal Democrat and an attorney in New York, did not agree with your father about anything. But I know he would weep alongside your father over what has transformed the country that they both, in their own way, so dearly loved.
Katherine Roeder
New York
Reviving the Border Reform Bill
To the Editor:
Re “How the Senate Democrats Flipped Border Turmoil on the Republicans” (news article, Feb. 15) and “Suozzi Campaign Strategy Offers Path for Democrats” (news article, Feb. 15):
To pass the aid bill for Israel and Ukraine in the House, Democrats should now turn the heat up further on Republicans over their repudiation of the bipartisan border reform measure that would have given them almost everything they wanted on the issue.
Especially now that Republicans have experienced backlash to that decision in the form of the decisive Democratic victory in the special House election to fill the seat formerly held by George Santos, they might think twice before continuing to stymie border reform in a cynical (and perhaps ill-advised) ploy to harm Democrats at the polls in November.
If Democrats and their allied organizations begin to hammer Republicans aggressively with appearances and advertising on this issue, the G.O.P. may panic sufficiently to return to the bargaining table and accept the bipartisan border and foreign aid bill they had previously rejected.
Game on!
Michael Silk
Laguna Woods, Calif.
Inexcusable FAFSA Delays
To the Editor:
Re “Another Hurdle for College Applicants,” by Justin Draeger and Ted Mitchell (Opinion guest essay, Feb. 10):
Not all late homework is equal.
As a former professor, I’ve given out (and denied) many deadline extension requests. Sometimes extensions are warranted. Other times, however, it is clear a student has just procrastinated, and poor time management is the real culprit.
When it comes to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), the Department of Education seems happy to give itself countless deadline extensions even though its own incompetence is to blame.
The department had plenty of time to implement a bipartisan law that was passed over three years ago. Instead, it focused energy and resources on transferring student loan debt to taxpayers.
Students normally would be filling out the FAFSA beginning in October. It is now February and countless students cannot even access the form, let alone have their information shared with schools.
This is not a funding issue. This is a management one.
As the chairwoman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, I will hold the department accountable.
Virginia Foxx
Washington
The writer is a Republican member of Congress from North Carolina.
A Trial Run for an Alzheimer’s Drug
To the Editor:
Re “Biogen Drops Drug Created for Alzheimer’s” (Business, Feb. 1):
I read with deep personal interest your account of Biogen’s decision to stop its confirmatory clinical trial of Aduhelm, the first drug with the potential to treat Alzheimer’s patients. I saw firsthand the lack of interest in this drug from my patients.
But while Aduhelm may have “failed spectacularly in the marketplace” as a product, as you report, it taught us crucial lessons as we pivot from researching this insidious disease to finally having the tools to treat it.
Think of Aduhelm as a trial run. It showed us our weak points. In my clinic, we hired a nurse practitioner and a triage nurse to help with the expected increase in patient referrals and to enhance capacity to monitor patient safety. We also learned that, because of its high cost — one of the factors that doomed it — we needed to provide financial counseling to patients.
We also learned that we have to work harder to find ways to transport our patients affordably. This drug and others like it will likely need to be administered at least twice a month, so we’ll need to create an entire treatment infrastructure where one has never existed.
These are valuable lessons, and could only be learned the hard way, by treating actual patients with an actual drug. How many efforts failed before the Wright brothers first flew? Too many to count. But each one got us closer, and showed us the areas where we needed to improve and improvise before we could take to the skies.
That could well be Aduhelm’s legacy.
Keith Vossel
Los Angeles
The writer is director of the Alzheimer’s Research Center at U.C.L.A.
To the Editor:
Re “Israel’s Fragile Democratic Future,” by Gershom Gorenberg (Opinion guest essay, Feb. 11):
It has become crystal clear that very large and very loud demonstrations by Israeli citizens in the streets of Tel Aviv and other cities are the only way to ensure that Israel remains a democracy.
Only by returning to organizing massive protests against an effort by the far-right government to neuter the Israeli Supreme Court will Israelis ensure that their country continues to be a democratic state even as the war against Hamas in Gaza drones on and on.
Alan Safron
Woodcliff Lake, N.J.