To the Editor:
Re “Haley Will Vote for Trump, but Withheld Endorsement” (news article, May 23):
Nikki Haley adds her name to the ever-growing list of prominent Republicans who at one time or another have been on record as being highly critical of Donald Trump, including questioning his fitness for office, and have changed their tune.
What stands out about Ms. Haley, and which makes her cravenness all the more disheartening, is that she presented herself as a serious, thoughtful candidate, one who had no illusions about the myriad dangers that Mr. Trump poses to the country.
Her ultimately falling in line with so many of her fellow sycophantic Republicans to support Mr. Trump, a man whom I suspect many of them loathe in private, speaks volumes about how the G.O.P. has been utterly co-opted in a manner that places political expediency and, in the case of potential vice-presidential candidates such as Ms. Haley, personal ambition over principle and respect for the rule of law.
Mark Godes
Chelsea, Mass.
To the Editor:
Years into America’s flirtation with fascism, it would be easy to roll your eyes and ask yourself, “What did you expect?” at Nikki Haley’s announcement that she will vote for Donald Trump this year.
But every time another politician demonstrates the lack of courage to stand up to the madness embodied by the possible election of Mr. Trump as president again, we move as a nation and a society inexorably closer to the racist, xenophobic world that Mr. Trump inhabits and toward which he pushes us.
True, political courage is rare, and we know that far too well at this point — we know that the Liz Cheneys of the world are far outnumbered by the Marco Rubios, the Elise Stefaniks, the J.D. Vances and now, sadly, the Nikki Haleys. But that fact does not lessen the obligation to call out cowardice when it is visible and when it does damage to the country.
Ms. Haley’s decision to do what she thinks best for her own political future injures the rest of the country. She had the opportunity to make a point and take a courageous stand had she announced that she would vote for President Biden this year. The part of this country that stands for decency in public life could have used her help.
It is a sad statement for all of us that she chose to forgo that path to maintain her political viability in a party with not a shred of the decency that her now moribund courage might have exemplified.
Marc Springer
Brookline, Mass.
To the Editor:
Re “Nikki Haley, Ever Pragmatic, Tries to Keep Her Options Open,” by Katherine Miller (The Point, nytimes.com, May 23):
Nikki Haley’s decision to support Donald Trump reflects the G.O.P. establishment’s growing awareness that they may need to find another Republican presidential candidate because of his possible felony convictions, health issues or both.
It’s no accident that Ms. Haley’s announcement came within days of his defense team’s poor showing in the current trial, through which Mr. Trump dozed, and amid whispers about his diminished physical and mental capacity.
If his candidacy collapses, Ms. Haley knows that her only chance to position herself as the G.O.P.’s best option for unifying the party’s factions entails supporting Mr. Trump (especially since he arranged to have Lara Trump, his daughter-in-law, installed as co-chair of the Republican National Committee), so she swallowed hard and did what needed to be done.
Elaine Carmichael
Sturgeon Bay, Wis.
Blaming the Missus
To the Editor:
In “Blaming the Wife Never Goes Out of Style” (Opinion guest essay, May 23), Jennifer Weiner suggests a positive way to view Justice Samuel Alito’s attribution of the flag incident to the missus.
Indeed, Ms. Weiner writes, powerful men lately have had a penchant for casting blame upon their wives, but in doing so, she says, they are actually recognizing the women’s agency and empowering them: “When a Supreme Court justice blames his wife, he is also acknowledging that his wife has the ability to act on her own ideas, has a mind confoundingly of her own.”
Ms. Weiner sees this as a welcome change from a time when women were viewed as weak victims.
Perhaps. But let’s take a broader look. Martha-Ann Alito’s husband, Samuel, was the primary driving force behind the Dobbs decision that toppled Roe v. Wade. The impact of throwing the abortion question back to the statehouses has been devastating.
After the success of women in the corporate, academic and political sectors, after greater access to contraception and abortion, after #MeToo — yes, women became empowered. Perhaps blaming the wife is an acknowledgment of her strength and power.
But is it also a reflection of men’s fear and even anger, a concern that if she gains, he loses? And, even darker, does the need to control her cause him not only to cast blame but to rob her of bodily autonomy as well? And if so, are we heading toward Gilead of “The Handmaid’s Tale”?
Marla Allegre
Santa Maria, Calif.
Maligning Justice Merchan
To the Editor:
Re “An Attack on Justice Merchan Is an Attack on the Rule of Law,” by Jonathan Alter (The Point, nytimes.com, May 21):
Emerging from the criminal court proceedings in Manhattan on Tuesday, former President Donald Trump addressed the media and made some insinuations about Justice Juan Merchan. He urged those listening to “take a look at where he comes from.”
As Mr. Trump well knows, Justice Merchan “comes from” Colombia. He immigrated to the United States when he was 6 and has become one of the most respected and experienced New York State judges.
I don’t think Mr. Trump needs to be reminded that his grandfather, Frederick Trump, “came from” Germany. He immigrated to the United States when he was 16 and became a successful businessman. But most of all, he was the patriarch of a family that one day would include the 45th president of the United States.
And of course, Melania Trump “comes from” Slovenia.
This writer “comes from” Ecuador. I immigrated to the United States when I was 17 and joined the military of my adopted country a year later, where I served faithfully and meritoriously for 20 years.
I do not believe that where one “comes from” matters very much. It is what one does when one “gets there” that is important in life.
To use person’s origins to malign him or her is unbecoming of a former or future president of the United States.
Dorian de Wind
Austin, Texas
A Caregiver’s Story
To the Editor:
Re “How Caregivers Can Tend to Their Own Needs” (Well, Science Times, May 21):
As a woman in my 80s, I was the sole caregiver for my husband, who was non-ambulatory and in a hospital bed in our living room for two years before he died. With the assistance of outpatient nurses, I learned how to flush IVs and change dressings, and I observed protocols that kept him safe. The daily list of duties was intense.
Because he could be left alone for periods of time, he encouraged me to be active on my own. I took Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes classes at Duke, worked out in the gym, went to concerts, hiked in the woods. I feel lucky that I had the chance to take care of my husband and still have a good life.
Helen Drivas
Durham, N.C.