Former Vice President Kamala Harris greets people before she speaks Oct. 17 in Birmingham, Ala.
What if?
Has anybody thought about what if Kamala Harris had been elected? We as a nation would be in a different kind of world. No for the Republicans who would be saying, this too much cultural awareness, we can't support people across the world, even though it saves lives. We would be in a world of "DEI''. We would be people who are respectful of each other, the rhetoric would not be there, there would be no talk of invading Venezuela, nor Greenland. The world would respect us as decent human beings. 75 billion dollars for ICE, but we are paying for that. Let that sink in, when the BBB was passed, how far would that have gone to help with health care insurance? Kamala would not have even thought about enriching herself the way the current person in charge would have. Two people in Minnesota have lost their lives, how many more?
Craig Hill
Oracle
Vote no on RTA Next propositions
Council Member Schubert makes strong and cogent points. There are also good points favoring RTA Next. However, no one wants to talk about who decides. I live in the City of Tucson and my one vote equals the one vote for Sahuarita. Tucson has half the population half the roads, and more than half the cars in Pima County.
I live in Ward 6. This one-sixth of Tucson has more votes than all the other jurisdictions of Pima County combined.
The rule of "one person one vote" is law. The way RTA Next selects projects is unfair.
John Yoakum
Midtown
The madness of King Donald
If you have access (directly or through a friend) to the online NY Times, I recommend reading Thomas Edsall’s essay from January 13, 2026 “Trump Unmasked.” It’s a terrific and well researched summary of Trump’s psychopathology with references to the dark triad of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathology — which have particularly surfaced with his ascension to power. His malignant narcissism manifests as poor judgment, lack of inhibition, a total lack of empathy, as well as feelings of omnipotence and a desire to aggressively dominate, aided by a bullying personality. These conditions cause him to never apologize, and show up in escalating displays of dominance, a lack of morality, and a need for never-ending praise which is rarely justified. His “weave” is just word salad, the raving of a disturbed and chaotic mind. As a physician, I say these are legitimate observations and diagnoses, much to my dismay. Read the essay.
Norman Epstein
Midtown
The Trump 'legacy'
People push back on analogies between Trump and Hitler; of course, there are distinct differences. Still, Trump is an insecure, swaggering bully who completely disregards anything opposing his "wants." He is ignorant, lies continually, and has an insatiable lust for self-aggrandizement and dominance. He never contemplates long-term outcomes, and thinks in simplistic, often fact-free terms. Trump has not goose-stepped anyone into ovens, but relishes other means of punishing disagreement with him or refusal to support his lawlessness. Though essentially a thug, his methods involve inflicting personal, reputational or financial harm to his "enemies." If others perpetrate physical harm on his behalf, he's pleased. American citizens provided Trump awesome power, not once, but twice. I believe, post Trump, our country will bear a shame similar to that the Germans experienced in the post Hitler years — embarrassment and humiliation because we enabled this awful person as he systematically demolished the once great standing America had in the world.
Hope Gastelum
East side
How to deport 3,000 immigrants a day
If Trump’s stated goal is to find and deport undocumented immigrants, the math leaves no room for ambiguity: The focus should be Texas and Florida, not Minnesota. This is not ideology or rhetoric; it is just simple arithmetic.
Current demographic estimates place Texas at roughly 2.1 million undocumented immigrants and Florida at about 1.6 million. Minnesota’s total is estimated at around 130,000. In plain terms, Texas has about sixteen times as many undocumented residents as Minnesota, and Florida has roughly twelve times as many.
The percentages reinforce the point. Undocumented immigrants make up approximately 7 percent of the populations of Texas and Florida, compared with about 2 percent in Minnesota. Any enforcement strategy designed to maximize removals per agent or impact per dollar would naturally concentrate resources where the population is largest.
The conclusion is hard to avoid. This is not an immigration strategy, it is a political performance with its main goal is chaos, violence, intimidation and an excuse to militarize our cities.
Lawrence Mazin
SaddleBrooke
Arizona GOP meeting in Prescott
I read the story about this meeting, I was disappointed in what they had to say & wondering where they got their information. First, no protesters have been paid. They are exercising their Constitutional right to peaceably assemble. Secondly, Renee Good was not blocking traffic. If you watched the video, you could see a vehicle passing her easily on the road and also see she was turning the wheel away from the agent. And Mr. Pretti did not pull his gun on the agents. His gun, which he had a permit to carry, remained in its holster until an agent removed it. He was not threatening agents; he was documenting their activities. Watch the videos.
Mary Wujcik
North side
GOP fascism
With abusive and unaccountable DHS agents besieging Minneapolis, we now see what the GOP’s fascism looks like. A few elected Republicans have tepidly pushed back, but most of them never will. Elected Republicans are afraid of Trump and his MAGA base. Trump tweets fatwas against anyone who is not sufficiently loyal to him, and the MAGA base makes death threats to the dissenters and their families.
This will not stop unless and until we vote the Republicans out. Do not believe anything Republicans say or promise. They will goose-step to Trump’s orders. Vote them out.
Gary Thacker
Midtown
Shooting off, again
Our ruler talks about using a "massive armada" if (when?) he initiates an attack on Iran. Do the American people really understand — agree — that we would be the aggressor in using our resources, military equipment and personnel, to attack another country? Will our ruler be keeping back enough of these resources to support his deployment of ICE and other federal agents within the U.S.? Yoo hoo, Congress, are you there?
Don Gerlach
East side
The ills of the Republican Party
Too little, too late, the Republican Party is truly a disgrace to our Constitution, our American values, our country. If they are going to hold a leadership position in one of our bodies of government, they need to stand tall and start acting like a leader. We need to vote this group of disgraceful, hypocritical Republicans out, replace them with individuals like Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, who are true Republican leaders. If you can't find a Republican with their values, then vote Democrat so "we" can have the majority and impeach this bunch of lying, cheating scumbags who can't commit to a personal value and have no moral desire to build a country for the people. It is up to us, the people. Don't trust anything they say, it's just a smokescreen to get through the midterms.
I will continue to protest with the good people of America.
Scott Davison
Northwest side
Is history repeating itself?
What is happening today has serious analogies to past histories with how American military and paramilitary forces are being used against American citizens today. First is use of U.S. military against its own citizens. In July 1932 President Herbert Hoover ordered the US Army to forcibly evict WWI veterans and their families from Washington DC, who came to the Nation’s Capital to address Congress. This questionable or illegal use of the military was a significant contributing factor in Hoover’s loss in the 1932 election. A second analogy would be Homeland Security using tactics like those used by Germany in the 1920s to 1945 to eliminate what they claimed were “The people who contaminate the blood of the Aryan Nation.” While in the Trump administration I believe the intent is to try and take away legal protection that is a keystone of our Constitution, the rule of law that is the Judiciary.
J. A. Babcock
North side
Lectern, not podium
In the January 24th edition of the Star the caption of the photo showed "An FBI seal is displayed Jan. 16 on a podium before a news conference at the field office in Portland." The AP reporter needs to be educated. A podium is a raised platform, such as a stage where speakers wait to speak for instance. The picture is of a lectern, a piece of furniture which a speaker stands behind. One would hope that journalists could get this right.
Clay Berger
Foothills
Follow these steps to easily submit a letter to the editor or guest opinion to the Arizona Daily Star.
