Morley Musick’s story about the Border Patrol’s youth program [“Meet the Boy Scouts of the Border Patrol,” February 3] was the scariest article I have ever read in The Nation. The attempt to tie the training and mentoring of young people to catching undocumented immigrants, along with the brainwashing of these youths in Trumpian ideology, sends up red flags for anyone who knows history. It has the smell of the Hitler Youth program from the 1930s. Is that where this is headed?
If anyone is not aware of how dangerous Donald Trump, his administration, and his cult followers are, this should convince them. This effort to create an indoctrinated Trump Youth Scouts is reason enough to make sure we elect a Democratic Senate and a new president.
Mike Boland fishers, ind.
I was disturbed by your article “Meet the Boy Scouts of the Border Patrol.” First off, the lovely cover illustration of the young Border Patrol Explorers poses them as little Nazis; please do not try to tell me that was not what you wished to imply.
Perhaps you would rather these kids get into drugs, smuggling, or other sorts of mischief. Instead, they are learning discipline, law enforcement, first aid, and other useful skills. The slant of your article is obvious and disgusting. You should be praising these kids as good examples, but your liberal agenda is to drag them down and make them look like they are minions of the Border Patrol.
Go ahead and laugh at them in a few years when they are making more than $125,000 a year.
Ray Harris las vegas
Love Supreme
I enjoyed Connie Schultz’s piece ”Love and Rockets” [February 3]. I so wish her husband, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, had run for president. He could have stood up to Donald Trump’s lies, bullying, and lack of knowledge. I fear the current leaders in the race for the Democratic nomination do not have the stamina, determination, or ability to confront Trump or to appeal to a broad group of people. Debbie Cassetari chino hills, calif.
No More War
Kudos for your editorial “Stop This War” [January 27]. The murder of Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani was indeed a useless and dangerous escalation of our needless ongoing war with Iran. All the reasons given to support the attack are only the usual claptrap from jingoistic flag-wavers. George Batts jacksonville, fla.
We now confront a second Trump presidency.
There’s not a moment to lose. We must harness our fears, our grief, and yes, our anger, to resist the dangerous policies Donald Trump will unleash on our country. We rededicate ourselves to our role as journalists and writers of principle and conscience.
Today, we also steel ourselves for the fight ahead. It will demand a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis, and humane resistance. We face the enactment of Project 2025, a far-right supreme court, political authoritarianism, increasing inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis, and conflicts abroad. The Nation will expose and propose, nurture investigative reporting, and stand together as a community to keep hope and possibility alive. The Nation’s work will continue—as it has in good and not-so-good times—to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and deep reporting, and to further solidarity in a nation divided.
Armed with a remarkable 160 years of bold, independent journalism, our mandate today remains the same as when abolitionists first founded The Nation—to uphold the principles of democracy and freedom, serve as a beacon through the darkest days of resistance, and to envision and struggle for a brighter future.
The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”
I urge you to stand with The Nation and donate today.
Onwards,
Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation
Street Smarts
I want to express support for Jeet Heer’s view that activism is essential to getting Congress and our other leaders to act [“Impeachment Needs to Move to the Streets,” December 30/January 6]. Without it, there would have been no civil rights legislation. If not for three years of activism against the depredations of the Trump presidency, there would have been no impeachment effort. Yes, there is the rule of law, but it is only the action of citizens that prompts its enforcement, by informing elected representatives of their demands. Henry Steen austin, tex.
Correction
“Australia Is Burning” by Daniel Judt [February 10] incorrectly states that the Australian Labor Party formed a coalition government with the Green Party after the 2007 elections. There was no coalition government under Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
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