To the Editor:
Re “Trump Says Some Migrants Are ‘Not People’ and Predicts a ‘Blood Bath’ if He Loses” (nytimes.com, March 16):
In a campaign speech in Ohio on Saturday, former President Donald Trump said that if he didn’t get elected, “it’s going to be a blood bath for the country.”
His warning was not a prediction. This was a brazen threat: If the election disappoints Mr. Trump and his followers, they will revolt. Mr. Trump might be increasingly inarticulate, but the peril is clear in his own words.
In Trump v. Anderson, the Supreme Court recently dodged the question of whether Mr. Trump’s behavior before and on Jan. 6, 2021, made him an insurrectionist within the meaning of the 14th Amendment. After Saturday’s speech, further evasion will be unconscionable. Mr. Trump’s use of the phrase “blood bath” was not exaggeration for effect or bombast. It was simple menace, a direct step toward sedition. American democracy’s future is at stake.
Mr. Trump has effectively secured a major party’s nomination for president. It will soon be up to the voters to recognize the risk and prevent a reign of terror. The whole world is watching.
Steven S. Berizzi
Norwalk, Conn.
To the Editor:
I will not be threatened. The threat by Donald Trump that if he is not elected, “it’s going to be a blood bath” demonstrates definitively, undeniably and unequivocally that he is not fit to be president of the United States.
That The New York Times failed to make this threat its lead story does a grave disservice to our nation.
Joan Kass
Chilmark, Mass.
To the Editor:
Had President Biden told the world that we should expect a “blood bath” if he loses the election, as Donald Trump did in Dayton, Ohio, on Saturday, there would have been clamoring of outrage and denunciation by his Republican opponents. Where is the outrage about Mr. Trump’s use of such language? Where are the voices of reason and restraint?
No Republican dares to criticize their fearless leader. Their profiles in cowardice are an appalling sight for all the civilized world to see.
When will our populace come to their senses? Conscientious, civilized people everywhere must reject this irresponsible bombast.
Mr. Trump is recklessly endangering every man, woman and child in our nation. He has gone too far and must be stopped.
H. James Quigley Jr.
Laguna Woods, Calif.
To the Editor:
Au contraire, Mr. Trump. If you lose this year’s November election, there will be dancing in the streets and champagne corks popped “the likes of which you’ve never seen.”
You can bank on it.
Lois Berkowitz
Oro Valley, Ariz.
Orli and the Fox
To the Editor:
Re “What Does a Year Mean to a Grieving Parent?,” by Sarah Wildman (Opinion guest essay, March 17), about the first anniversary of the death of her daughter Orli:
At sunrise this morning, a fox crossed the road before me. She turned, studying me, and I felt the stir of the new day’s magic. A few hours later, I read Ms. Wildman’s essay, with the digital headline “‘If You See a Fox and I’ve Died, It Will Be Me.’”
I was struck by the coincidence of having just seen “a bright young fox” and reading Ms. Wildman’s brilliant and moving story. It seemed right to thank her for this gift: Orli’s bright young spirit flowing from her mother’s aching heart onto the page.
I wish I had met Orli. We would talk about foxes, look at fox photos, read passages from fox books. We would have shared how one day a fox came to us and never left, as Orli came to me through her mother’s story, how we each came to love foxes, as Orli herself will forever be loved, a beautiful child who is at last free to roam the bright universe.
Ellen Thornton
Atlantic Beach, Fla.
It Was ‘Poisoning,’ Not an ‘Overdose’
To the Editor:
Re “In Fentanyl Deaths, Victims’ Families Say Word Choice Matters” (front page, March 11):
The heartbreaking story of 19-year-old Ryan Bagwell’s death further underscores the urgent need to reshape the narrative around drug-related fatalities. The distinction between “overdose” and “poisoning” is not semantic; it reflects the profound impact on families and caregivers grappling with loss.
Moreover, the stigma associated with “overdose” compounds the pain for grieving families. It unfairly implies personal responsibility and addiction, perpetuating harmful stereotypes. We must recognize that victims like Ryan were unsuspecting casualties, not willing participants in their demise.
Family caregivers who tend to their loved ones as they struggle with health challenges, including addiction, understand the severity of this crisis. Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid exponentially more potent than heroin, is ravaging communities nationwide with a disproportionately higher lethal impact in American Indian, Alaska Native and Black populations.
Its presence in counterfeit pills poses lethal risks, as evidenced by Ryan’s case. The term “poisoning” rightly emphasizes the victimhood of those unknowingly exposed to this deadly substance.
In addition to diligent medication management to prevent accidental exposure to potent substances like fentanyl, the front lines of this crisis require comprehensive tools, including access to all F.D.A.-approved agents that reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, to respond in the event of a fentanyl poisoning.
Marvell Adams Jr.
Baltimore
The writer is the C.E.O. of the Caregivers Action Network.
Class-Based Admissions
To the Editor:
Re “What the Future of Admissions at Elite Schools Might Look Like,” by David Leonhardt (The Morning, March 3):
In the wake of court decisions whittling away affirmative action, it is becoming known that class-based admissions policies can help maintain racial diversity at elite colleges.
SAT scores, when used properly, can help admissions officers identify minority applicants who show great potential for academic achievement. The test itself was designed to combat exclusion at a time when Ivy League schools had restrictive quotas on minority applicants.
Overcoming disadvantage is a legitimate criterion for admission and essential to efforts to diversify the student body.
Max Herman
Jersey City, N.J.
The writer is an associate professor of sociology at New Jersey City University.