To the Editor:
Re “For Many of Us, Jan. 6 Never Ended,” by Aquilino Gonell (Opinion guest essay, Jan. 6):
This arguably darkest day in American history was witnessed by millions of people worldwide on television. Nine people wound up dead and more than 140 police officers were injured defending the legislators inside the Capitol building and democracy itself. Mr. Gonell, a sergeant in the Capitol Police at the time, and the rest of the defenders of democracy are the true patriots.
Jan. 20, 2025, will be a defining day in the history of democracy in the United States when President-elect Donald Trump takes office. He has said he will pardon the rioters — or patriots, hostages, warriors, peaceful protesters, as he has called them.
If Mr. Trump follows through on his promise to pardon those involved, it will be a desecration of democracy and a travesty of the justice system. He will confirm his stature as an enemy of democracy within.
John Garteiz
Munich
To the Editor:
“At least I get to hear my son call me his hero,” writes Aquilino Gonell, a former Capitol Police sergeant. Mr. Gonell, please know you and your brave colleagues are heroes to all of us who care for and work to support democracy. I, for one, offer you my profound gratitude and respect.
Ellen Steinbaum
Boston
To the Editor:
We thought the insurrection four years ago on Jan. 6 had failed, and Donald Trump had fled Washington in disgrace.
Implausibly, here we are four years later with the former president once again about to become the most powerful man in the world. Those insurrectionists, since found guilty in our courts of law, will likely soon receive presidential pardons for their violent actions against our country and our democracy.
The insurrection, it turns out, was only delayed, as more than 77 million Americans have granted the lawless man another shot at authoritarian rule, all for the empty promise of cheaper eggs and satiation of their hostility toward other humans.
America has shown the world who we really are.
David Pederson
Excelsior, Minn.
To the Editor:
Re “How Trump Flipped Script and Made Jan. 6 an Asset” (front page, Jan. 5):
Donald Trump and the G.O.P. initially rescripted the events of Jan. 6, 2021, from a Trump-fomented insurgency to a demonstration that was infiltrated by a violent leftist antifa element posing as Trump supporters. Despite the lack of any credible evidence to support this ludicrous conspiracy theory, it resonated with his base.
Ultimately Mr. Trump dropped the antifa smokescreen, praising the insurgents as patriots who were merely reacting to a stolen election. Both House and Senate Republicans coalesced around this sanitized narrative.
Based on this scenario, the Capitol Police have been targeted by Mr. Trump and his acolytes as the victimizers, while those renegades who stormed the Capitol have been labeled the victims. Mr. Trump’s version of the insurgency has gone mainstream.
For the safeguarding of our fragile democracy, it is imperative that those involved, at whatever level, in the insurrection at our nation’s Capitol be held to account. For in seeking to compromise the legitimacy of our electoral process, they have betrayed the very country they so jingoistically propose to make great again.
Robert Judkins
Hendersonville, Tenn.
To the Editor:
I am a World War II veteran, and I find this rewriting of history deeply troubling. My generation put their lives on the line to preserve elections and the peaceful transfer of power. Some paid the ultimate price, including one of my high school buddies, an only child.
If we buy this argument, then we are in real trouble and don’t deserve our democracy.
Leonard Kliff
Laguna Woods, Calif.
To the Editor:
Re “After Jan. 6 Cases, Life Was Different for Those Involved” (news article, Jan. 6):
I found this article and these people very disturbing. If the rioters had read about and investigated the court cases that showed no evidence that Donald Trump had won the 2020 election and listened to the Republicans in his administration who said he lost, they would not have stormed the Capitol, destroyed property and attacked police officers.
Instead, they acted on emotion, not facts, and ruined their lives, and now many blame the criminal justice system. They preferred to believe a charlatan than to put in the hard work of doing their research. Like Mr. Trump, they take no responsibility for their actions.
Carol Shurman
New York
Health Coverage Woes
To the Editor:
Re “My Restaurant Was Named One of New York City’s Best. Here’s Why It Closed” (Opinion guest essay, nytimes.com, Dec. 28):
Yannick Benjamin tells a dispiriting story about why his restaurant, Contento, had to close despite glowing reviews. He explains that independent restaurant owners in the United States cannot afford to provide health insurance for their employees.
Indeed, Mr. Benjamin himself had to work a separate job while running his restaurant to receive health coverage. Making matters even more difficult, he had huge costs for his wheelchair, and a significant portion of those costs were not reimbursed by his health plan.
One feels for Mr. Benjamin and his dedicated employees. Culinary workers in the United States no doubt suffer more from a lack of health coverage than many other workers, and Mr. Benjamin proposes a special federal fund to cover health care for this sector — a fund that would strengthen culinary culture by improving worker conditions.
But there are certainly other small businesses that are in the same boat as small independent restaurants. Rather than tackle our health care problems business by business, we need a national health plan for all Americans. It would benefit all of us, and it would also be a great boon to small businesses like Mr. Benjamin’s.
Ellen Oxfeld
Middlebury, Vt.
Investing in Science Education
To the Editor:
Re “Trump’s Sputnik Moment: China,” by Thomas L. Friedman (column, Dec. 22):
Mr. Friedman highlights the urgent need for the U.S. to respond to China’s ever-growing scientific and manufacturing capabilities “the way we did to the Soviet Union’s 1957 launch of Sputnik” — that is, “with our own comprehensive scientific, innovative and industrial push.”
But Mr. Friedman does not mention that an important aspect of the U.S. response to Sputnik was a nationwide effort, supported by the federal government, to improve the curriculum and methods for teaching high school science. Given the rapid progress in all fields of science and the disappointing performance of American students compared with students in peer countries, government support for science education should be central to ensuring this country’s ability to compete with China and other technologically advanced nations.
Unfortunately, Donald Trump’s antipathy toward science and education, and his scant understanding of science itself, do not bode well for this mission.
Joseph D. McInerney
Lutherville, Md.
The writer is a former director of the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study, one of the science-education groups founded after Sputnik.
