To The Editor:

My late husband served as an officer in the USAF before joining the corporate world. He was extremely proud of his military service and had a profound love for this country. A native of NYC he relished any opportunity to take foreign business associates down to The City. He would start off with a view of the Statue of Liberty and end the day at the top of the Empire State Building. In between they would see the 911 Memorial, lunch at Katz’s Deli, take a walk down Broadway, visit Rockefeller Center and any other landmarks he could squeeze into the day.

Sometimes we would have the opportunity to entertain these visitors in our home. During one such occasion, with two gentlemen from South Korea, they made an interesting observation. They were surprised that there was no military presence on the streets. My husband explained that in this country we have local law enforcement agencies to maintain order – that the job of the military is to help deter wars and protect our national security, that their use against fellow Americans was not allowed.

Our so-called commander in chief wants to change that. He is all about politicizing the military and using them wherever and whenever he wants. His primary targets will be locations that don’t support him and his white, Christian nationalist supporters who are all about advancing the goals of Project 2025 – where not all people are considered equal.

Currently they are using his promise of mass deportations to incite protests as an excuse to call in the National Guard and the Marines which is just an unnecessary show of force – at taxpayers’ expense. Let’s not forget that it was Trump who killed the bipartisan immigration bill because it would benefit his elections chances. Let’s also remember that when there was an actual deadly attack on our Capital, initiated by Trump, he had to be pushed to stop it.

249 years ago, we declared our independence from the tyranny of England. We need to reinforce the principles that made this country great, especially the freedom of speech and the right to peacefully protest. We need to resist the forces that only want to make this country great for certain people. If we fail to do this, we will be dealing with the tyranny of Trump, we will no longer be a democracy, July 4th 2026, will be a hollow celebration.

I miss my husband but I’m not sorry that he isn’t here to see what Trump is doing to our country and our military forces.

This is not the US – this is not us.

Kathy Quinn

Newtown