Readers Write: Third-party protest votes, controversial campaign rhetoric

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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Ashraf Ashkar’s decision to vote for a third party (“My vote for a third party is a form of protest,” Strib Voices) which he highlighted in a commentary in Saturday’s paper, leaves me cold. He does allow that Palestinians’ rights will be “negatively impacted.” Really? You think? Former President Donald Trump instituted a full-on “Muslim ban” during his last administration! What do you think his policies in the Middle East will be like this time? But I am not only concerned with what happens to people an ocean away, as Ashkar is. His third-party vote can also usher in economic disaster for millions of Americans as Trump’s absurd tariff policies take effect, as he also begins a mass deportation of immigrants throughout our nation, and as Trump ushers in an age of second-class citizenship to all women and girls across our country, our bodily autonomy under full attack by a president who delights in banning abortion for even underage rape victims!

What a luxury to be able to cast a vote that will help Trump get elected as a form of protest! You won’t lose your rights, will you, Mr. Ashkar? It will just be us women; girls; immigrants from Mexico, Central America, South America, Somalia and other nations; and millions of Americans who get to watch their 401(k)s diminish, the price of their essentials rise due to tariffs, and their Social Security disappear as Trump decides to help out more of his ultrawealthy donors who want to privatize it. Anyone who thinks a third-party protest vote, in an election this close, with this much at stake, with one candidate who plans to curtail so many people’s rights, who plans to foolishly impact the economy and the national debt with his antiquated economic ideas, is at best naive and at worst totally complicit.

Eva Lockhart, Edina

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I wish I understood what those who choose not to vote for either major party candidate because of what Israel is doing in Gaza think they will accomplish with this “protest” vote. I understand the deep frustration and anger they feel about what Israel has done in Gaza and more recently in Lebanon. I find Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his policies despicable and abhorrent and wish our country and other allies would do more to seek an end to the violence and killings. But as long as we have our current system in which the candidate with the most votes wins, how do they think this strategy to demand changes will make a difference? Why will either candidate listen to them any more in 2025 than they did in 2024, and how do they think their vote will have an impact on the power of wealthy lobby groups? I’ve never been a single-issue voter, which perhaps makes it harder for me to understand such tunnel vision, and I’m not sure that I’ve ever voted for a candidate with whom I agreed on every issue. But in this election, as in those that have preceded it, there is a clear difference between the two major-party candidates (the only ones with any chance of winning). To my mind, the only responsible thing to do is to vote for the one who most aligns with my beliefs and values.

Cyndy Crist, St. Paul

The Rule of St. Benedict encourages us to “welcome all as Christ.” So, as a Benedictine, I am deeply troubled by former President Donald Trump’s recent reference to America as the world’s “garbage can.” It is one thing to call for tougher immigration policies and vigorously enforce those policies. We absolutely need to do that. It is quite another to imply that immigrants, whether here legally or illegally, are “garbage.” To view other human beings as disposable trash (or “vermin” for that matter) shows a basic disrespect for the dignity of being human. If the nearly half of the country that supports Trump also embrace this worldview, then the welcoming words on the Statue of Liberty have become meaningless and our country has lost its soul. And for those who view our country as a Christian nation and yet still resonate with this hateful rhetoric, perhaps they are just CINOs (”Christians in name only”).

The election is fast approaching, and we have only a short time left to step away from the brink. For those conservatives who can no longer stomach Trump’s behavior or hateful speech but can’t imagine voting for Vice President Kamala Harris, I have a solution. When you receive your ballot, go ahead and vote for every Republican on the ticket — except for Trump. Simply leave that oval blank. With the GOP likely to retake control of the U.S. Senate, and perhaps retain control of the House, there is not much of the Harris agenda that would be implemented anyway. Better to have another four years of divided government than to hand the reins of power back to someone with so little integrity or respect for the basic dignity of people.

Jeff Dols, Inver Grove Heights

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At a rally in Tempe, Ariz., on Thursday, Trump called the United States a “garbage can for the rest of the world.” He continued, “And every time I come up and talk about what they’ve done to our country, I get angrier and angrier.”

So the “melting pot” we were once proud of has become a “garbage can”? This degradation of our self-image is unfortunately an accurate gauge of how far Trump has taken us down the road of resentment and cruelty.

I think of my grandparents and their various family origins in Germany, Crimea and the British Isles, and I wonder, did the kaiser, the czar and the king or queen unload these ancestors on poor, defenseless America? No, of course not. Oppressive rulers want their populations to stay put at home where they can be exploited. Like today’s immigrants, many of our ancestors were drawn here in search of a better life, fleeing from poverty and oppression.

Do you remember “I lift my lamp beside the golden door”? Do you remember “huddled masses yearning to breathe free”? We dishonor our freedom-seeking fellow human beings, not least of whom might include our great-grandparents, by accepting such a squalid view of our country.

Thomas R. Smith, River Falls, Wis.

I was very disappointed in reading about Vice President Kamala Harris’ strong use of the word “fascist” to describe former President Donald Trump. I was also disappointed in former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly’s remarks that Trump meets the definition of a fascist and that while he was in office he praised Adolf Hitler.

I agree with Bret Stephen’s column reprinted in Friday’s edition in that this is just Harris resorting to name-calling (Strib Voices, Oct. 25).

I would also suggest that most voters under the age of 65 have little understanding of what it means to be a fascist. In fact, looking at my 1966 and 1984 editions of Webster’s New World Dictionaries as well as an online version of Merriam-Webster, differing descriptions are provided for the word “fascism” except for a reference to the government of Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the dictator Benito Mussolini.

Using names like “fascist” and “Nazi” is just an attempt to demonize another candidate when other political strategies are failing.

Al Muerhoff, Bloomington

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Although Trump and his allies have pretty much cornered the market on crude/racist remarks, the name-calling has surfaced in the rhetoric of both parties. I have a suggestion: Don’t do it; it doesn’t work. I was involved in an election years ago and I tried the taunting/insulting approach. Even though my attacks were nowhere as childish as seen in the current campaign, my approach failed miserably. And although my election may not have been as important as the current presidential race, being president of my fourth-grade class was still very important to me.

Bruce Lemke, Orono