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<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/10/district-home-rule-veterans-day/?itid=lk_inline_manual_4" target=_blank>The irony of being a veteran in our nation’s capital</a>

Donald Trump’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/10/trump-jack-smith-special-counsel-retribution/?itid=lk_inline_manual_5" target=_blank>vow of retribution</a>. Will he <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/11/trump-campaign-promises-failure/?itid=lk_inline_manual_5" target=_blank>fulfill promises that tank the economy?</a>

Where <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/10/democratic-choices-mistakes-trump-second-term/?itid=lk_inline_manual_6" target=_blank>Democrats went wrong</a>. The <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/10/trump-republicans-debt-fiscal-taxes/?itid=lk_inline_manual_6" target=_blank>debt and the GOP</a>. The case for <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/11/shadow-cabinet-democrats-opposition-trump/?itid=lk_inline_manual_6" target=_blank>a shadow cabinet</a>.

Matt McClain

A federal holiday to honor veterans hits different when you, a veteran who votes in a major American metropolis, essentially get no representation in Congress and are seeing home rule come under threat in your city.

“How well I know that story,” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/10/district-home-rule-veterans-day/" target=_blank>writes columnist and veteran Colby King</a>. “When I was sworn in as a U.S. Army Second Lieutenant and departed Washington for active duty in 1961, I left a city governed by a presidentially appointed three-member commission.” Colby was one of the lucky ones: He came back. As he points out, “Almost 200,000 D.C. residents have served, fought, died and sacrificed since the 19th century, even while being denied voting representation in a government that dispatched them to defend the nation’s security.”

Colby is not at all confident that Washingtonians will be able to withstand an incoming president, in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/donald-trump/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">Donald Trump</a>, who has promised a federal takeover of the city, and likely one that’s in line with his own interests rather than the Constitution. D.C. residents such as myself, even the non-vets, will be watching.

Colby’s cry is a rousing one: “This Veterans Day, think of what lies ahead. Dispense with that ‘go along, to get along’ nonsense bubbling up among the local chickenhearted, self-styled D.C. experts” — and get ready to stand up for patriotic self-determination.

“Chilling.” “Scary.” “Ludicrous.” Is Ruth Marcus enjoying <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/10/trump-jack-smith-special-counsel-retribution/" target=_blank>the Trump team’s attempt to call down “retribution” on Jack Smith</a>, the special counsel who’s been prosecuting Donald Trump for election interference and for hoarding classified documents? Based on these descriptors, I think we can say “not so much.” Ruth has plenty to say about why what’s happening bodes ill.

Jen Rubin wants to know <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/11/trump-campaign-promises-failure/" target=_blank>what Trump is actually planning to do</a>. Will he carry out plans — such as tariffs, mass deportations and blowing up the Affordable Care Act — that would, in practice, blow up the economy and risk losing his electoral coalition?

“The question remains, therefore, whether Trump goes down a disastrous road to economic ruin or, instead, chooses a more popular agenda that could endear him and his party to a larger swath of voters,” Jen writes.

Want to know where Marc Thiessen thinks Democrats went wrong, paving the way for Trump’s “historic victory”? <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/10/democratic-choices-mistakes-trump-second-term/" target=_blank>Start with this list of eight mistakes</a>.

Meanwhile, the Editorial Board cautions that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/10/trump-republicans-debt-fiscal-taxes/" target=_blank>Republicans need to get serious about our debt problem</a>, which “will limit Trump’s ability to spend money, or cut taxes, without finding some way to offset the budget damage. If he tries to deficit finance another big tax cut, or more spending, he will cause exactly the kind of inflation that doomed Democrats in this election cycle.”

Rep. Wiley Nickel (D-North Carolina) has a suggestion to increase the impact of Democratic politicians’ opposition to Trump: <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/11/shadow-cabinet-democrats-opposition-trump/" target=_blank>set up a “shadow cabinet,”</a> to borrow a British tradition, and pair each move of Trump’s administration with a better proposal. He explains the advantages: “Each decision by the government faces a ready counterpoint. … It’s democracy’s insurance policy. And it strengthens the government, too: There is no room for lazy ideas when rivals stand ready.”

What a fun time to think about … bioweapons! “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/11/biological-warfare-prevention/" target=_blank>The nightmare of a biological holocaust</a> is far from fanciful,” write experts Ashish K. Jha, Matt Pottinger and Matthew McKnight, cautioning that both Russia and China are sniffing around the possibilities. While I have to admit this was not a dread I particularly wanted to add to my dread menagerie, the writers do have a practical suggestion: Congress “should immediately establish and fund a new intelligence discipline: biological intelligence, or BIOINT, to mobilize allied governments and private companies to detect and assess high-risk scientific research and incipient biological threats.”

Architect Shalom Baranes points out that although a lot of D.C.’s vacant office space is unsuitable for conversion to housing, there is one key exception: <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/11/affordable-housing-crisis-office-conversion/?itid=lk_inline_manual_30" target=_blank>prewar federal buildings</a>, which didn’t rely on air conditioning and are therefore much easier to remodel as appealing living spaces. The controversial question is how to free them up.

From Harry Belafonte to exercise to shots of Scotch, what’s bringing our readers <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/10/music-meditation-election-stress/?itid=lk_inline_manual_31" target=_blank>relief from post-election stress</a>? A selection of their letters offer a host of survival strategies.

It’s a goodbye. It’s a haiku. It’s … The Bye-Ku.

Have your own newsy haiku? <a href="mailto:amanda.katz@washpost.com?subject=Opinions+Newsletter+Feedback" target=_blank>Email it to me</a>, along with any questions/comments/compliments/complaints. See you tomorrow!

Amanda Katz is a senior assignment editor for Opinions, where she has worked since 2022. She was previously an editor at CNN, the Boston Globe and Bloomsbury Publishing, and has written for the New York Times, the Boston Globe, Slate and other publications.

Amanda Katz

Today’s Opinions: The irony of being a veteran in D.C.

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