To the Editor:

The recent murder of Renee Nicole Good raises some serious questions concerning the psychological as well as ethical makeup of Republican Party members [“Editorial: The future of our democracy depends on citizens willing to seek the truth,” The Altamont Enterprise, Jan. 12, 2026].

These people by their silence have consented to this activity. It has never been about Donald Trump. It has always been about the Republican people who have had their worst fears validated. Trump was not a candidate; he was a mirror.

If you are a racist, you and the Republicans found their guy. If you are a misogynist, you and the Republicans found their guy. If money was your only religion, you and the Republicans found their guy.  If your heart was welded shut, you and the Republicans found their guy.

If you hate intelligent people, you and the Republicans  found their guy. If you were a rapist, you and the Republicans found their guy. If you have done nothing to confront your emotional wreckage, you and the Republicans found their guy.

If you were a serial cheater, you and the Republicans  found their guy. If you are a con man, you and the Republicans found their guy. If you are unconscionable in every economic dealing, you and the Republicans found their guy.

If you lie as naturally as you breathe, you and the Republicans found their guy. If you are a sociopath who cares not one molecule about other human beings, you and the Republicans found  their guy.

If you are a “Christian Nationalist” you and the Republicans found their guy. If you are a pedophile, you and the Republicans found their guy. If you applaud the murder of a 37-year-old widow by ICE agents, you and the Republicans found your guy. 

Trump did not create this cruelty. He did however license it. If there is one sentence that explains Trump’s power it is this: “He thinks the things that I am thinking.”

This begs the question for our local Republican leaders: Mr. Jeff Perlee; Mr. Mark Grimm; and Mr. Dylan Maher, the new Guilderland Republican chairman. What do you think of all this? Silence deems consent.

There appears to be no interest in making a public statement from these three. Mr. Perlee and Mr. Grimm also had nothing to say, even after prompted, after the Jan. 6 riots. It is so sad that a once great political party has degenerated into the sewer of ignorance.

There are three local positions to be voted on this November. Town supervisor, town clerk, and town justice are up for vote to coincide with the even-year law for local elections.

If the Republican candidates want to be taken seriously, they need to fully and completely renounce their party leader, Donald Trump. It is bad enough we have to deal with this guy nationally. We should not have to deal with a similar-thinking person locally.

John B. Haluska

Sherry D. Haluska

Guilderland