Readers sound off on the election’s consequences, why Harris lost and legalized jaywalking

Many people have a lot to lose from Trump’s win

Manhattan: The Donald has essentially achieved his long-time goal of becoming Dictator-in-Chief, as the Senate and likely the House of Representatives are now under his party’s control (I had already long given up on the karma bus ever arriving to pick up this seemingly well-credentialed passenger).

My biggest concern re Trump’s return to power has to do with whether he sticks to his commitment to let conspiracy nut RFK Jr. (which actually stands for “Real Freakin’ Krazy,” by the way) run wild with our nation’s health care system. If the major drug companies no longer have a financial incentive to develop and refine new and existing vaccines, we are pretty screwed come the next unexpected pandemic.

Two huge losers from this Trump victory? Ukraine is pretty much toast, as financial support for the war with Russia will quickly start drying up. I can only imagine how devastated Volodymyr Zelenskyy must be right now after years of giving it the good fight.

Another big loser (of a totally different kind) from this election outcome? Longtime political guru James Carville. Dude’s ego got a bit too swelled as he was taking his victory lap promoting the recently released documentary on his life and career. Perhaps (as was the case with the likes of Joe Biden and Francis Ford Coppola) he should have just gratefully taken in the love during his lap of honor and resisted the temptation to stick his foot in the water one last time by forecasting a Kamala Harris victory as a certainty! Gary Stein

Against the odds

Mount Vernon, N.Y.: There’s an old saying: “You can’t fight City Hall.” Well, Donald Trump just gave a lie to that. Against all comers, he beat it all. That is something that can give us all hope. Tedd Smith

Opposing playbook

White Plains, N.Y.: The 2024 election was rigged! Kamala Harris won. The election was stolen. Dead people voted. Harris ballots were counted as Trump ballots. Harris ballots were thrown away. Sounds pretty ridiculous, right? Unless you drank the Kool-Aid in 2020. Maybe we Democrats should storm the Capitol this Jan. 6! Steve Howell

Election interference

Brooklyn: I’m curious to know what happened to the two people in the white car who stole mail that may have had voting ballots. Also, were the residents whose ballot boxes were burned notified of the vandalism? I never knew it was that easy to steal the mail. Carmen Lugo

Nonsense ahead

Brooklyn: The only silver lining within the upcoming black storm of dictatorship is that it will be replete with blunders, follies and mishaps. Solid gold for comedians. I no longer worry about war or climate change since they are already here. But I do worry about another pandemic. Can ya dig it? Steven Rosenzweig

Wrong on all points

Pasadena, Calif.: I don’t want to believe that more than half of my countrymen support the things Donald Trump supports. I thought four years of corruption, lies, ineptitude, graft and cruelty cured our need for fascism (white supremacy), but I was wrong! Eggs and milk prices are higher. However, I thought our fellow Americans recognized that the cause of inflation was Trump. President Biden steered the nation towards a soft recovery, avoiding a recession. I thought that Trump’s blatant misogyny would turn off enough women voters to deny him a victory. In 2024, I thought overturning Roe v. Wade would do the same. Both times, I thought American misogyny would not deny a highly qualified female candidate a victory and that woman would meet the challenge, I was wrong. I firmly believed that enough Latinos and minorities would rebel against Trump’s disgusting insults and threats of deportation. I was wrong. Richard A. French

Be grateful

Huntington, L.I.: Democrats should be happy. They got four years of Biden’s left-wing policies, which they would not have gotten if he had told the truth about his planned policies. He lied to the American people when he ran as a moderate. Had he not lied in 2020, Trump would have won and Trump’s Republican successor would have won the 2024 election. Tom Saracco

Educated opinion

North Haven, Conn.: One of the ladies of “The View” suggested that Trump won because of uneducated white women. I’ve been married to a beautiful white woman for almost 59 years who worked full-time while attending college part-time nights for nine years to get her B.S. degree, with honors. Guess who she voted for? Wayne Nuhn

Platform flaws

Brooklyn: “The electoral price of hateful prejudice” (op-ed, Nov. 7) nailed the reasons Harris lost Jewish voters and people who are disgusted with the Squad. And now, let’s stop praising drag queen story hours for children and promoting trans rights in athletics over the rights of biological women. Stop talking about “people” who have children; women have children. Stop praising the first trans this and the first Black that. Get rid of DEI, which says that you can’t use the N-word but calling for the genocide of Jews is perfectly acceptable. The Democrats went so far left that they fell off a cliff. Let’s hope that a centrist like Josh Shapiro will be the candidate next time, and that the Democrats won’t be so beholden to antisemitism that they will refuse to nominate a Jew. Barbara Barran

Check yourself

Kew Gardens: Gov. Hochul’s post-election statement about the presidential race is right up there with Biden’s reference to Trump followers as garbage. She adds that they are un-American as well. In one fell swoop, she condemns all New York voters who voted Trump. Using her logic, that would include more that 74 million Americans who also voted Trump. Her comment was outrageous, offensive and unprofessional as an elected official. How dare she disparage me for exercising my precious right to vote for who I choose? I, like others, have relatives who fought and died on beachheads to preserve that right. The governor needs to wake up, smell the coffee and get over the tantrum fit she is having. Look at the categories of angst that led Americans to leave the Democratic ranks. Look inward, governor, and see in detail why you lost. Phil Serpico

Electoral check-in

Bronx: Dear Trump voters, let’s get together a week before the November 2026 elections and talk about how you have benefited from his second term. I predict that you will not have benefited, unless you consider feeling free to attack the “others” in public, verbally or physically, a plus. You will not pay less for anything, and if Trump imposes tariffs he has threatened, you will be paying a great deal more for many necessities. I predict that if that roundup of supposedly illegal immigrants has succeeded in capturing and deporting large numbers of people, you will find nursing homes, hospitals, farms and retail establishments seriously shorthanded. I predict that the millions of you who rely on Obamacare may find yourselves once again without health insurance. I predict that if the GOP succeeds in banning abortion nationwide, we will learn of thousands of women who died or were left unable to bear children. Miriam Levine Helbok

Emotional toll

Brooklyn: Students given days off from school to manage post-vote stress; a young lady on the Coney Island Boardwalk talking about taking a swim and not coming back; people crying in the streets in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. This is what dirty and corrupt politicians serve the nation. What a shame. Louie Scarcella

Walking willy-nilly

Jamaica: Of all the stupid things the City Council has done, removing jaywalking from the books takes the top prize. Jaywalking is when you cross the street against the light. I know that New Yorkers don’t like to wait for anything. Look carefully before crossing against the light. The ignorance is that now people think they can jaywalk any time and anywhere they want. I have already seen this in my neighborhood. When injuries and deaths occur, the city should be liable for its absolute ignorance. Larry Sartorius