A recent op-ed made the point that political parties, among other groups, portray their opponents as subhuman (“Trump’s politics are the politics of illusion,” July 24). This is a step towards slavery and/or extermination. Word used in former President Donald Trump’s speeches (vermin, garbage, refuse and animals) prove the point that “MAGA” language dehumanizes those who do not agree with their philosophy.

In a recent NYT column, Michelle Goldberg reviewed Jack Posobiec’s book, “Unhumans.” Mr. Posobiec created the theory that Hillary Clinton was running a satanic child abuse ring from a Washington, D.C., pizza shop. His book argues that a leftist “doesn’t deserve the status of a human being” because, left unchecked, he is “waging a war against all that is good and decent that will end in apocalyptic slaughter.”

Goldberg’s quotes Posobiec’s view that leftists are “opposed to humanity itself which places them outside that category completely.” They occupy an “entirely new misery-driven subdivision, the unhuman.” This is scary – and the book’s prominent blurb is written by JD Vance.

Our potential vice president writes: “In the past, communists marched waving red flags. Today they march through H.R., college campuses and courtrooms to wage lawfare against good, honest people. Posobiec reveals their plans and shows us what to do to fight back.”

Vance and the Project 2025 document are laying the foundation for what those in power can do to those they deem unhuman or subhuman. That is very troubling.

Don Freed
Townsend, Mass.