To the editor:
Congressman Nick Langworthy’s recent condemnation of “deranged zealots” over minor property damage rings hollow while he fuels far greater threats to democracy.
His hypocrisy is openly visible at the local and national levels. After Trump illegally froze federal funds for essential services, a nonprofit providing Head Start programs, food aid, and other essential community services across our county suspended operations—not as activism but because it couldn’t pay staff without allocated dollars and did not want to proceed until it knew how it was paying service providers.
Rather than challenge Trump’s sabotage of critical local services, Langworthy demanded a county investigation into the organization's leadership and motivations, orchestrated a public hearing, and reprimanded its leaders for simply following fiscal reality. When Trump froze Congressionally approved aid, directly harming Allegany County families, Langworthy blamed the victims.
This is the same congressman who stays silent as Trump also declares, “LONG LIVE THE KING!” and pardons violent, lawbreaking “patriots”—some of who have already re-offended.
The congressman’s use of labels such as “deranged zealots” mirrors our national leadership's extremist and hyperbolic branding of dissenters as “enemies of the people,” a tactic to de-legitimize opposition rather than engage it. True patriotism requires holding power accountable, not excusing its abuses.
Langworthy could prove his commitment to law and order and the people he represents by denouncing Trump’s claim that “He who saves his country violates no Law.” Instead, he stages McCarthy-esque hearings in rural communities to scapegoat nonprofits for Trump’s funding freezes while ignoring autocratic rot and stoking the fires of division within his constituency.
Until Langworthy rediscovers the courage to check executive overreach and recommit to defending the Constitution that underpins his representation of every constituent, his condemnation of vandalism and zealotry will continue to ring hollow. The greater crime isn’t a jammed office door but Langworthy’s silent collusion in dismantling democracy from Jamestown to Washington.
Joshua Johnston
Wellsville, NY
