Marcia Hayward: Is voting for Trump worth risk of losing our democracy?

To The Daily Sun,

This letter is directed to Republicans. I understand the partisan muscle memory to vote Republican in November. However, I ask that they think about the question historian Jon Meacham poses to Republicans. It is this, “Is voting for Trump worth the risk?”

Meacham reminds us that this election is not a typical election like a Ronald Reagan vs Walter Mondale. It is not an election of big government vs small government. It is not an election of liberalism vs conservatism. It is an election about fidelity to democracy.

Daily Donald Trump exhibits fascist behaviors. Trump repeats and repeats lies. Repetition of a falsehood is a fascist technique because it makes the fictional seem plausible. This is evidenced by his followers acting on his claims of a stolen election on Jan. 6, 2021, by storming the Capitol (there is no excusing this — we all saw it); of election fraud in Georgia and harassing poll workers; of Haitian immigrants eating pets and threatening immigrants in Springfield, Ohio. The list of repeated lies is long and diverse. His lies spew hatred and incite his followers to violence.

Trump’s most recent comment about using U.S. military against the “enemy from within” is more than alarming. We need to take him seriously because in 2020 he tried to use the National Guard in the cities of Chicago, Portland and Seattle. He routinely suggests that he would weaponize the justice system to go after political opponents if he is reelected. This is about as un-American as it can get. Trump is correct on one point, there is an enemy from within. It is Trump and Trumpism.

I ask Republicans do they believe Trump will honor the Constitution? Is voting for him worth the risk of losing our democracy?

Marcia Hayward

Laconia