When Barry Goldwater said “Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue,” he could not have imagined that 56 years later that Republicans would be led by a man who places his own interests ahead of his party and his country.
In Goldwater’s home state of Arizona, Republicans have voted to censure the widow of a war hero repeatedly insulted by the draft-dodging former president, while in Maine it appears that Sen. Collins may be censured by Republicans for voting to convict one of the worst presidents in American history.
A party that was once respectable has become the captive of a self-absorbed egotist, and may land in the dustbin of history — like the Know Nothing Party of the 1850s — unless it can come to its collective senses.
I ask the people who still support Trump to please broaden your news sources and stop relying on Fox News, Q-Anon and OAN to think for them. And to remember that Trump told over 30,000 lies while president, as tracked by full-time neutral fact-checkers, so they might want to rethink just “taking his word for it” (on pretty much anything).
Trump lies so much, he can’t distinguish fact from fiction. Based on the disgraceful actions of Trump’s terrorist mob on Jan. 6, those people couldn’t, either.
As Jesus said in the Bible, “the truth will set you free … .”
Richard Whiting, Auburn
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