Huey Long was the governor of Louisiana from 1928-1932. When a legislator accused him of doing things that were unconstitutional, he replied, “I’m the constitution around here now.”
Donald Trump has said he wants to ignore our Constitution. He said he wants to purge current government employees and replace them with those loyal to him. He wants to weaponize the Justice Department.
He suggested he would round up immigrants and put them in detention camps as we did with Japanese citizens during World War II. He has described his opponents as “vermin.” He wants to use our military on U.S. soil.
His words and proposed future actions are those of dictators like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. The world leaders he praises and likes are Vladimir Putin, Viktor Orban and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, men who imprison or kill their opponents.
In the 1930s the world heard from Hitler of his plan to dominate Europe. People thought he was a crackpot and would never carry out his plan. Once he came to power he had his plan enacted through laws passed by the Bundestag (parliament). This led to WWII and the genocide of six million Jews and six million other Europeans.
Trump is telling us what he will do. He will do away with our democracy. He will ignore the Constitution. He will do his utmost to be a dictator.
Have we learned from history? We should listen to and believe what he is saying.
He is a danger to our democracy and country.
Stan Tetenman, Poland
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