Merely bad vs. fatal to democracy
Re “Pence says he’s not endorsing Trump in 2024 race,” March 17
Ifind many of President Biden’s policies and the progressive liberal agenda barely tolerable, but there is something about former President Trump that has gotten under my skin (and it has little to do with his inability to keep his big mouth shut). It all started with the vague and nebulous accusations that Trump is a threat to our democracy, something that I wanted defined much more clearly. So, I looked it up.
In the simplest terms, democracy means basically two things: free and fair elections, and maintaining a balance of power between the branches of our government. If those two pillars are compromised, then our democracy is indeed lost.
Trump has clearly threatened those pillars by attempting to overturn valid election results, and attempting to manipulate or sabotage the legislative and judicial branches to suit his needs.
I strongly disagree with many of Biden’s policies and the progressive agenda, but supporting the continuation of this president’s administration is incrementally better for our country than reelecting Trump. The former is a poison we will probably survive — we’ll be very sick and weak, but we’ll survive. We may not survive the latter. Arthur Saginian, Santa Clarita
During Trump’s first term, those of us who saw in him strong echoes of Hitler were dismissed as extremists. His violence-provoking speeches and adoration of autocrats were just seen as hyperbolic.
What about now? From saying in 2016 that many immigrants are rapists and murderers, he now says that “these are animals.” His political opponents are “vermin.” And it goes on and on.
If you read Hitler’s “Mein Kampf,” you will see language like this, in some cases verbatim.
And, of course, he praises even the convicted Jan. 6 rioters as heroes. This is not hyperbole. It is a direct, unprecedented attack on American democracy.
As a former judge, I have believed that the courts will serve as a bulwark against this threat. But, seeing the U.S. Supreme Court’s devolution into political partisanship and Trump-appointed federal judges making extremist rulings, I am less sanguine than before.
Victor Kenton Calabasas