If Reagan could see the Republicans now

Oh, the bitter irony. Ronald Reagan, the president who presided over the dissolution of what he referred to as the “evil” Soviet Union, must be turning in his grave. He tapped into a seam of frustration in the U.S., and went on to win elections by promising to get government “off the backs of its citizens.”

From this, his party learned the political value in fostering cultural grievance and perpetual anger toward our fellow Americans and our own U.S. government. Now, two generations later, that political party has convinced its followers that the corrupt “Deep State” U.S. government is “coming after” them, that they are somehow victims. And a politician whose crimes we all witnessed has branded himself a persecuted political dissident. Each of his convictions is portrayed as evidence of a corrupt justice system, not an accounting for his own wrongdoings.

A House Committee relied on a Russian agent and Russian false information in their quest to impeach the president. The House Majority won’t pass aid to Ukraine in its war against a hostile Russian invasion. A right-wing celebrity interviewed the Russian dictator and then extolled all the wonders of the Russian authoritarian state, placing it above our U.S. democracy.

According to the right, Reagan’s “Shining City on the Hill” has become a hellhole. President Reagan, it appears as if your party has turned its back on your beloved U.S. democracy and has embraced Soviet-style authoritarianism. We’re all losing this one, despite the Gipper.

Paul Brindamour, Middletown