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Wake up to save our republic | Letters
Here’s what readers are saying in Sunday’s letters to the editor.
 
President Donald Trump speaks at a rally on Sept. 25, 2021, in Perry, Georgia.
President Donald Trump speaks at a rally on Sept. 25, 2021, in Perry, Georgia. [ SEAN RAYFORD | Getty Images North America ]
Published Oct. 24, 2021

Elections are endangered

Our constitutional crisis is already here | Perspective, Oct. 17

The essayist Robert Kagan is correct: America is in the midst of a full-blow constitutional crisis. Since Ronald Reagan, the GOP has pushed the idea that our federal government is the enemy of the people and should not be trusted. With the removal of the Fairness Doctrine and subsequent rise of extremist, right-wing and often fact-free media, our republic has slid further into social paralysis. Daniel Moynihan once stated. “You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts.” That statement has lost all meaning since Donald Trump. In stockyards, a Judas goat would lead sheep to slaughter, while its own life was spared. That is what the former president is today, the republic’s Judas goat. Democrats had better wake up, or this will be their last election under a democratic republic, and the slaughter of free and fair elections will be complete.

Brian Valsavage, St. Petersburg

Defend our republic

Our constitutional crisis is already here | Perspective, Oct. 17

Back in late 2015 and early 2016, when it was becoming apparent that Donald Trump was going to be my party’s nominee, I struggled with how I could cast my vote for an obviously unqualified narcissist, or the political “demon” that was Hillary Clinton (blasphemy in my political, social and familial circles). The one thing that I kept coming back to was my fear that a Trump presidency would be the greatest threat to the survival of the republic that I would see in my lifetime. I do not say this to show how prescient I was then, but to underscore how afraid I am now for our nation. I implore the would-be enablers of Trump to defend the republic from him.

Terry Arnold, St. Petersburg

Register and vote

Our constitutional crisis is already here | Perspective, Oct. 17

Thank you for your courage in printing this essay by Robert Kagan. I agree wholeheartedly that the threats posed by Donald Trump, Trumpism and recent restrictions on voting rights have been underestimated. I have visited Germany, a nation of “normal” people who became fiercely loyal to one leader for many of the same reasons that Trump’s followers became fiercely loyal to him. It can’t happen here? We are already going down that path. Jan. 6, 2021, was just one manifestation of a broad movement to “take back” the country. If you value our democracy, register and vote.

Margaret Zabor, Tampa