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I believe the Republican assault on equality before the law and representative government was under way before Nov. 5. The Supreme Court majority gutted civil rights protections and gave their blessing to what they call the unified executive — and what the Founders called a tyrant. Now American voters (and non-voters) have given their blessing to Donald Trump. Trump is pressuring the Senate to go into recess so that he can make executive appointments — without a Senate vote. So much for the balance of powers on which our democratic republic stands.
I think the biggest Republican lie is that MAGA will restore a purely American polity. When in fact Republicans seem itching to ape Russian and Hungarian autocrats. Oh, and the Taliban are congratulating us on rejecting a woman as president. While Afghani men subject to new religious strictures — jeans out, mandatory beards and mosque attendance in — are awakening to the notion that they should have spoken up while they could. Many of us here in Maine are protected by our various privileges, for now. All the more our communal responsibility and self interest to stand together to restore the rule of law. While we can. It may be looking like 1984, but election day 2026 is closer than it looks.
Annlinn Kruger
Bar Harbor