Take a look, America. Take a good, long, hard look at what’s happening to the Ukraine. Let us bear witness to the rotted fruits of authoritarianism. Anyone still want to cozy up to the world’s dictators? Let that notion slither back into the dark abyss from which it came. Freedoms and ethics find no purchase upon the abuses of power spawned by such leadership. Let us oppose it, let us denounce it whenever and wherever it raises it putrid head.

And let us also acknowledge our own recent dabbling upon this ruinous path. Trump at his most base is but a wannabe dictator. He spent his presidency swooning over the likes of Putin and Kim Jong Un. He openly envied their absolute power over the people and institutions of their countries. He turned an entire political party into his own cult of personality. His demand for devotion and absolute loyalty to himself, and his persecution of any opposed to him are traits right out of the fascist playbook.

Trump’s willingness to try and hold onto power by any means necessary has been on full display since his loss in the 2020 election. As his own vice president said, there is almost no idea more un-American. And yet many of our fellow Americans are still under his sway.

Wake up people! Witness the Ukraine! See full well the results of such so-called leadership and despair for we as a nation are not immune from such fates. Republicans, behold the fruits of that which you coddle. Come to your senses and once and for all reject this type of leadership. It truly would be the American thing to do.

Roy Estabrook

North Monmouth