In a room full of avid supporters, Donald Trump casually announced that his supporters need only vote for him once and never again. Trump dreams of autocracy and power. He has laid out his plans to cement power around himself clearly and shamelessly, doing little to conceal those aims. Trump’s dangerous goals of attaining autocracy are within reach as long as Americans are willing to casually dismiss the dangers a second Trump presidency would yield while believing Trump’s empty promises and equally void claim to possessing family values.
Trump lays claim to religious and moral authority while openly denigrating women, mocking people with disabilities, and ridiculing those on the margins of society that are in most need of its protections. His respect for the rule of law is apparent in his repeated appearances in courtrooms and repeated convictions by a jury of his peers.
It is long past time for all Americans to take stock of the man aspiring to rid our nation of the need for future elections and of a peaceful transfer of power that has long been the bedrock of our democracy. Our democracy has never before been so fragile. Never before has a presidential candidate so casually threatened to undo the traditions and processes that lay at its heart. Loyalty to the party line might just translate to a forfeiture of our democratic future this election year. In a state where loyalty to the Republican Party reigns supreme, voters should ask themselves what that loyalty will risk to their families, their community, and our country this election year.
Maren Williams Warnick, Syracuse