A New Letter to the Editor

 This is the text of a letter I just sent to the Seattle Times:

If I were to write a letter to the editor of the Seattle Times, what would I say:

President Donald J. Trump is an American fascist, and his administration is a fascist regime that is attempting to impose authoritarian one-party control on the United States of America. Donald Trump is a threat to American democracy worse than anything this country has seen at least since the Civil War. He values neither democracy nor the rule of law and is hellbent on destroying both. Fascists always have one or more a big lies that they use to justify whatever it is they want to do. Hitler’s big lies, which overlapped, were that socialism posed a direct threat to the German people, that the Jews were the cause of all of Germany’s problems, and that the Germans were a superior “race” who had the right to exterminate supposedly lesser “races” including the Jews, all Slavic peoples, and various others for Germany’s supposed benefit. Trump has a couple of big lies too. One is that all people who support social programs that benefit people in need are anti-American. Another, and if anything a more important and destructive one, is that immigrants are the cause of all of the problems Trump says America has, most of which we don’t actually have. Trump uses these lies to justify grossly illegal and unconstitutional attacks on people he targets, mostly people of color and people who speak Spanish, and the use of the National Guard to intimidate if not terrorize people in cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, and Portland who tend not to vote for him or his preferred candidates. The federal courts, except (tragically) the United States Supreme Court, usually declare Trump’s actions to be unconstitutional and otherwise illegal, but in the end it is only the American people who can stop Trump and his MAGA acolytes and supporters. We must stand up and speak out with one voice against Trump’s fascist takeover of our federal government. Silence is acquiescence. I pray that the American people will wake up even more than we have so far, stop Donald Trump, and preserve our democracy and the rule of law.

Rev. Dr. Thomas C. Sorenson

919 Perkins Way

Sultan, WA 98294

425-268-0649