Trump is a threat to American democracy. Just ask the Republicans who worked for him

I read with interest and a fair bit of disgust a recent letter to the editor suggesting that the United States isn’t a democracy and if it is, Trump isn’t a threat to it.

Unlike the author of that letter, I confess to being biased. I neither trust nor respect Trump and believe that he is truly a threat to our democracy. To adequately respond to the letter, however, I researched what others have said about this subject. I intentionally omitted the comments and opinions of Democrats. I focused instead on Republicans who worked in or around the White House during Trump’s term in office.

Ty Cobb represented Trump as White House lawyer. He said that Trump was “… the greatest threat to democracy that we have ever seen.”

Alyssa Farah Griffin, White House Director of Strategic Communication, stated that “a second Trump term could mean the end of American democracy as we know it.”

What I found most interesting was the number of Trump’s cabinet and White House staffers who have openly voiced their concerns that Trump was unfit for office. They include but are not limited to John Kelly, Trump’s longest serving chief of staff; James Matthis and Mark Esper, former Secretaries of Defense; John Bolton, National Security Advisor; Bill Barr, former Attorney General; Sarah Mathews, former Deputy Press Secretary; Tom Bossert, Trump’s first Homeland Security Advisor; Stephanie Grisham, former Communications Director; and Mark Milley, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Even Trump’s former Vice President, Mike Pence, shared his view of another Trump presidency, stating “Anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be President of the United States.”

Trump’s threat to democracy is not limited to the United States. While in office, Trump did everything he could to weaken our alliance with NATO. If, God forbid, he was to be reelected, he plans to completely turn his back on NATO. Recently he remarked that if a NATO nation didn’t “pay up,” Putin could do “… whatever the hell he wanted to do” with that country.

Finally, the author suggests that voting for Trump would fix the border crisis. He seems to forget two things that are very important on the border issue. First, for the first two years of the Trump term, when the Republicans had control of the House, Senate and White House, not a single bill was passed to address the border. Secondly, and most telling, recently a comprehensive bipartisan immigration bill was introduced by Republican Senator Lankford, a conservative senator from Oklahoma. That Senate bill was “dead on arrival” in the House because Trump was afraid that passing immigration reform would help Biden’s chances in the upcoming election. Speaker Johnson wouldn’t even bring it up for a vote.

Conveniently omitted from the letter was any reference to the insurrection Trump caused on Jan. 6. Lives were lost because of his actions and the peaceful transfer of power was threatened. This isn’t a misnomer. It is a clear and present threat to our democracy, and we must prevent it from happening by making sure that Trump is defeated in November.

Rodney E. Loomer lives in Springfield.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Listen to Republicans — Donald Trump a threat to American democracy