Letter to the Editor: With Trump in Charge Nationally, Only Defense is to Limit Republican Role Locally, so Vote Democrat

To the Editor:

We here in Old Lyme are not immune from the Republican Party’s efforts to radically alter American politics and culture and tear the country apart.  The resources they have at their disposal are overwhelming: billions of dollars in federal funds, virtually unlimited physical force (ICE, the National Guard and the active military), a fully-compliant Department of Justice, a subservient Congress and a stacked Supreme Court.  And Trump has assembled a rogue’s gallery of angry, vitriolic, incompetent, sycophants–Stephen Miller, Pete Hegseth, Kash Patel, Pam Bondi, Russell Vought, Robert Kennedy Jr., Marco Rubio and Kristi Noem, to name a few–to implement his authoritarian Project 2025 playbook.

We cannot afford to ignore the absolutely chilling threat to our legal system and historic norms of behavior presented by Trump’s administration:  terrorizing our minority and immigrant communities in “blue” cities in the name of border control; withholding billions of dollars of research grants from our universities under the pretext of addressing antisemitism; blackmailing major law firms by excluding their lawyers from federal courthouses; gerrymandering voting districts to maximize GOP advantage; using the DOJ to retaliate against Trump’s perceived personal enemies; granting Trump carte-blanche power, free from the risk of criminal prosecution, to take any official action he wishes (such as killing without trial alleged drug smugglers); terminating financial support to “blue” states in punishment for the Democrats’ efforts to preserve affordable health-care for millions of Americans; and firing military, DOJ, FBI and agency staff just because they are Democrats or have appeared to do something that displeased Trump.  The list goes on. 

We will soon vote in Old Lyme’s municipal election.  It would be foolish to claim that every Republican candidate for office supports every Trump policy or initiative.  It would be equally foolish to claim that none of them does; indeed, we have seen corrosive GOP policies find voice in town on more than one occasion over the past few years.  Why should we care?

With our entire country now under assault in this hostile takeover by Trump and his minions, no community is safe and we must do all we can to defend ourselves and mitigate the harm.  One way to do so is by limiting Republicans’ roles in local politics.  On November 4, this means electing the Democratic candidates, whom we know will fight against the Republican efforts to undermine our democracy.

Sincerely,

Rebecca Griffin,
Old Lyme.