Donald Trump preaches hate. Democracy won't be safe in his deceitful hands
Mark Meuser is a retired math teacher and soccer coach from Gahanna. He also served on the STRS Retirement Board.
The 2024 election for president of the United States has only one real issue. That issue is not the economy, immigration, abortion or even the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
The issue is Donald Trump.
Is he a cheater, a liar and a potential dictator, or is he the defender of democracy?
For over 200 years, this country maintained a system of electing its leaders that was the envy of the world.
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Every presidential candidate has honored the results of those elections and accepted the will of the people. Except for one: Donald Trump.
Trump disregards the Constitution
In courts across the land, Trump challenged election results unfavorable to him. Those courts, and eventually the Supreme Court, decided that the election was fair and the results valid.
Rather than accepting the will of the courts, Trump did everything he could to remain in power.
We all heard the recording of the call he made to Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia Secretary of State, asking him to find enough votes to enable him to win Georgia. Raffensperger refused.
Later, as his term neared its end, Trump asked former Vice President Mike Pence not to certify the election of Joe Biden, hoping to send the election to Congress and bypass the will of the people. Pence refused, opting to follow the Constitution instead. By this action, he instantly became Trump’s enemy.
Despite the court rulings, Trump convinced many of his supporters that the election was unfair. He urged them to march on the Capitol and “fight like hell.”
Hundreds of his supporters took him at his word and attacked the Capitol. They broke in, trashed the building, threatened the members of Congress, killed and injured members of the Capitol police.
The country was in shock.
Thankfully, this attack on democracy failed, and the attackers were charged and punished for their actions.
At the time, Trump denied any responsibility for the attack. Now he refers to the jailed attackers as “patriots.”
Trump is a threat to our democracy
In the aftermath of the January 6 attack, many Republicans were publicly critical of Trump. Most of them have apparently changed their tune.
Do they now shake his hand and fall into lockstep with him because they too value power over truth? Or perhaps they fear that Trump will label them as “vermin,” his word for anyone who disagrees with him. Trump makes no secret of his plans for revenge on his enemies.
Now that the Supreme Court has ruled that a president is immune from prosecution for any “official” action, who knows what individuals or institutions he will persecute if elected?
Trump preaches fear that America is under threat from all sorts of outside forces. Yes, such threats exist and have existed for the entire history of our country, but the current and far greater threat to America comes from within.
That threat is a candidate who trashes our election system, ignores our courts, threatens to punish his enemies and values loyalty to himself above loyalty to the Constitution.
That threat is Donald Trump.
Mark Meuser is a retired math teacher and soccer coach from Gahanna. He also served on the STRS Retirement Board.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Trump a bigger issue than the economy, immigration or Gaza