Columnist Douglas Rooks describes himself as an “editor, columnist, and reporter since 1984″. He presents himself as a freelance journalist, but his columns are polemical screeds written as a left-wing, partisan Democrat.

His Oct. 5 column is no exception (“The dire consequences of hero worship in politics“). He decries the “mythology” of Trump, and wonders how  those who voted for him can stand themselves. He invokes the specter of “Christian Nationalism,” as though he is channeling his fellow KJ columnist Tom Waddell. This is interesting, given that their beliefs about God and religion are not all that dissimilar. Waddell, a secular humanist/atheist, believes in nothing. Rooks, a Unitarian-Universalist, will believe in anything.

While Trump has his faults, for sure, his policies garnered him the most Republican votes in history. Rooks speaks of the dangers of “hero worship.” But none of his policies were new; populist conservative columnist Pat Buchanan has written about them for 40 years. Just one day after this column appeared, Hilary Clinton went on CNN and said some Trump voters may need “deprogramming.” In reeducation camps or gulags, presumably.

Meanwhile, Biden has declared war on the fossil fuel industry, the backbone of our economy, and given us the highest rate of inflation since the peanut farmer from Plains. Our borders are open, and Biden/Harris and the Democrats welcome millions of future constituents each year. Fentanyl is flooding across those open borders, leading to over 600 overdose deaths in Maine alone last year. And the Democrats say crickets to all of this.

Rooks’ column represents the latest in a long line of attempts to destroy a duly elected former president of the United State in order to retain power.  This is the real assault on democracy.

Bob Scheirer

Randolph