A fan of Sports Team X is witness to his/her team being sold and rebranded, becoming Sports Team Y. The fan may still support X, but X as they knew it is now gone.

I had this thought while reading Sarah English and Jack Schrader’s recent op-ed on how Republican Maine State Sen. David Haggan disrupted their right to speak by scolding them for their use of the word “fascism” (“Censoring testimony is what fascism’s all about,” Feb. 17).

I can understand why this word was so upsetting to Sen Haggan. At least for now, that’s still a label few of us want flaunted in public. And yet, after a quick flip through that same day’s paper, I could not help but think: the senator doth protest too much.

The front page informed us that Maine was trying to find a solution to an ideologically weaponized Department of Health and Human Services; Page 3 had our U.S. Security of State cozying up to Hungary’s dismantler of democracy; and the Local & State section carried an alarming article about Sen. Susan Collins’ support for a voter ID (to my mind, voter suppression) bill, in which the senator compared voting to “buying an alcoholic beverage.”

All of these stories share a common root; they are manifestations of a fascistic mindset. It is time America wake and realize one of its two political parties has been captured by this sadistic, nihilistic, anti-human movement.

I’m sorry Sen. Haggan’s feeling were hurt, but he might want to consider why he was so triggered, and take a hard look in the mirror while doing so.

Nathaniel Krenkel
Portland