Editor,

Former president Donald Trump has said that Gen. Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, whom Trump put in office, should be executed. Why? Because throughout his service as chairman, Milley resisted many of Trump’s more harebrained ideas. Especially with regard to the events around Jan. 6, 2021, Milley worked to keep Trump from using the United States military against the American people.

Milley was loyal to the U.S. Constitution. Trump wants people to be loyal only to him. That is what is at stake in the 2024 presidential election. Will this country remain a constitutional democracy, or will it become an authoritarian dictatorship in which one man, Trump, calls all the shots?

The stakes could not be higher. In the past we could assume that all Americans believed in American democracy. Today the man whose cult of personality the Republican Party has become does not. He is leading millions of Americans in an anti-democratic movement. He will dismantle American democracy if he is ever again given the chance.

Whether we agree with President Biden on policy or not does not matter. The issue in this upcoming election is far more fundamental than that. All of us who believe in democracy must do everything we can to see that Trump is never again given the chance to destroy American constitutional, democratic government.

Rev. Dr. Thomas C. Sorenson

Sultan