Putin is not unique. What is happening in Ukraine is not unique. Like those preceding him (Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, et alia),Putin didn’t just happen. They all were allowed to rise to power. Their ascent was facilitated by others. There were just enoughsupporters who gained something: politically, financially and/or emotionally.  

The playbook of these demagogues is always the same: divide people with lies, promote violence as legitimate, reengineer history and truth, demonize “the other” and justify repression as the solution. The results …always predictable and tragic: World War I, World War II, the invasions of Checknya, Georgia and now Ukraine.

To Republicans who still support Trump: How far will you let Trump rise? How many more lies, words of hatred and division will it take before your silent complicity will stop? What are you gaining from this personally? And what cost is too high for your gain: more division, violence, demonizing “non-believers,” the weakening of the Constitution and the destruction of our Democracy that so many have died for?

These are the same kinds of questions Russians, Italians and Germans had to answer. What are your answers today?

Ron Fischer,
Lakewood