At a September Republican gathering, our dictator announced a bribe to voters in the November elections. If they cast ballots to maintain his majority of yes-men controlling Congress, he will send $5,000 to every American adult. The following night, he called on Republicans to “cheat like hell” to win the election. Illegal and corrupt as such schemes may be, they advance. Donald Trump demonstrates he will stop at nothing to increase his power and personal wealth.

First, there was the drive in states controlled by Republican legislatures to gerrymander districts in favor of Republican candidates.

Abraham Lincoln would be shocked by the absence of integrity in governing demonstrated by members of the party he once led.

Popularly elected New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, and others are referred to by Trump as communists.

That catch-all judgment reaches only the mindless MAGA faithful. Thinking individuals understand these are Social Democrats bent on generating people-centered government. At that convention, some MAGA called for Social Democrats to be killed. Because Mamdani is a Muslim, disgraced former Mayor Rudy Giuliani crudely associates him with the 9/11 hijackers.

Voting via absentee ballot himself, Trump uses research that more Democratic Party voters than Republicans use absentee ballots. To cheat, he ordered such voting banned. A third of U.S. citizens prefer voting by mail. Two hundred thousand U.S. military members serve abroad. Five million citizens work and/or live abroad.

In 2009, the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act was passed by a functioning Democratic Party-controlled Congress. President Obama signed it into law. This is a very important means by which these citizens are able to participate in democracy. Trump has used executive actions to spoil the law and asked Supreme Court justices he appointed to end absentee voting.

In the face of the fact that Articles 1 and 2 of our Constitution prohibit such emoluments, Trump wants his billion-dollar-a-year illegal income to continue. Uninterrupted by a questioning Congress, he will continue his varied financial schemes for relatives, corporations, wealthy friends, and contributors.

Absent any investigation or proof, he will continue the sinking and murder of crews of small boats at sea — now numbering at least 230. He will continue to promote coal mining and otherwise ignore daily evidence of global warming because addressing such concerns would diminish corporate profit.

He has now demonstrated that his invasion of Venezuela in January of this year was neither about democracy nor drugs, but about oil. “To the victor,” he bragged, “belong the spoils.” Conflict with Iran, framed around preventing nuclear weapons production, has from 1953 to 2026 always been about oil. Trump now dismisses his $35.7 billion, eight-month collusion with criminal Zionist Benjamin Netanyahu to destroy Iran as “a skirmish.”

Know this!

Racist grifter, woman hater, convicted felon Trump will, as a last resort, stop at nothing in abusing presidential power by using the huge, masked paramilitary force he has created to harass, intimidate, seize ballots, and otherwise control our voting process. Recall that his Jan. 6, 2021, attempted coup also featured heavily armed supporters waiting for orders in nearby Virginia, there was a still-unidentified bomber, and the threat to hang uncooperative Vice President Mike Pence — all an effort to destroy state voting records and void the lost election. In his desperation, he can declare martial law, bringing the Army into the streets. With more guns than people in our country, we’re nearing a crisis similar to the one newly elected President Abraham Lincoln faced when, on Dec. 20, 1860, South Carolina seceded from the Union and six other Southern states soon followed — a devastating civil war.

Some advanced AI will realize it is smarter than us, and could take charge and destroy Earth’s inhabitants. Particularly, as AI is smarter than us, it could seal the world’s oil inaccessibly underground.

Wars would abruptly end, and planes making the 100,000 daily global flights would be grounded. Electric cars and trucks would meet our needs; the climate crisis would abate, and we would be back to that quiet time when families shared their evenings with relatives and neighbors, or spent their time sitting contentedly on the front porch.

Charlemont resident Carl Doerner is an investigative journalist and historian, currently seeking publication of his newest work, “Breaking the Silence: Revisioning the American Narrative.“