The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set news policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com
Tom Berry is a retired public school special educator living in Kennebunk.
We are not imagining things.
Over recent weeks, the regime in Washington has been ramping up its multi-faceted campaign to exert control over our society by: dominating the airwaves, stifling dissent, and trying to “normalize” other autocratic behaviors. The examples are numerous:
Increased military actions around the globe.
Asserting (without legal basis) the right of the U.S. to have primary access to the natural resources of other nations and threatening the economies — and even the sovereignty — of countries whose leaders disagree with him.
Disobeying court orders.
Using strong-arm tactics as he militarizes communities in states with Democratic leadership and generally ignoring the “rule of law.”
To name but a few.
Undoubtedly, some of this uptick in drastic action is due to President Donald Trump’s felt need to distract the people from his Epstein scandal problem and his tariff-related economic failures. There’s also the unfolding spike in health care costs for millions and his ”Big Ugly Tax Bill” that favored the ultra-wealthy at the expense of the poor.
But there may be more afoot here.
Recently, the prime minister of Denmark indicated that if Trump carried out his threat to take Greenland by military force, then NATO would cease to exist.
Given that, it must be considered that ending NATO could actually be a deliberate hidden factor in Trump’s overall game plan. After all, this has been something he has mused about multiple times in the past and would certainly help his pal in the Kremlin. It would also fit with recent suggestions from him (and his Iago, Stephen Miller) about returning the U.S. to a stark political philosophy of “spheres of influence,” where strong countries impose their will on weaker ones without consultation or restraint. This “spheres of influence” idea would also go a long way to explaining why Trump has been behaving like a schoolyard bully to other nations in the Western Hemisphere.
I applaud Sen. Susan Collins and the other senators who recently voted to impose some restraint on Trump regarding further military action in Venezuela.
But much more needs to be done about the other very clear threats this man poses for our nation. Exemplifying just one of these threats: Trump has recently stated that he regrets that he did not seize voting machines in 2020. What will stop him in 2026 or 2028?
To rescue our democracy and Make America Recognizable Again, I strongly urge that Sen. Collins and Angus King, and Reps. Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden go further and vigorously support strong — and veto-proof — legislative measures to rein in this man who would be king.
