Authoritarian rhetoric threatens our future
As a Granite Stater, I never thought I would feel uneasy just writing a letter to the editor about politics. Yet here I am, because intimidation is the point.
Watching the current president share an AI-generated “Grim Reaper” video targeting Democratic leaders left me shaken. This isn’t parody; it is political intimidation that connects clearly to the dangerous vision of Project 2025. Furthermore, his recent meetings with military leaders, where personal loyalty was emphasized over fidelity to the Constitution, reveal just how far this authoritarian mindset is spreading.
History shows how quickly democracies can collapse from within. Hungary went from a promising democracy to “partly free” in barely a decade. Its courts were politicized, the press came under state control, and rights were stripped away — not through a coup, but through silence and normalization.
Citizens in a free country should never feel that speaking up is unsafe. Yet intimidation works only if we allow it to silence us. That is why I am urging my fellow Granite Staters to raise their voices and vote. We must contact our elected officials and demand they defend constitutional checks and balances before it is too late.