On March 4, “hundreds” of Trump supporters turned out in many communities across the country to rally for their president. In Augusta, “more than 100 turn out” according to this newspaper. Would that be more like 101, or more like 199? If it was closer to 200, the reporter probably would have designated it as such. Where were the previous thousands of his supporters? Could buyers’ remorse be setting in?

Augusta demonstrators touted Trump’s honesty, according to the article. Are these folks so dissociated from reality, or sequestered from real news, to not know that Trump lied 122 times in his first 30 days, according to fact-checking organizations?

Where does Trump get his information? In accusing former President Barack Obama of wiretapping, he relied on Breitbart “News,” as well as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity favorite Mark Levin. Apparently Trump didn’t consult his own Justice Department to confirm the validity. If there was a legal wiretap approved by the FISA court, I wonder what illegal acts one of our federal investigating agencies suspected Trump was involved in.

In 1922, a march by around 25,000 Italian fascists threatening civil war panicked the king into making Benito Mussolini prime minister. In 1933, Germans gave Hitler’s party 33 percent of the seats in the Reichstag, enough to make him chancellor. In 2016, 28 percent of eligible voters made Trump president.

None of these persons had any national mandate. They achieved power through lies and intimidation of opponents and the free press. The victim in each case was national history.

Paul W. Dutram

Waterville

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