Donald Trump and maga Republicans: 250 years but now GOP violates the principles Americans fought for during the War of Independence

PennBay Pilot/talk:  Opinion letter to the editor:

Donald Trump's attack on Venezuela exemplifies totalitarian mindset
From James Matlack in Camden, Maine

In 1776, Tom Paine's widely read pamphlet "Common Sense*" energized Colonial resistance to British rule setting the stage for the ultimate success of the Revolution.

In part Paine wrote: "In America the law is king. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be king, and there ought to be no other."

Donald Trump defies this premise totally and relentlessly. He breaks both domestic and international laws in nearly every action he takes, scorning those who obey such legal guidelines. He demands slavish devotion from his followers as if he were a king.

As Peter Baker observed in the New York Times, "In his first year back in office, Trump has unabashedly adopted the trappings of royalty just as he has asserted virtually unbridled power to transform American government and society to his (hideous❗) liking."

Donald Trump's illegal recent attack on Venezuela exemplifies his totalitarian mindset. Without consultation with much less a vote of support from the Congress, a severe assault was made on a foreign capital city including abduction of that country's President after which Trump said that he would "run" Venezuela and "keep the oil" there.

Every day produces additional lawless conduct, arrogant boasts, and delusional claims. No guard rails now curb Trump's monarchical aspirations or his addled speeches. British historian Thomas Macaulay wisely said that "a good constitution is better than the best despot." Alas we seem to be losing our Constitution to a second-rate despot.


Yet Trump is losing public support. His charade of power is being challenged on all fronts with sagging poll numbers. His shrinkage in office reminds me of Shakespeare's description of Macbeth exercising his stolen powers: "like a giant's robes upon a dwarfish thief," his "ill-gotten title hangs loosely" upon him.


James Matlack lives in Camden

*Common Sense, published anonymously by Thomas Paine in January 1776, was a hugely influential pamphlet that argued for American independence from Great Britain, using clear, persuasive language to rally colonists to the cause of revolution by attacking monarchy and advocating for a democratic government. It became an instant bestseller, selling widely and being read aloud in public, and is considered a foundational document of the American Revolution, converting many undecided colonists to the idea of separation.

Midcoast Maine high marks for the interfaith Easter Community Dinner

Thank you 🙏from Adas Yoshuron Synagogue* for help with Easter community dinner.

Opinion letter published in the Rockland Maine "Penn Bay Pilot- Talk", from Linda Garson Smith

Adas Yoshuron Synagogue would like to thank Midcoast businesses for their in kind donations to our 33rd annual Easter Day Community Dinner.

Thank you to Fred Ribeck, for the poster’s graphic design, to Jeff Hatch for cooking mashed potatoes, Chef Lucio Pacelli of the Samoset, for making gravy, Jenn Rockwell of Main Street Market, for the use of chafing dishes, Chef Patrick Cazemajou, of the Atlantic Baking Company, for bread and sandwiches, Zelma and David Williams of Fresh Off the Farm, Hammon Buck of Plants Unlimited, and Anna Remsen of Seasons Downeast for beautiful cut flowers, pansies, and greens.

Many community members cooked for this event, served the meal, and made it happen! Guests enjoyed the food, the social interaction, beautiful flowers, and live piano music. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Linda Garson Smith lives in Belfast

*A free community Easter dinner held on Easter Sunday, at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Rockland. Sponsored by Adas Yoshuron Synagogue, the dinner is served from 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM. The dinner is open to the public and all are welcome. The meal is a sit-down dinner, with many people and businesses in the community contributing to its preparation.

Donald Trump and Republicans are using the cruel method of fear to illegally deport innocent people

U.S. as a police state, with fear as tool-of-choice

Protesters with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Coalition for Human Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles and community members march to denounce the Donald Trump administration's recent attacks on free speech and immigrant rights including the street abduction and arrest of Rümeysa Öztürk at Placita Olverain downtown Los Angeles on April 1, 2025.

Echo opinion letter published in the Penn-Bay Pilot newspaper circulated in Midcoast Maine- Rockland, Thomaston and Camden.

Dear Editor:  Very diturbing abduction video footage from two separate incidents was aired in national media, which should alarm everyone. Ostensibly each was to deliver messages about the Trump administration’s apprehension and deportation of people in our country, but through a different lens, they provide images of how this administration regards women.

The first showed the ambush of a 30 year old Tuft’s University Ph.D student by six ICE officers, all dressed in black, who jumped her, surrounding and then handcuffing the petite woman as she was quietly walking down a sidewalk in late afternoon.

This seemed almost choreographed to resemble many girls’ and women’s worst nightmares. 😰😨😱Under authoritarian dictatorships such behavior is common, but aside from violent suspects, in the U.S., this is not how we typically arrest people.

Later this same week, a hideous video showed Kristi Noam, Secretary of Homeland Security, visiting one of the world’s deadliest El Salvador prisons, using it as a backdrop to underscore her message and intention to deport people.

Surrounded by guards and wearing a form fitting cotton jersey, she did her power walk before hundreds of the men she had sent there who looked on, locked in cages. The word “dominatrix” came to mind; she lacked only the whip. Someone reminded me: Noam is also the woman who had bragged about shooting her dog. Trump was fully aware of what Noam was capable of when he chose her to be our Secretary of Homeland Security.

These two chilling, visual examples, in the same week, demonstrate that women have more to worry about than their reproductive health. In forming the U.S. into a police state, Trump and ICE are willing to victimize women as well as use them to further his own agenda. In both cases, his tool-of-choice is fear.

From: Mary Orear lives in Rockport, Maine

Hands Off! Rally in Augusta Maine: Thousands demonstrated throughout Maine and encore April 19th

Echo opinion letter published in the Penn Bay Pilot, circulated in Midcoast Maine - Rockland, Camden and Thomaston: 

1

Augusta Maine Hands Off! 2025 

Cloudy skies and threat of rain did not prevent or overshadow thousands of Mainers from turning out for the Hands Off! Rally and protest March that took place in Augusta, Portland, Brunswick and many other locations in Maine on Saturday, April 5.

It was heartening and galvanizing to be part of a crowd of around 4,000 at the State Capitol in Augusta, who showed up to be seen and be heard in protest against the Republicans, and Trump and his henchpeople with a loud and clear message: Hands off everything that matters and stop with the whole scale destruction of our democracy, government institutions, and the global economic order!

It was inspiring and uplifting to be among people of all ages holding their creative, clever, and compelling signs, with messages such as "It's Not Right or Left; It's Right or Wrong"; "Gut Fish, Not People!", and "The only minority destroying this country are the billionaires".

Many thousand cheered loudly and waved signs in response to calls for action by speakers such as Representative Vallie Geiger.

A few agile people who were risk averse protesters climbed up into the trees with their signs to get a better view. There were many flags - American, Canadian and Ukrainian - being proudly carried. Musicians playing trumpets and other instruments accompanied raucous renditions of singing "We Shall Overcome" and other protest tunes.

Participants with cowbells, drums, buckets, and other rhythm makers helped to energize the peaceful protest march.

As we walked, folks with megaphones led chants of "Tell me what democracy looks like? This is what democracy looks like!" and "Hey-hey, ho-ho, Trump and Musk have got to go".

Hands off April 5, 2025 in Augusta Maine

The police on duty helped to direct traffic and, along with the volunteer marshals, helped ensure the safety of the thousands of us marching. Across the State, the country, and the world, We The People showed up and peacefully, powerfully, and persuasively made our voices and demands heard.

As the Greek poet, Dinos Christianopoulos wrote, "They tried to bury us, but they didn't know we were seeds."

From:  Karin Lockwood lives in Rockport, Maine 

Republicans must make Donald Trump's wrongminded policies right! "Do your job!

Echo opinion letter published in the Penn Bay Pilot, a newspaper circulated in Midcoast Maine- Rockland, Camden, Thomaston.

MAGA Trump cult Republicans will protect even the most flagrant errors and malign policies by misguided president.

American consumers will pay for it❗

"My country, right or wrong" is a motto often heard from zealous would-be patriots. 

It is derived from a toast offered by Stephen Decatur, a U.S. Naval officer who fought the "Barbary Pirates" off North Africa, in the early 1800s.

A modified version by Carl Schurz in 1872, changed mindless affirmation into a more balanced expression of patriotic support. Schurz was a German immigrant who served as a Union General in the Civil War and later as a U.S. Senator. Shurz said:

My country, right or wrong.
When right, to be kept right;
(But....) When wrong, to be put right.

With every passing day under the Republican Trump Administration there are more things "to be put right." A major example is Trump's sweeping and delusional TARIFF SCHEME❗

At the heart of the damage done by Trump's tariffs is the truth that he still does not know how a tariff works.

Trump believes that the sending country pays the fees rather than domestic importers and consumers in the U.S. Thus his proud but mistaken claims that he will make China and other nations pay so many billions that he will be able to do away with the income tax.

Even his former Vice President Mike Pence knows the truth that "The Trump Tariff Tax is the largest peacetime tax hike in U.S. history."

The burden of tariff payments falls most heavily on lower income consumers.

The Income Tax was introduced in 1912, precisely to compell wealthy citizens to share in paying for government services.

Trump now wants to reverse this corrective innovation. He also falsely assumes that import levels will remain the same after imposition of U.S. tariffs.

Further, Trump seems to ignore the likelihood of punishing counter-tariffs imposed by our trading partners in response to U.S. levies. When the U.S. imposed tariffs in Trump's first term, return tariffs did such damage to our agricultural exports that we had to spend $27 billion in payouts to save farmers from bankruptcy.

The path to "put right" the crisis in U.S. and world trade caused by Trump's tariffs lies in re-assertion of Congressional authority over tariff policy.

Trump is enabled to manipulate tariffs because he declared a dubious "emergency" after which he could take tariff policy decisions away from Congress.

Fearing the mounting damage and with the votes of four Republican Senators, a recent vote in the Senate partially nullified Trump's "emergency" declaration.

Alas, Speaker Mike Johnson will not allow a vote on this issue in the House. In a further contortion to prevent a vote, Johnson passed a bill that defines the whole rest of this Congressional session to be considered as a single extended legislative day. 

MAGA Republicans will protect even the most flagrant errors and malign policies by their misguided president.

From Jim Matlack,  lives in Camden, Maine

American voters have the tools to fight Donald Trump autocracy: YES you and I have ability to make change

I was introduced to the Holocaust as a middle schooler. 

Echo guest editorial published in the Penn Bay Pilot newspaper, in MidCoast Maine/Rockland, Thomaston, Camden. 

Like any child would, I had a hard time fathoming the mass murder of so many people- over 6 million (+ plus 😔😡😨). 

I am not sure I was taught about the slippage of democratic norms, the years of capitulation and fear. I remember asking my mother why no one tried to stop it❓ She had vague answers, about it being far away, with it being hard to tell what was going on. 

Needless to say, the question lingered.

I kept that question with me while touring our nation’s Holocaust Memorial Museum in D.C. more than two decades ago. I stood for many minutes in the room dedicated to America's response, reading New York Times articles from the late 1930s, finding vague information, a lack of clarity, and what I perceived as a lack of alarm.

I worry. We Americans are now in the same place of inaction and vague, unfocused alarm, even though hate, racism, and an authoritarian regime are plainly amongst us. 

No ocean separates us from this horror. Not one location in the USA has been spared the change in our method of governance.

You and I — all the American people, no matter who we voted for, or even if we voted (a third of the electorate didn’t) — have been gut-punched and rolled.

We no longer live in a democracy. The administration is on a path to an autocratic regime in which dissent, rule of law, peaceable, and non-corrupt behavior is replaced by lies, intimidation, corruption, violent destruction of institutions, and disregard for the courts — replaced by the whims of the new leaders.

The Trumpzi-ism administration has fundamentally altered the way our country is governed. This is not a time to pretend this will solve itself, or go away. It won’t. We, the American people, are the ones who’ll change what’s happening. We are now at war, and we, the American people are the troops. (According to the Oxford Dictionary, war is “any active hostility or struggle between living beings; a conflict between opposing forces and principles.”)

Now’s the time to fight. These are your weapons:your emotionally regulated self that does not quiver in fear or dive back under the covers (or get lost in doom-scrolling);

• Your attention and understanding of context and big picture — this is not a singular shift, it’s part of a global trend — read Autocracy, Inc.; On Tyranny; How Democracies Die;]
• Your voice—it’s time to be loud, and get used to speaking up for democracy;
• Your words — talk to others about what you’re seeing and feeling. Write. There is certain to be several negative comments made at the bottom of this essay. Our best work is to ignore them. 
• Your energy is precious. Instead of taking the bait from those who are gullible enough to believe that they’re actually safer, or that their eviscerated autocratic government is now more efficient, use your words and energy to chat with your neighbors, call a friend, gather at one of the many democracy meetings being held (visit indivisible.org or jointheunion.us to search for a group near you); your imagination—spend some time considering where this is all heading. 

The Trump administrations’s power grab and the moves of Project 2025, plus the capitulation of the Congress, is a sign that those currently in power in the Trump administration want to move this country permanently to an autocratic state. 

These aren’t the moves of an administration that intends to allow free and fair elections or to cede control even if elections are held. Once you’ve gone down that deep hole, consider the country you’d like to live in. Consider how you want to be governed. What role can you play in the next USA? Use your imagination to paint those pictures of the after time, when we rebuild from this destruction. There will be a resurgence of democracy.

• Your creativity: it’s well known that autocrats don’t like to be ridiculed. So write the script of an absurdist play about where these leaders wind up in their dotage; or get out your paints and depict the way you want this war to end; or channel your rage into a bakeathon whose goods you share with neighbors; or create the best protest signs; or write the next anthem (creative endeavors also bring joy, which nourishes us during the struggle); 

• Your ability to show up and protest (March 29 was national take down Tesla day teslatakedown.com; April 5 is a day of national protest about all of the administration action—Hands Off; see indivisible.org);

• Your pocketbook—he current administration is motivated by greed, using corruption and dealmaking to line their pockets. Circumvent their money grabs: boycott large corporations, shop local, reduce your consumption overall. Consider delaying paying taxes until you’re convinced those dollars are being legally spent. 

• Your trust in yourself—your voice matters, your behavior makes a difference;

• Your trust in an inclusive, USA of the future — keep up your practices that promote diversity, many voices, the role of women; refuse to diminish people to “other;”

• Your community and your trust in your neighbors—do what you can to tighten those bonds;

• Your local government—get involved, inquire about your community’s plans for emergency notifications, mutual aid, and formation of neighborhood teams to help when crises strike; 

• Your belief in our democracy, and our ability to come together to win it back.

We’ll overturn this administration and win this war — non-violently, with the world’s strongest force: human hearts and minds pulling together to serve the future of our one planet.  

I’ll see 👀 you out there.

From Molly Mulhern lives in Camden, Maine

Warning! Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is unqualified to lead during any national emergency

Pray🙏 that Trump's team does not have to deal with a real-time major crisis, for which they are dangerously unprepared.⚠️❗

Pete Hegseth is unqualified for the postion he holds as Defense Secretary. Trump selected him because he is a MAGA clone "yes" man. 

Echo opinion letter published in the Penn Bay Pilot "Talk", a newspaper circulated largely in Mid Coast Maine- Rockland, Camden and Thomaston, Maine.

Indeed, incompetent Trumpzi hand picked clones have no experience to handle any crises. Instead, they were plucked up by Donald Trump for the purpose of protecting him from another impeachment trial. But, there will be a crisis, there always is, and the"kitchen junk drawer" he calls a "cabinet" is incapable to providing informed leadership. 

A recent quote by the Trump-nominated unqualified Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth perfectly summarizes the outlook of the Trump Administration: The Department of Defense does not do climate change crap; we do training and war fighting.

Hegseth expresses scorn for experts and for the most far-reaching threat to our survival on this planet. He seems more interested in preparing for a street brawl than for the complex challenges to our national security from cyber attacks, from the rise of economic rivals, from weakening links with our longtime allies, and from the effects of climate change that involve worldwide threats to our bases and operations.

Hegseth is manifestly unqualified to confront the more subtle and complex demands of the position that he now holds. Trump chose him for his blunt and belligerent attitudes displayed as a FOX channel regular. Many of his high-level nominees were chosen on the basis of their on-air FOX performances. Like Trump himself in the Presidency, Hegseth is not ready to be Secretary of Defense — he just plays one on on T.V.

Trump has surrounded himself with sycophant MAGA amateurs at the heart of our governmentand especially our national security positions.The contrast with the quality and competence ofcomparable officials in previous Administrationsis shocking. Pray that Trump's team does not haveto deal with a real-time major crisis, for whichthey are dangerously unprepared.

From:  Jim Matlack, in Camden Maine

Elon Musk has a dangerous free pass to destroy our government but he is an unqualified-unelected South African immigrant !

Making America miserable again?

Echo opinion letter published in the Penn Bay Pilot, published in Rockland Maine. 


We are only seven weeks into the Trump Presidency, and most of what he promised on the the campaign trail is evidently all lies😝😡😱❗

Instead of a stronger economy, the markets are crashing in response to Trump's tariffs, inflation is up 3%, and jobless claims are up 242,000.

Instead of improving the health and safety for U.S. citizens, there is an unprecedented and deadly measles outbreak, 36 million Americans' health insurance is at risk due to GOP Medicaid cuts, and both airline safety and critical weather forecasting are threatened by DOGE cuts.

Instead of protecting U.S. veterans, veteran services, jobs, and healthcare are under attack. Instead of protecting the elderly, Social Security checks are at risk of interruption.

Meanwhile, Trump has played golf on 13 of the 48 days he has been back in office, costing U.S. taxpayers $18 million.

And Musk has had a free pass to destroy and reconstruct Government Agencies in ways that result in expanded contracts with his companies — Tesla, SpaceX, and Dogecoin — enhancing Musk's personal fortune manifold.

Waste and fraud, you say❓

From Karin Lockwood lives in Rockport Maine

#FireElonMusk❗

Elon Musk is a non-elected super rich narcissistic South African immigrant

Democrats must unit to gleefully but forcefully resist❗
Echo letter to the edtor of teh Penn Bay Pilot newspaper in Rockland Maine:

"stagecraft of Elon Musk’s hyperactive dancing with his obscene chainsaw"

Gleeful cruelty is the despicable scene being played out as Trump and his minions pursue their evil DOGE initiative.

Their purpose claim of rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse is undermined by their indiscriminate and illogical actions:

• Providing lifesaving food and medical care to starving children and families around the world is not waste.·

• Supporting medical research for cancer treatments, other diseases, and in studying preemptive strategies for evolving potential future epidemics is not fraud.

• Upending the lives of dedicated civil servants and the consequential impacts of restricted or unavailable vital services is not efficient or humane.

• The withdrawal of funding for low-income Medicaid services so that tax breaks are extended for corporations and the wealthy is not efficient or humane.

This depressing list of DOGE’s recent targets could go on, but these attacks simply represent gleefully cruel and evil abuses of executive power informed by a non-elected, super-rich narcissist leading Trump around by the nose.

The stagecraft of Musk’s hyperactive dancing with his obscene chainsaw while MAGA loyalists clap and cheer tells us all we need to know about motivation and intent.

In this moment of anxiety and trauma we need more than ever to have bipartisan leadership stand up, say no, and assert their constitutional authority. While Maine’s congressional delegation is mostly on board with this, Senator Collins remains unresponsive.

In DOGE world, it is not simply vital agencies and personnel that are being fed into the ‘woodchipper’, it’s the treasured soul of our democracy.

Gleefully but forcefully resist❗

From Neal Guyer who lives in Thomaston Maine