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WENDY WERNER

I had the honor of working the polls for Tuesdays election.

I stood outside politely greeting folks, asking them to consider my candidate, and thanking them for voting regardless of their voting choice.

I spent the entire day alongside another poll worker with opposite views to mine on every issue. We found no need to call each other names or argue but did exchange some of our differing views with curiosity about why we each thought the way we did. We then went on to talk about our kids, careers, movies, and the gorgeous weather.

This is what democracy looks like folks. A bald eagle even made a few passes overhead that caused great pride and excitement for all of us.

Reactions to asking voters to consider my candidate varied from friendly no thank yous, to civility, to ignoring me, to outright aggression.

One woman responded to me by curling her face up into an ugly sneer and spitting out, Never! Communists! She was clearly a staunch Republican supporter, and it gave me pause to wonder, had she always been so nasty or has this been since the MAGA movement has modeled and encouraged hate and bullying.

My candidate of choice is a vibrant member of our community pursuing the democratic process and trying to make a difference in peoples lives. She stands for good education, a clean environment, a living wage for working people, womens rights, and rights for all to be free to love whom they love. Her platform rests on common sense and coming to common ground for all members of the community. This does not scream communism to me.

I wondered if this woman and others with her attitude have thought about what communism is. We have plenty of examples around the world to study.

Donald Trump spent his time during his presidency trashing our allies and building up authoritarian, communist dictators. He praised Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping and wrote love letters to Kim Jong Un, the brutal leader of North Korea. He tried to get his supporters to overthrow a free and fair election, the cornerstone of our democracy. He encouraged violence to bypass the U.S. Constitution. He set an angry mob on our Capitol and watched gleefully, doing nothing to stop them, as his supporters desecrated the building, beat police officers, and even threatened to hang his own vice president. He tried by any means possible to stay in power regardless of the outcome of an election.

This, folks, is the very definition of authoritarian leader and a communist regime. If given another shot at the presidency, there will be no going back. He has already promised retribution and chaos to be the tenants of a new term.

The saddest part is that he has no real interest in his supporters except for them to be the vehicle by which he can amass ultimate power.

He does not care about solving problems our country faces or addressing the concerns of everyday Americans. Trump cares about Trump only.

Wendy Werner is a resident of Winchester.

More:
Open Forum: Thinking of Donald Trump after Tuesday's election - The Winchester Star