Dear Editor:

Apparently Trump and his mentors, Roger Stone, Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon have not heard of or are deliberately violating the Logan Act.

This law, enacted by Congress in 1799, states: “Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.” In other words, it is a federal crime to conduct foreign relations without the express consent of the U.S. government.

Entertaining Victor Orbán, Prime Minister in Perpetuity of Hungary, at his gilded palace of Mar-a-Lago last month and making recent telephone calls to Saudi Prince Mohammad bin Salman elevate private citizen Trump to Chief Executive of a shadow U.S. government, founded upon the lie of a stolen election and dedicated to the establishment of a White Christian nationalist state during the tenure of President Biden.

Donald I. Baker, former Assistant Attorney General of the United States, wrote this in the Financial Times about Trump’s secretive “summit” meeting with Orbán, Putin’s main ally in Europe: “For me this reveals a deliberate attempt by Trump to disrupt US international relations with its key ally Ukraine as well as with America’s NATO allies (who will conclude that the US is a less reliable defense partner than they have counted on the US being). As such, I find it a credible Logan Act violation.”

The demagogue who boasts about being indicted more times than Al Capone is courting yet another run-in with the American judicial system. He tells his base that, if he loses, the 2024 election will be our last; but his recent behavior begs the question: Why even hold this one? He is already pretending be our Commander-in-Chief, just like the fake boss of his hit show, “The Apprentice.”

Bill Hammond

Boothbay