Dear Editor:

Vladimir Putin is a chess master, a sly, old fox watching his plans, spinning his webs, plotting how he can divide and conquer by splitting up the Western democracies and deriding them from his chief adversary and rival, the United States. Our president has become his henchman. Have you noticed how many of his actions strengthen and play into Putin’s hands?

I think that this started long before Trump was elected. He never really expected to be elected and was nearly as surprised as everyone else. So he and Putin had a plan B. Trump would expand his business into Russia – hotels, casinos, his daughter’s business and goodness knows what else. He and Putin were, and are, business partners.

Of course, events unfolded better than they could have dreamed although Putin probably had more to do with this than he’s letting on. In spite of what his staff and advisers say to the contrary, Trump refuses to admit that the Russians tried to influence our election. How much of a real influence they had is still in debate, as is whether Trump had a hand in this.

Our midterm elections are coming up and it is pretty well assumed that they will try it again. This could be a real threat to our democracy. Never before has a foreign power, and one unfriendly to us and our democratic ideals, come so close to seeking to dominate us. One of the sorriest parts is that some Trump supporters don’t have a problem with it.

Trump is an authoritarian by nature, running his own real estate empire, and he thinks he can do the same with the U.S. government. Of course, he had no idea of the complexity

Is everything Trump does bad? Not by any means. He has some interesting proposals on prison reform, he wants to liberalize access to experimental drugs, and who would not like to see a peaceful, united Korea?

So Trump tosses scraps and crunches to all but never let us forget that the blood of our people via a revolution, a civil war and two world wars brought our freedom.

Frances Bredeau

Boothbay Harbor