The importance of this year’s mid-terms election becomes more serious with each passing day the Republicans in Congress refuse to reign in a president who openly violates the law — and is singlehandedly ensuring America’s decline.

Trump has used the federal justice department to persecute his perceived enemies, and which has granted him ridiculous rulings to enrich himself. He’s purged party officials who defy him, destroyed fundamental pillars of our democracy to create a strongman presidency, participated in blatant corruption and self-dealing, illegally pursues renovations of national buildings in defiance court orders and most recently has tried to rewrite election rules and hamper mail-in ballots to disenfranchise tens of millions of voters. That he posts delusional and unhinged posts on Truth Social is a daily reminder the man is not fit to govern.

Moreover, his insults to our international allies — from Greenland, to Iceland, to Canada, Mexico and many European countries — and turning his back on Ukraine, while supporting Putin’s Russia — defies everything Americans have fought for during the past two centuries, as well as destroying the international institutions that have created much of America’s power for the past 80-plus years.

As a snapshot of the damage Trump has wreaked, here’s New York Times columnist Tom Friedman: “Trump is the most un-American president in my lifetime. No president has done more, and continues to do more, to unravel the post-World War II institutions and alliances that were built and sustained by his predecessors. We are talking about NATO, the United Nations, the world Health Organization, the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development, NAFTA, our intimate relationships with Canada and Mexico and our military alliances with Japan and South Korea — to name but a few. These relationships and institutions together produced global and American prosperity and great power peace for generations.

“Yet Trump and his enablers are systematically unraveling them in the name of ‘America first,’ but with the result being America alone and, eventually, America in decline.

“Particularly disgusting to me, though, is Trump’s coddling of the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, who has not only been trying to destroy Ukraine as a sovereign state but has also sabotaged NATO and the European Union, two vital pillars of Western security and prosperity…. Trump has never framed the war in Ukraine honestly. We are witnessing Putin’s attempt to destroy a vital European democracy. Why? What is up with Trump’s unshakable bromance with Putin? The truth has always been hiding in plain sight: Trump, unlike any of his predecessors, does not consider democracy to be a core value. He prefers the company of the likes of Putin and Kim Jong Un (of North Korea).”

Why, Friedman asks? Because Trump profits as a strongman running America as his fiefdom.

And therein lies the danger in the midterm elections.

“If Trump’s party prevails in November,” Friedman writes, “his multifront effort to undermine America’s democratic institutions and the rule of law would almost surely go into a whole new gear.”

“Right now, Trump is unpopular and therefore weak,” said Ian Bassin, the executive director of Protect Democracy, a nonprofit that fights for election integrity. “The assumption is that his project has failed politically — that he is yesterday’s news.” But if Republicans win, “that changes the incentive structure for everyone,” Bassin said.

Friedman puts a finer point on the danger of that outcome: “With a midterm success, Trump will feel more emboldened and empowered than ever — at a time when he is clearly declining both mentally and physically; at a time when we are in the middle of possibly the greatest technological transformation in human history; at a time when climate change, which he denies, is obviously making our weather hotter and more unstable; at a time when he will have alienated practically every friend America has in the world, even Canada; at a time when he is stuck in a war with Iran that is draining our military resources and is led by a clown, Petee Hegseth, who may have fired or blocked promotions of more American generals than he has killed Iranian ones; at a time when China is taking over the world’s electrical vehicle market while the president is trying to grab Venezuela’s oil.”

Only American voters can stop America from falling further into decline under Trump and this Republican congress, Friedman writes. “Every American… needs to think about these questions when entering the voting booth (this November.) No foreign enemy is powerful enough to destroy (America)… Only forces from within can do that. Only self-destruction can do that. And have no doubt: Self destruction is on the ballot (this November.)”

Angelo Lynn