All of us liberals are outraged at Donald Trump’s 2025 plan, to put loyalists in charge of civil service jobs, weaponize the Department of Justice, give more power to the executive, etc. etc. It’s frightening. How can so many people support that?

But here’s a thought experiment. What if it was Bernie Sanders (or if that’s too far, Barack Obama) who was going to be elected. And going to get a progressive Congress to support his agenda. And going to fire all the ex-oil executives and the like currently in civil service and replace them with individuals committed to fighting climate change.

Would we be outraged at Bernie’s power grab? Would we refuse to vote for him?

Dennis Merritt

Shelburne Falls