To the editor:
A cult of personality is defined as a public figure such as a political leader who is presented to the people as someone who should be admired and loved. Propaganda is one way to help create a cult of personality, another tactic is that any criticism of the individual is met swiftly with attacks by their surrogates and followers on the people criticizing the cult leader.
We have watched this in national politics since 2016 with the GOP cult leader Donald Trump. Trump bragged about what a smart guy he was, how he "had the best words," how "rich" he was etc, of course none of what he spewed was true and most sane people could see through him but some people were angry and mad at the world and Trump made it OK for them to verbalize that hate and anger. We saw on Jan. 6, 2021, that a lot of them went well past just screaming and let themselves be fueled by Trump's speech that morning and the speeches of his cronies and stormed the Capitol building, causing physical harm and death to the police forces whose job it is to protect not just the buildings but the congresspeople, senators and their staffs working there. The harm these followers caused was the inevitable end of what a cult of personality can do when spurred on by a leader who has no business holding an office of public trust.
Now this is old news of course and Trump's cult of personality is on a national scale, but the saying goes "all politics are local," and, so it seems, is a cult of personality. It's not on the scale of Trump but it's planted itself in the local Democratic Party and it's spreading its roots and making new offshoots to help protect it. The local party hasn't really changed in more than 50 years, same old and tired names, their ideas haven't changed in that length of time either, or so it appears. They are attempting to push out the executive committee chairwoman (the first woman in local party history) to give all the control to an old name, mediocre man. He has his sycophants surrounding him, if anyone asks a question or raises a concern he doesn't like they kick into gear mocking, yelling basically shouting down any perceived opposition to their "dear leader."
Why they try to grip onto power to a county party that can't even find someone run for a single local seat or even begin to grasp the basics of social media is beyond me, if he has any bright ideas he certainly hasn't shared them with anyone that I know of. With Trump, he didn't care about the country, only himself. Is the chairman of local Dems the same as Trump? He is certainly acting that way.
Perhaps it's time to send up another flare and light the beacon for those in search of a refuge from this cult of personality.
Barbara Davis
Wintersville