To the editor:

It has been oftentimes stated by experts that if our democratic form of government, which has long been the envy of nations throughout the free world, would fall that such would not be achieved as a result of foreign intervention, but would transpire as a result of inappropriate actions taken by those in power from within the United States.

It appears, sadly, that current president Donald J. Trump, who continues to disrespect and reject the rule of law, as well as the functions of our co-equal branches of government, as Trump continues to, alarmingly, disrespect our nation’s allies abroad. This in addition to his politicization of the United States Department of Justice in order to punish his political opponents.

Recently, Trump ordered our nation’s military to destroy a Venezuelan cargo ship in international waters for allegedly attempting to transport illegal drugs into the United States. However, even if this was, indeed, the case, the ship should have simply been apprehended, in concert with international law, and those aboard properly seized and then been tried by our legal system, as is appropriate, which is in concert with international law.

In addition, Trump had our military capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in order for him to be tried in a U.S. court of law, as a result of drug trafficking, which he has been accused of.

All this after Trump, horrifically, recently pardoned former Honduras President Juan Orlando, who had been found guilty for his role in helping a deadly cartel smuggle 400 tons of cocaine into the United States.

Also, it now appears to be quite obvious that Trump’s primary and, quite possibly, sole motivation for his invasion of Venezuela was to gain control of the 300 billion barrels of oil that the country reportedly has under its land, a statement that Trump made recently on numerous occasions.

This, in addition to Trump’s plans to annex Greenland, as well as Canada and, possibly, some other independent countries, is totally un-American, but disturbingly reminiscent, sadly, of Adolph Hitler of Nazi Germany, when he annexed the Rhineland and Austria prior to his military invasions of other European countries, which started World War II in Europe.

It also is quite reminiscent of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s violent attempt to annex Ukraine.

Sad.

Richard Hord

Martins Ferry