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If you’ve ever wondered if you would have stood up to the Nazis or if you would’ve fallen in line with them, the Nov. 5 election may be your first consequential test.

Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden this past Friday was a deliberate reprise of the Nazi rally in the same venue in 1939 just months before Hitler’s invasion of Europe. Trump openly signaled that Speaker Mike Johnson is planning to help Trump cheat and throw the election to him in the House of Representatives in January. Trump said, “I think with our little secret we are gonna do really well with the House, right? Our little secret is having a big impact, he and I have a secret, we will tell you what it is when the race is over.”

Trump isn’t planning to rely on the Electoral College to get back into power, and Congressman Brad Finstad is part of Trump and Johnson’s scheme to subvert the will of the voters for him. It’s vital not only to vote for Kamala Harris to defeat the rise of fascism in our midst, but also vote for Rachel Bohman to replace Brad Finstad. Bohman is a model of excellence and hard work. Johnson and Finstad are both weak yes men who will help Trump cheat.

If Bohman is sworn in on Jan. 3, Finstad won’t be there to potentially throw the election to Trump in the House. If Bohman is part of a Democratic majority, that means Mike Johnson will no longer be Speaker either.

Voting for both Harris and Bohman will put two solid roadblocks in the way of Trump’s fascist intentions. Our democracy and our constitutional order are in peril. On Nov. 5, we must be democracy’s resolute backstop.

Jennifer Vogt-Erickson
Albert Lea