In explaining her vote to acquit donald trump[1] on the impeachment charges, Maine Senator Susan Collins said that she thought trump had learned a “pretty big lesson.”  He did, but not in the way Senator Collins meant.  He has learned that his belief that rules don’t apply to him is correct.  It is, simply, frightening to think what lesson trump will draw if he is re-elected in November.  We already know that trump and his enablers view the Constitution as an 18^th Century anachronism to be overcome or ignored.  Why would we think that he holds the 22^nd Amendment in any higher regard?  Presidents in many other countries have successfully circumvented constitutional term limits.  It is self-deception to think that it can’t happen here.

Considering both trump’s acquittal on party lines by the Senate and the debacle in the Iowa Democratic caucuses, The Lexington column in the current issue of The Economist magazine wrote: “Mr. Trump’s sometimes comical strangeness long made the fears of despotism he stirred seem overblown.  But think of authoritarianism as a corrosive process, not a dictatorial end-state, and they no longer do.  He has never looked more threatening to American democracy” and “it has never looked more vulnerable to him.”

The Ohio primary happens in just over a month.  Early voting starts in nine days from the day I’m writing this.  Our nominee for President will not be decided the time we vote in the primary.  Again, it is not my place to endorse a particular candidate.  However, more important than policies or personalities, our obligation is to nominate a candidate who will beat donald trump.  I beg you to focus on that as you cast your primary vote for President.

Over the weekend, I saw a news report summarizing the Ohio campaign finance reports which had to be filed with the Secretary of State by January 31.  No surprise, but the Republicans have a lot more money than we do.  Larry Householder alone donated one million to the Republicans’ state House campaign fund.  The two incumbent Republican Supreme Court candidates have raised about ten times as much as Judge Brunner and Judge O’Donnell have raised.  We have always known that we can’t outspend Republicans.  These numbers highlight the fact that, if we want our State back, we are going to have to outwork the other side.  We all need to do more.

Whether you vote early or on Primary Day (St. Patrick’s Day this year), your Clermont County Democratic ballot will have a box for the office of County Commissioner in the middle column at about the center of the page.  There is no name in that box, just a circle and a line.  PLEASE, darken in that circle and write the name Jeff Richards on the line.  Tell your Democratic friends to do the same.  Jeff needs at least 50 votes to get his name on the November general election ballot.  That should be easy, but we all have to write Jeff in to get it done.  Please write-in Jeff Richards for County Commissioner.  Sorry, but you’re going to hear that a lot from me until March 18.

Finally, public school funding is a huge issue statewide, as evidenced by the fact that several Clermont County districts have tax levies on the March 17 ballot.  We expect Joe Rudy of the West Clermont Board of Education at our February 27 Executive Committee and Central Committee meetings to talk and answer questions about West Clermont’s proposed levy.  Please join us in Batavia that night.  This will be a good opportunity to learn more about how our schools are funded and where the money goes.

[1] I decline to capitalize any portion of trump’s name.  Using initial capital letters is a sign of respect and this man deserves no respect.