Dear Editor:

In May of 2016, conservative writer and scholar Andrew Sullivan warned his readers: “In terms of our liberal democracy and constitutional order, Trump is an extinction-level event. It’s long past time we treated him as such.”

Four years of executive branch criminal convictions, corruption, human rights abuses, tax evasion, nepotism, authoritarian incompetence and the needless loss of 205,000 American lives have borne this prophecy out.

As you cast your vote this month or next, remember that one candidate has devoted his life honorably to public service; the other is an impeached incumbent who refuses to accept the outcome of this election if he loses and is talking about occupying the White House for twelve years.

Let the voter beware — the treacherous slopes of Russia and Belarus lie that way.

Bill Hammond

Barters Island