To the Editor:

In response to a letter from Charles Danyus printed in the Aug. 21 edition of this publication, I believe his premise that Putin’s attempts at nation building through annexation and Trump’s copycat efforts to attain political power on the world stage, is flawed and his conclusion illogical. Danyus states Trump is justified in doing so based on the naive belief that many people “aspire to abide” here, whereas those living under Putin’s rule “aspire to escape.”

What Danyus ignores is that this country is descending into a dictatorship similar to Putin’s that flaunts constitutional and state rights and laws, usurps the protective power of checks and balances via the three branches of government, and even turns the military on its own people. Some have already made their escapes to countries that still hold fast to democracy.

As for those aspiring to “abide” here, every nationality that has landed on these shores since the first colonists were escaping something, whether it was religious or cultural persecution, wars or famines. And, each fresh arrival of immigrants was also thought to be less-than-human by previous ones.

Even today the risk of death from violence or starvation in their home countries produces nothing but desperation—not aspiration—in seeking refuge on these shores.

Anne Holmes Urban

Grayslake