To the New York Times WORDS HAVE CONSEQUENCES

Donald Trump has said that Liz Cheney might not be such a 'war hawk' if she had nine rifles pointed at her (1 November 2024).Donald Trump is calling former Rep. Liz Cheney, who’s one of his most prominent Republican critics, a “war hawk, and he’s suggesting she might not be as willing to send troops to fight if she had guns pointed at her. This is a sobering message that Americans must take at face value. I grew up thinking that the divide between established democracies and many developing nations that were run by totalitarian governments was great, and that the gap between them was permanent. I also grew up believing all those developing countries aspired to be democracies. I was at a NATO base in Stuttgart, Germany in April 1980, when a staff sergeant in the Liberian Army, Samuel Doe staged a violent coup d'etat. Samuel Doe was a sergeant in the Liberian Army when he led a violent coup that overthrew President William Tolbert and his government. Doe suspended the constitution, assumed the rank of Maj. General and established the PRC as a provisional military government. In 1984 Doe dissolved the military government and attempted to legitimize his regime, with a new democratic constitution by holding a general election in 1985. He won with 51% of the votes, but the election had widespread allegations of election fraud. Doe opened Liberian ports to Canadian, Chinese, and European ships, which brought in considerable foreign investment and earned Liberia's reputation as a tax haven. Doe had support from the United States due to his anti-Soviet stance during the Cold War.

The gap between a legitimate government and a totalitarian dictatorship may not be as absolute as many Americans think it is. Trump's recent words are scary. This is even more frightening considering the fact that the Trump campaign has just staged an " America First" rally at Madison Square Garden. The January 6 rally/demonstration/coup fell short of its goal, which was to undermine the U.S. Constitution and to install an unelected government. Some of us at dinner at the officers' club that day in Stuttgart, had attended military courses in the U.S. with officers and soldiers of the Liberian Army. We imagined the worst, and it happened. Doe and his men summarily shot President Tolbert,killed members of his cabinet, high ranking officers, the leaders of the legislature and the judiciary. I know that a number of talking heads will spend the next few days explaining "what Donald Trump meant". We need to focus more on "what Donald Trump said". Some people still believe that what happened on January 6, 2001, was not a coup attempt. The only reason that they have the luxury of making that claim is the fact that whatever it is you want to call it, it failed. If the Congress had not been able to certify the results of the election as it is obligated to do under the United States Constitution, we would be having a very different conversation right now

ROLAND NICHOLSON, JR.

WASHINGTON, DC