So far, Trump and Project 2025 are doing a bang-up job. Many feel mentally bombarded by the barrage of wildly unproven lies coming out of this White House.

This jarring alt-reality is precisely where they want us. When there’s too much to handle, what slips into our psyche is dangerous: acquiescence.

By failing to speak out against injustice, we are complicit, and we indirectly endorse the status quo.

While I’m all for efficiencies, the destruction of societal norms the past few weeks is staggering, heartbreaking and quite frankly, un-American.

There’s no limit on how low this administration can go, because Feb. 28 happened.

The Portland Press Herald reported on the meeting with Ukraine’s President Zelensky, “Members of Maine’s congressional delegation lament Oval Office meltdown.”

To openly intimidate President Zelensky into being a pawn in their money scheme, “Let’s Make a (Mineral) Deal” went beyond the pale.

This is not my America. Ukraine and its people have suffered enough.

How did our Maine elected officials respond? I clutched my pearls as I read, “unfortunate,” “disturbing” and “embarrassing.”

Break a leg, it’s playbook time now. The stage was perfectly set a couple years ago, but now the curtain has risen, and we Americans are forced to participate in this awful, people-hating Project 2025.

Dust off your mega horns, get comfortable shoes, prepare posters, call your legislators. As exhausting as it is right now, stay vigilant.

The dangers of unchecked power are real, and the importance of dissent has never been more important.

Laura Huff
Westbrook