To the editor:

Have you noticed that dictators hold elections that they never lose?

President Trump reported discussing elections with such a dictator, Vladimir Putin, at their Alaska meeting. Following Putin’s advice, he’s trying to eliminate voting by mail, even though it has been working flawlessly throughout Minnesota for years.

What other election advice did the president get from the dictator who never loses? We will find out as the 2026 midterms approach. The purpose of eliminating voting by mail is obvious. Then everyone will have to wait in a long line on election day. Falsely claiming Democratic areas are rife with “voter fraud,” the president will send National Guard troops to big city polling places to “protect the vote” — that is, scare voters away. The current Guard deployments are just warm-up for that. And after ICE agents pick a few people at random out of the voter line (remember, they can snatch anyone), who will show up to vote? Then, surprise. This president never loses an election.

Some will say this prediction is far-fetched. But my predictions in last year’s campaign — expensive immigrant detention camps, Chinese farm market destruction, Project 2025 — I have a good track record on predictions. And why wouldn’t he do this, and much more, to stay in power? Remember Jan. 6?

Call our Representative Finstad. Urge him to co-sponsor laws to restrict ICE and National Guard from any operations within two miles of any polling place in 2026. If he won’t, we should support somebody else who actually believes in (as Benjamin Franklin said) “a republic, if you can keep it.”

Tom Kuster

New Ulm