To the editor:

When reviewing various newspaper articles, many disturbing events seem to be overlooked. Donald Trump has recently fired several people after the election. It has been noted in several articles that he has recently fired the persons in charge of the nuclear stockpile, electricity, gas and now Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who is second in command of the armed forces. It has been noted by a psychologist in the book “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump” that Trump will “do anything necessary to hold onto power.” There was no explanation of the firings, and several people have speculated that it was simply done for spite. The question is, why did Trump fire key people in charge of infrastructure of the country?

To understand the answer to the question, you only have to look at the other actions Donald Trump has done in order to stay in power. It is obvious that Donald Trump fired the head of the Postal Service for a reason: DeJoy, whom he put in charge of the Postal Service, has done everything possible to prevent votes from being counted. Despite an overwhelming loss in both electoral votes and popular votes, Trump has refused to admit defeat and even encouraged other Republicans to go along with his denial of a presidential defeat. To a large extent he has ignored expert medical advice, and used the pandemic to make mask wearing a political statement, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths, many of whom were Republicans who attended events.

Perhaps Donald Trump is completely sane and will not use control of the nuclear stockpile, gas and electricity to engage in a hostile takeover. He was prevented from using American troops against American citizens, but Esper, who strongly objected to breaking the law, has been fired. Maybe he just fired the people he fired for no reason at all. Perhaps he won’t fire Dr. Fauci and refuse to believe scientists, resulting in perhaps many hundreds of thousands of deaths. Perhaps he will have a change of heart and will work with Biden for the improvement of the country. I would think past and present actions would be a clear indicator of what will happen, but I am not a psychologist.

Donald Trump and supporters keep mentioning “the deep state” and how it is stealing the election. Oddly, no one seems to know what the “deep state” is and who are members of this so-far-unknown organization. According to the conspiracy theory, there is a clandestine group plotting to steal the election. I would guess they would do so by suppressing votes, filing lawsuits to prevent medical professionals from being heard, and organizing groups to attempt to disrupt the counting of votes. I am not sure if they exist, but I just hope a group like this doesn’t get control of the nuclear stockpile or armed forces. We would be in really deep trouble if this group was led by someone who is mentally ill and would do anything to hold onto power. I would hope government officials who are not a member of this group would take immediate action to stop such a group. If they are members of such a group, I would think their actions would give them away as they would come out in support of ‘the deep state.”

Paul R. Eitson

Birmingham, Alabama