Jan. 2, 2026 Editor, The News-Gazette: We must be very careful lest, as President Trump proves himself to be unfit for office, we do not wind up having Vice President J.D. Vance become president!
Vance is sane, very intelligent, and a religious man — but he is also an authoritarian who does not believe in the equal separation of executive, legislative, and judicial powers. That separation, as we have been finding out, is essential to the democracy that our nation’s founders gave to us. We do not need a king Vance any more than we need a king Trump or any other king.
Big corporate money loves and would put its power behind an all-powerful executive branch, but that would not give us the safeguard of laws that keep us all equal and free. Jefferson wrote: “The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.” JOHN BLACKLEY Lexington
