May 13, 2026 Editor, The News-Gazette: I drove down Main Street on Monday and saw an image on the window of the Rockbridge Area Republican Committee (RARC) building that I thought was doubly embarrassing.
First, the picture is obviously and poorly AI-generated, rather than made by a real artist, and features Donald Trump Sr. seated next to an unknown brunette woman (likely not his third wife, as the woman is depicted smiling). Secondly, and perhaps more mortifying, was that President Trump is portrayed wearing the regalia of a king.
While it may be intended as a way to “own the libs” and mock the “No Kings” movement, it actually serves as repudiation of RARC itself. Elevating anyone, much less Trump, to a royal position is the opposite of both republicanism and Republicanism.
The “Republican” Party is no longer the party of Reagan, family values, or principled conservatism. Instead, all purported principles and values have been abandoned in favor of servile deference to one flawed man, who thinks only of enriching and empowering himself to the detriment of us freedom-loving Americans.
In this 250th anniversary year of our nation’s independence from oppressive monarchy, I hope that the RARC and similarly minded people refute hatedriven subservience and join us patriots once again in the great American project of forming a more perfect union. JAMES WHITE Lexington
