Opinion: Vote Trump out of Bristol County

Oct 19, 2022

To the editor:

In Bristol County the voters have an ideal opportunity to register their complete and utter rejection of Donald Trump and his brand of ego-centric nativism by electing a new Sheriff to replace Thomas Hodgson.

The pronouncements, hate spewing and divisive rhetoric that was the hallmark of the Trump presidency has continued in the speeches and interviews of Thomas Hodgson, who had spent endless out- of state trips to Washington D.C., Texas and to  white supremacist meetings and conferences, trying to impress Trump and his minions.

Just as Trump amassed an enormous list of losing court battles, so too has Hodgson been the defeated  defendant in so many law suits over the twenty five years as sheriff.  

It’s easy to discern just how aligned he is with Trump by the glowing endorsement Hodgson publicly declared at the Republican Convention when he likened Trump to Benjamin Franklin and John Adams and declaring Trump to be “a great patriot.”

Previously, Hodgson’s rhetoric and fear mongering affected those incarcerated, his staff and the taxpayers, but his most recent pivot to election denier has the potential to threaten the basic foundation of our democracy: the unobstructed right of all Americans to vote.

The media is rife with articles describing the concocted, distorted and patently false accusations of vote tampering, and the ever increasing organizing of white supremacist organizations mobilizing to interfere with the upcoming elections.

 As an advisory board member of FAIR (Federation for American Immigration Reform)  and as a Co-founder of PAN ( Protect America Now) two organizations continuously identified in articles as affiliating with national groups that are aggressively threatening to monitor upcoming elections, Hodgson has yet to disclaim or deny their objectives.

If ever it was imperative to remove Thomas Hodgson for all the proven harm, expense and threats to the community, it is now.

Betty Ussach,

Dartmouth