It is sad to see Sen. Collins buying into President Trump’s election-scam of blaming the Democrats for refusing to roll over and give up on protecting the American people in the face of the impending economic catastrophe we face at the end of the expired assistance agreement.

She calls it blackmail when her opponents commit financial resources to defeating her in November after her Senate votes on court judges and tax cuts. Trump’s executive orders are real blackmail behind his sleight-of-hand: 1) suspend payroll tax payments because they would get billed later if we don’t re-elect him, and 2) propose $4 trillion to continue unemployment support, but now make the states pay a quarter of that just as the state revenues are collapsing because of the pandemic’s impact on their economies — though, of course (heh, heh!) they can beg for relief.

That’s to say nothing of the fact that Trump’s failure to address the pandemic seriously is what got us here. We need to wake up and get rid of this administration in November along with his enablers, such as Sen. Collins.

Philip Keith, Farmington