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To the editor:

Representative Brad Finstad, do you want to be relevant?

Donald Trump is rendering you irrelevant. Donald Trump is rendering the entire Congress irrelevant. To date, he has not signed a single significant piece of legislation. However, he has signed 143 executive orders and counting. Many or most of them have violated either a Congress-enacted law or the Constitution directly.

He does not need Congress. He governs by executive order. He owns the Department of Justice. It will not enforce the laws that Congress has passed. He has already begun ignoring the courts, including the Supreme Court, so rulings against him don’t really matter.

If you left Washington today and never returned, the effect wouldn’t even be a ripple. If you do not run for reelection, the only difference it will make is in your federal paycheck.

You have one chance to matter, but time is running short. You must grow a spine and stand up for yourself, your constituents, and the Constitution. I refuse to believe that you think what Mr. Trump is doing is right, decent, legal, or moral. You are better than that.

Yes, it’s scary. Trump knows how to end the career of any Republican who stands up to him. And if he did? You wouldn’t get that federal paycheck. Nothing else would change.

But if you are a leader, if you do stand up to him, you may give a few other Republicans the courage to do so as well. Maybe enough to matter. Think of that: You would matter!

Mr. Finstad, you are our Representative. We need you.

Larry Herbison

Austin, MN