Leftist madness infected my Connecticut town council now Im at risk

“Nazi bootlickers” are running rampant in Milford, Conn.— and apparently I’m one of them.That is, according to a local Democratic committee member who hurled invective at me and other Republican aldermen at a public meeting this month.The accusation reflected a growing national sickness: The harsh political rhetoric that led to Charlie Kirk’s assassination is eating away at the roots of American politics — our local town councils.  The ugliness exploded after our town’s elected GOP aldermen declined to approve Democratic nominee Toni Lombardi to temporarily fill a vacant seat on the board.

 At that, Nadine Padowicz — a member of the Milford Democrat Town Committee — slammed us as “homegrown Nazis,” simply for our affiliation with President Donald Trump.In her remarks, Padowicz called Trump a “thug who is destroying our democracy” and said we Republicans “lick his boots.”“You know what happens to Nazi bootlickers? They get kicked in the teeth,” she said threateningly.Her words violated our town’s rules of public comment, which prohibit personal attacks and derogatory language.Worse, they crippled the civic spirit that has historically bound neighbors together — even when we disagree.The crowd’s reaction was just as disturbing: Attendees shouted and cheered their support of Padowicz’s insults.The atmosphere grew so tense that police were called to intervene if necessary.A keffiyeh-wearing local lingered in the hallways after the meeting, shouting “Shame!”It was all in stark contrast to Milford’s slogan, “A Small City with a Big Heart.”This episode in my hometown is a microcosm of a larger collapse in civility.The same dehumanizing rhetoric that has infected national politics is now seeping into local government meetings and community life.In recent weeks we’ve seen how words like “fascist” or “Nazi” can inspire real violence: Kirk’s assassin Tyler Robinson engraved a bullet casing with the words, “...