In 2016, more than 8,000 people in Fountain Hills voted for Donald Trump for president. Is the Trump they voted for fundamentally different from the person recently named in four criminal indictments for actions before, during and after his presidency?

Before the 2016 election, Trump attacked a Gold Star family. He mocked a disabled journalist. He boasted about sexual assaults of women and numerous women claimed that he had assaulted them. He encouraged violence. Candidate Trump also made clear that he would not accept election results unless he was declared the winner.

The Trump administration was characterized by chaos, corruption, use of government power to seek wealth and personal political gain, and an attempted insurrection. We should not be shocked that Donald Trump has now been accused of many serious crimes.

I’ve spent considerable time in Fountain Hills visiting family and I’ve found the people there friendly and gracious. How could so many nice people make such a grievous error as voters? Were they seriously misled by right-wing media outlets like Fox News, Breitbart, The Daily Signal and The Wall Street Journal?

Ultimately, Republicans in Fountain Hills and elsewhere need to recognize that Donald Trump represents only a path to dictatorship or political oblivion.

Republicans can regain their stature as a respected political movement only by reconstituting a forward-looking, coherent political philosophy and a substantive, evidence-based public policy agenda that serves the nation broadly. You have respected Republican political leaders like former Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives, Russell “Rusty” Bowers, who can lead such an effort.

Trump’s self-interested “leadership” was always a road leading nowhere. The only way forward for Republicans is to reject right-wing radicalism and engage constructively with others to deal with climate change, aggressive foreign powers and the many other challenges we all face.