Letters to the editor can be submitted to news@chronline.com.
I am responding to the recent letter to the editor from Sheryl Issacson, Chehalis, dated Feb. 3 which was titled, “More than one side is to blame for unrest.”
My quick response is, no, only Trump and his fanatical supporters who committed the insurrection at our Capitol are to blame. Even Mitch McConnell, Senate Republican leader, blamed Trump for the riot at the Capitol saying, “They were provoked by the President and other powerful people, and they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government which they did not like. But we pressed on. We stood together and said an angry mob would not get veto power over the rule of law in our nation, not even for one night. We certified the people’s choice for their 46th president.”
Trump has spent years undermining and questioning the legitimacy of our democratic norms and institutions, including our elections. When Obama was reelected, Trump said the election was “a total sham.” Prior to the 2016 election, Trump said it was rigged, unless he won. Then when he won the Electoral College but lost the popular vote, he said the election was rigged because he hadn’t won the popular vote.
Trump promoted the “Stop the Steal” protest in D.C. as early as Dec. 19 and promised it would “be wild.” Even though Trump’s excellent lawyers with so much evidence of fraud filed lawsuits in every state, all of the lawsuits were dismissed, many by judges appointed by Trump. Even the Trump-appointed Justices to the Supreme Court failed to hold in his favor. Republican governors and secretaries of state, many of whom were Trump supporters, said the election was free and fair, as did Trump’s Attorney General William Barr.
However, every day after the election, Trump and his minions continuously pushed baseless theories of a rigged, stolen election, inciting the mob who committed the insurrection. And at his speech just prior to the insurrection, Trump promised he would be marching with the mob to the Capitol, but of course, he didn’t.
Comparing the Black Lives Matter protestors to the mob that committed the insurrection at the Capitol is a false analogy. The BLM protests were against racial injustice, police brutality and white supremacy. The Trump supporters committed an insurrection (a revolt against our established government). They most certainly were not lovers of our Constitution.
Furthermore, the BLM protests did not occur only in Democratic states, they occurred in all 50 states and in many countries around the world. Additionally, our friends/relatives who are in the police and state troopers in various states across our country have told my husband and me that there are problems with racial bias and white supremacy within their departments. It is a real problem that must be addressed.
Normal political rhetoric did not incite this insurrection. The blame can be squarely placed at the feet of Trump and his fanatical supporters.
Susan Miller
Onalaska
