Little Connection Between Riot and Other Protests

To the Editor:

I appreciated the tone of Judge Weber’s comments in this paper on Tuesday. Congress is in deadlock, and has been since the Obama presidency, when Senate Majority Leader McConnell refused to back any agenda of the President regardless of merit. As Judge Weber said, we are a divided country, and never in my memory has the division been more clear and seemingly unbridgeable.

However, I see little connection between the violent attack on the Capitol and the mostly peaceful marches last summer protesting police killings of black men. Yes, there were some looters, and angry displays against federal buildings, but the event we say last week was of an entirely different order. This was an armed attack and invasion of the seat of our government by violent men carrying guns with armor-piercing bullets, concussion bombs, clubs, bear spay and zip ties - presumably to take hostages. Five people died, including a Capitol policeman, and several other policemen were injured.

This attack was a direct result of lies and conspiracy theories circulating on the internet that the election was stolen by fraud. Those lies originated with President Trump, who said before the election that the only way he could lose would be because of fraud. Those lies were repeated endlessly, even on irresponsible television news programs, and even though the President’s own Department of Homeland Security said that November’s election was the most secure and successful in our history.

President Trump continued to repeat those lies right up to his speech at the White House the afternoon of the attack - encouraging the mob to “march to the Capitol” and to “fight like hell.” The President incited this attack and is being impeached for it now as a seditious attack on our government - an event unprecedented in our history. That such a thing could happen in our country - the oldest and most successful democracy - is almost unimaginable.

Shame on all those Republican congressmen and senators who know the truth and refused to approve state electors - they should be censored by their own bodies. This attack was a direct result of President Trump’s refusal to accept election results and his active encouragement of violence. We are in real trouble if reasonable, educated people won’t see reality when it’s right in front of their faces.

Mary Belle Rogers

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