Indefensible

To the editor:

To all those who support Donald Trump, I ask a simple question: What were you doing on Jan. 6, 2021?  Like Sept. 11, 2001, the day should be well remembered. 

I was at home, horrified by what I was seeing. Thousands of Americans, many armed, attacking the national capitol. A faux gallows erected with chants of “hang Mike Pence” echoing across the mall. A greatly outnumbered police force bravely attempting to hold off the mob. Officers being pepper sprayed and beaten, ironically some with poles bearing “thin blue line” flags. Makeshift battering rams smashing in doors, windows and walls scaled, reminiscent of a medieval castle being breached.

What does Trump say he saw that day? “Those J6 warriors — they were warriors — but they were, really, more than anything else, they’re victims.... All they were doing is protesting a rigged election. That’s what they were doing.” And he falsely alleged that cops were luring rioters into the capitol saying, “go in, go in, go in” to entrap them in what Trump called “a setup.”

In the end, 140 officers suffered serious bodily injuries and five died as a result of the assault.  Nearly $3 million in property damage was left to taxpayers. Worse yet, another American value destroyed by Trump — the peaceful transfer of power and a “normalization” of reacting violently to an election loss. 

Even if one overlooks the plethora of Trump atrocities — calling Neo-Nazis “fine people,” extorting an ally in exchange for dirt on an election rival, disrespecting fallen and injured U.S. soldiers, a botched Covid-19 response costing a million lives, bowing before Vladimir Putin on the world stage in Helsinki, etc. — January 6 should be a bridge too far for any serious-minded, decent American to cross. Trump supporters can rationalize all they want, but voting for this miscreant is indefensible.

Joseph Cannisi