Donald Trump and his aiders and abettors (Reps. Jim Jordan and Matt Goetz, chief of staff Mark Meadows, Sens. Tom Cotton and Lindsey Graham, former Rep. Newt Gingrich, Fox News’ Sean Hannity and many others), have spent the past month since the election — which Joe Biden won with a large majority of both popular and electoral votes and which has been proven to have been accomplished without any fraud — demanding that said election be overthrown. I believe they should be charged with and tried for sedition: conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the lawful authority of the state.
The members of Congress who are aiding and abetting Trump have violated their oath of office, which requires them to swear that they will support and defend the Constitution. Trump (and governors such as Florida’s Ron DeSantis and South Dakota’s Kristi Noem) should be charged with and tried for dereliction of duty and crimes against humanity for the deliberate undermining of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has cost the lives of nearly 300,000 Americans so far. That number will likely increase to more than half a million by April 1, in part because of Trump’s obstruction of Biden’s transition.
If elected officials are not held to account for what I believe to be their criminal behavior, the message sent to future leaders will be clear: such malfeasance by the powerful is unpunishable. They are all manifestly un-American and treasonous.
ALICE MORRISON
Newbury, Vt.
Some have finally ascertained that Donald Trump has been a treasonous president. Some of us knew this four years ago.
Recall when Hillary Clinton — a highly intelligent woman and, as usual, hated for it — advised us of Trump and Russia? Recall as Trump wielded his personal black magic over the nation while we sat and watched like dopes, instead of taking to the streets.
Treasonous Republicans and deplorable white nationalists dominated our imaginations. We have allowed propaganda machines like Fox News and its octopus-armed relatives to take over “news” and scream “fire” throughout society.
These McCarthyite tactics must be stopped in their tracks. The white supremacists must crawl back in their holes, never to raise their rotten, killing notions again. Someone has to call out and punish this horrifying behavior.
For 40 years, the bad boys at the top of the food chain — Democrats and Republicans alike — have been giving away the common good. No more. The virus infecting us is so much bigger than COVID-19. Stop the plague of lies, killing, deception, terrible behavior, bullying. You don’t “talk people down” and “make nice” while the destruction of your community takes place. Stand up. Put your big person pants on. Together, we can reclaim and reimagine our common good.
VICKI WARD
Barnard