I’ll begin this by saying that the attack on the House of Representatives on Jan. 6 was not something that I ever expected to see in the United States; but, the last riot in Washington, D.C., was only a couple of months prior to this when anti-Trump rioters attacked public and private buildings and federal officers.
I also fully support the arrest and bringing to justice of hundreds of the Jan. 6 rioters; they deserve to be held accountable for their actions.
Of course, very few of the thousands of rioters in cities across the U.S. during the months leading up to the general election were ever charged or held accountable for the hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to public and private property or the injuries to law enforcement officers and to innocent citizens like you and me.
According to accommodating local politicians, they were peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights and if simply left alone to continue the destruction and seizing of property, they would wear themselves out. Some prominent Democrat politicians even organized bail money to free those who were arrested from jail.
A recent letter writer to the Sun started his comments concerning the attack on the Capitol by writing, “I have a few thoughts regarding the Jan. 6 attack on the United States Congress coordinated by Donald Trump and his team and carried out by his supporters,” (“Trump followers need to grow up,” Jan. 14).
So far there have only been commentaries from media shills and Democrat politicians that would lead you to believe that the destruction and mayhem was coordinated by “Donald Trump and his team.” To be sure, it was irresponsible to spend several weeks hyping your supporters with claims of “election fraud” when none has been established in several court cases, but that’s a long way from coordinating an attack on Congress.
It was also shortsighted to think that a large crowd like those that gathered and who were angry at the outcome of the election couldn’t be easily sparked into a riot like the one that occurred, but it wasn’t even alleged by House Democrats in their Articles of Impeachment that the Trump team coordinated anything, only that he exercised his free speech rights, much like many others have in the past, and that led to the riot.
Was Trump wrong to take the course of action that he did following the election? Yes.
Is it wrong to allege a conspiracy that has not been established by anyone except Trump haters? Yes.
Ron Fink
Lompoc
