To the editor:
To begin, and to be clear, I address the first part of this essay to you, the politicians listed below.
Let’s get something else straight right from the start. January 6 was a Trump-inspired coup attempt.
Trump has tried to justify that coup as a reaction to his wholly unsupported claim that Biden stole the 2020 election. And finally, let’s understand that there is not one single tiny, microscopically miniscule shred of evidence to support the claim that the election was stolen. If it were there, at least one court would have supported the claim that the election was tainted. None did. So, Cruz and Hawley and Clyde and the rest of you Congresspeople, you are smart enough to tell the difference between a truth and a falsehood but too cowardly to admit it. The fraud was foisted on the world by a loser, Trump. And every single one of you will live with the shame that you knew, you all knew, and you either embraced it or chose to ignore it.
You were in the halls of the Capitol on January 6. It was you who ran for shelter from the mob, not from a happy group of tourists. It was you who watched the January 6 hearings, saw armed thugs and hangman nooses in front of the Capitol at the same time the traitors called for the lynching of the vice president of the United States and the shooting of the speaker of the House “in the friggin brain.”
You, the politicians, know that Trump, on his way to join his army of traitors, demanded that he be taken to the epicenter of the coup attempt, and, when his driver warned that it was too dangerous because the traitors were armed, Trump confidently said it was perfectly safe because they were not there to shoot him. Of course not. They were there to maim and threaten and bludgeon those who stood between him and another term as president. But that was not what kept him from a stolen second term. It was, in the first instance, the American voters who did that by giving Biden 306 electoral college votes to Trump’s 232. And in the popular vote, Biden received 81,282,916 to Trump’s 74,223,369. Had the election been closer—and it was not close—the lies would have been more outrageous and inflammatory, more vicious and destructive of our institutions.
You, the politicians whom I list below, also know that while Trump’s private militia was chanting, “Hang Mike Pence,” and Trump refused to call off the attack, Trump’s own chief of staff said to Trump’s White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, “You heard him, Pat. He thinks Mike [Pence] deserves it. He doesn’t think they [those chanting for the vice president’s execution] are doing anything wrong.”
All of you knew it then, and all of you know it now. It hasn’t stopped you from lying about Trump’s empty claim about the election having been stolen from him or about the insurrection he instigated and the encouragement he gave to the rioters to “fight like hell” at the Capitol to prevent certification of the Biden victory.
Everyone in the country saw it, the world saw it, live and in technicolor. You, the politicians, took the deaths, the proudly carried symbols of some of the most terrifying movements in history, the assaults on police officers as evidence that January 6 merely showed tourists gathering to honor America. You, Georgia Representative Andrew Clyde (R), actually said:
Watching the TV footage of those who entered the Capitol and walked through Statuary Hall showed people in an orderly fashion staying between the stanchions and ropes taking videos and pictures. You know, if you didn’t know the TV footage was a video from January the 6th, you would actually think it was a normal tourist visit.
You, Clyde, are either a knowing liar or certifiably insane.
And then there is Missouri Senator Josh Hawley (R). As you walked by the Capitol on January 6, you raised your fist in support of the insurrectionists. You made the gesture not because you thought the mob was made up of tourists enjoying a visit to the Capitol. You did it precisely because you knew they were not tourists. You were watching in real time as the criminals (many of whom are now in prison for their acts, a condition Trump has promised to remedy with a pardon if elected) were actually in the process of destroying the seat of our government and desecrating the symbol of the United States. Mobs, traitors, and insurrectionists do not get fist salutes from senators for storming the Capitol, at least not until January 6 when Hawley graced them with one. Perhaps, Senator Hawley, you mistook the Confederate flags, the smashing of windows, the well-crafted hangman’s noose, the sting of bear spray in the air, and the assault on police officers as signs of tourists gathering to honor America.
It was you, the politicians, who experienced the insurrection live, smelled the fear and the bear spray, sensed the terror as the crazed Trump militia looked for victims and souvenirs, armed with weapons and stoked to fury by Trump. It was you, elected officials of the United States of America, being chased by Nazi-flag-carrying lunatics. That was you. And you would turn around after calm was restored and talk about the interesting day you spent with tourists. What is the matter with you? All in the service of Trump who orchestrated the false narrative of a threat to democracy so that he could become the hero, the savior, who defused the political bomb planted by his political rivals. Thus, Trump could say justice was done and it was he who saved the republic from the Democratic election thieves. Not unlike the police officer Jimmy Wade Pearson at the 1984 Atlanta Olympics who claimed to discover a bomb on a bus, raced onto the bus, tore the wires from the device, and was hailed as a hero. He was arrested the next day when it was found he had planted the bomb. He, at least, pled guilty.
And as for you, the readers of this essay and hopefully voters in the upcoming election, these are the names of the seditious, ignorant, naïve, delusional, or cowardly politicians in the halls of Congress who helped perpetuate the lie and objected to the certification of the 2020 election. If they have left office, make sure they never win another election. If they are still your state or districts’ representatives and senators, hold them accountable.
You, the politicians who enabled Trump, you who are listed below who were complicit in his crimes, who in fact aided and abetted him in the commission of those crimes, can perhaps salvage some of your disgraced legacy by admitting what you did. That will free the millions of Americans, whom you helped to embrace a false idol, to cast their votes for someone whose campaign poster is not his mug shot. Your knowing wrongdoing against this nation, your support for the outrageous lies Trump used to exploit the fears he himself planted must now be rejected by you. You cannot be silent. Better to admit that he duped you, as he did millions of others, than to give him a pass and not embrace the truth. He played you. But you should have known better. There was a Constitution to guide you. There was an oath you took. You dressed the emperor, but the suit he persuaded you to tailor was foul and corrupt.
And you, the MAGA supporters, who bend the knee at his rallies, who wear hats saying that you “are voting for the convicted felon,” you too are the victims. There may be regret but no shame in admitting that you fell prey to one of the world’s great con men. When the truth became clear, the folks who were defrauded by Madoff of their savings, their nest eggs, their secure futures, realized and accepted that they were scammed. They acknowledged that they fell for the lies they hoped were truths. They lost money. But, if you do not admit to the truth you now know, you and the rest of us will lose something more valuable than money: We will all lose the inheritance paid for with the blood and courage of those who made the American dream the envy of the world. Trump and those listed below must fall not to insurrection and the sword, but to the gift that was given to us all and which they continue to threaten: our democracy, our freedoms, and your vote.
Let the following tremble at the power of your vote. Let them admit to the falsehoods they have helped spread. Let their recanting of the lies help begin our nation’s healing. Let it expose the false messiah; let him stand alone as those he betrayed admit that he fed them lies. That done, we can fulfill the promise made nearly 250 years ago to make our Union more perfect. We must not be the Americans who let that promise be gutted.
House members who objected to the certification of the 2020 election:
Aderholt (R – Ala.)
Allen (R – Ga.)
Arrington (R – Texas)
Babin (R – Texas)
Baird (R – Ind.)
Banks (R – Ind.)
Bergman (R – Mich.)
Bice (R – Okla.)
Biggs (R – Ariz.)
Bishop (R – N.C.)
Boebert (R – Colo.)
Bost (R – Ill.)
Brooks (R – Ala.)
Budd (R – N.C.)
Burchett (R – Tenn.)
Burgess (R – Texas)
Calvert (R – Calif.)
Cammack (R – Fla.)
Carl (R – Ala.)
Carter (R – Ga.)
Carter (R – Texas)
Cawthorn (R – N.C.)
Cline (R – Va.)
Cloud (R – Texas)
Clyde (R – Ga.)
Cole (R – Okla.)
Crawford (R – Ark.)
Davidson (R – Ohio)
DesJarlais (R – Tenn.)
Diaz-Balart (R – Fla.)
Donalds (R – Fla.)
Duncan (R – S.C.)
Dunn (R – Fla.)
Estes (R – Kan.)
Fallon (R – Texas)
Fischbach (R – Minn.)
Fitzgerald (R – Wis.)
Fleischmann (R – Tenn.)
Franklin, C. Scott (R – Fla.)
Fulcher (R – Idaho)
Gaetz (R – Fla.)
Garcia (R – Calif.)
Gibbs (R – Ohio)
Gimenez (R – Fla.)
Gohmert (R – Texas)
Good (R – Va.)
Gooden (R – Texas)
Gosar (R – Ariz.)
Graves (R – Mo.)
Green (R – Tenn.)
Greene (R – Ga.)
Griffith (R – Va.)
Guest (R – Miss.)
Hagedorn (R – Minn.)
Harris (R – Md.)
Harshbarger (R – Tenn.)
Hartzler (R – Mo.)
Hern (R – Okla.)
Herrell (R – N.M.)
Hice (R – Ga.)
Higgins (R – La.)
Hudson (R – N.C.)
Issa (R – Calif.)
Jackson (R – Texas)
Jacobs (R – N.Y.)
Johnson (R – Ohio)
Johnson (R – La.)
Jordan (R – Ohio)
Joyce (R – Pa.)
Kelly (R – Miss.)
Kelly (R – Pa.)
LaMalfa (R – Calif.)
Lamborn (R – Colo.)
LaTurner (R – Kan.)
Lesko (R – Ariz.)
Long (R – Mo.)
Loudermilk (R – Ga.)
Lucas (R – Okla.)
Luetkemeyer (R – Mo.)
Malliotakis (R – N.Y.)
Mann (R – Kan.)
Mast (R – Fla)
McCarthy (R – Calif.)
McClain (R – Mich.)
Miller (R – Ill.)
Miller (R – W.Va.)
Moore (R – Ala.)
Mullin (R – Okla.)
Nehls (R – Texas)
Norman (R – S.C.)
Nunes (R – Calif.)
Obernolte (R – Calif.)
Palazzo (R – Miss.)
Palmer (R – Ala.)
Perry (R – Pa.)
Pfluger (R – Texas)
Posey (R – Fla.)
Reschenthaler (R – Pa.)
Rice (R – S.C.)
Rogers (R – Ala.)
Rogers (R – Ky.)
Rose (R – Tenn.)
Rosendale (R – Mont.)
Rouzer (R – N.C.)
Rutherford (R – Fla.)
Scalise (R – La.)
Sessions (R – Texas)
Smith (R – Mo.)
Smith (R – Neb.)
Steube (R – Fla.)
Tiffany (R – Wis.)
Timmons (R – S.C.)
Van Drew (R – N.J.)
Walberg (R – Mich.)
Walorski (R – Ind.)
Weber (R – Texas)
Webster (R – Fla.)
Williams (R – Texas)
Wilson (R – S.C.)
Wright (R – Texas)
Zeldin (R – N.Y.)
Senators who objected to the certification of the 2020 election:
Ted Cruz (Texas)
Josh Hawley (Mo.)
Cindy Hyde-Smith (Miss)
Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.)
John Kennedy (La.)
Roger Marshall (Kan.)
Rick Scott (Fla.)
Tommy Tuberville (Ala.)
Douglas Cooper
South Egremont
Click here to read The Berkshire Edge’s policy for submitting Letters to the Editor.
