Dear Editor:
Trump lost. Plain and simple. Fair and square. And by a margin that, had he actually won by the same amount, he’d be claiming that it was a historic landslide. His twisted little fantasy that he won, fueled by his enormously bloated ego and which has been bought into by so many people who are caught up in his personality cult, is obviously absurd.
Consider this. In the “court” of public opinion you can say any ridiculous unfounded thing and there’ll be people who believe you. In a Court of Law you don’t get to do that. You have to present real and convincing evidence. Trump’s legal minions lost almost sixty lawsuits in their efforts to overturn the will of the people. They were laughed out of court, their pitiful arguments and complete lack of any evidence solidified their reputation as purveyors of pathetic conspiracy theories and astounding legal incompetence.
Also consider the fact that Trump’s legal lapdog, Bill Barr, said there was no evidence of systemic fraud, the DHS said the election was the most secure in our nation’s history and the FBI reached the same conclusion. And every single state, many controlled by Republicans, certified their votes as secure and accurate.
Systemic voter fraud is a fairy tale, pushed by the Republican Party and the far right. Every single study of voter fraud, including even Trump’s own Commission has found no evidence of widespread fraud. Miniscule irregularities are expected when you have so many people voting but they are exceptionally rare and in recent history most of them seem to have been committed, ironically, by Republicans.
In reality the Republican Party has committed systemic voter fraud by suppressing the vote in minority communities, who normally vote Democratic. This has been going on for a very long time, is racist in execution if not ideology, is extremely well documented and is actually even acknowledged by Republican leadership. What happened in the 2020 Presidential Election was simply that enough citizens were appalled by Trump’s horrific Presidency that they actually came out and voted, to put an end to the Trump era.
However, Trump’s loss is not the end of the Trump era. Trump is emblematic of an underlying sickness in our country to which he gave a bigger voice. By and large this component of Trump’s supporters are the racists and bigots, even some who refuse to acknowledge their own racism and bigotry, who are frightened by their loss of status and control in a society that is making wonderful strides toward multiculturalism, equality and acceptance of all.
Many of these people think of themselves as “patriots” when, in reality, they are anything but. They claim to love and want to save our “democracy” but their love of democracy only applies when they win. We saw the clearest expression of this false patriotism on January 6 when hundreds of domestic fascist terrorists, egged on by Trump, Trump Jr. and Giuliani, carrying Trump and Confederate Battle Flags invaded the seat of our democracy in a subversive and seditious orgy of violence.
We have what appears to be our own homegrown nest of these so called “patriots”, the Patriots of Chaffee County, possibly one of the largest such groups in the country. According to reports, their Facebook page has already displayed violent language, speculations about hunting and skinning Antifa and doxing (publishing addresses and phone numbers) of our dedicated Chaffee County Public Health workers who are just doing their job to protect us from the ravages of COVID-19.
We must push back against these people, stay vigilant and reject their divisive ideologies, intimidation tactics and violence. Ideally we should engage in discussions with them about their beliefs and try to turn them from their corrosive ideas by convincing them that they are not “forgotten people” and that by embracing the positive demographic and attitudinal changes that are sweeping this country that they will make better lives for themselves, their fellow citizens and their communities. This effort may be unfruitful, however, because their ideologies are not rational, but rely instead on deep seated emotional responses arising out of fear and resulting in anger and sometimes violence.
All true Patriots who love our democracy, whether they win or lose and are mature enough to accept loss and then work through our wonderful system, to effect the changes they want to see, have to rise up, make themselves known and counter the cancer in our society that Trump has become the most visible symbol of. We are better than Trump and we need to assure that our great nation continues to be a beacon to the world.
Sincerely,
Eric Simons
Buena Vista
Sometimes, especially for our older citizens who are more isolated due to Covid, it seems as if these so called Patriots with their ear-splitting, delusional voices have taken over. Our election of a new president has been a difficult but definite move in the right direction. This letter, Mr. Simons, reminds us that level headed citizens are still in the majority.
Thank you! Well said.