Remember Jan. 6

To the editor:

Jan. 6 was the third anniversary of a riot at the U.S. Capitol. To mark the occasion, Donald Trump reminded us in a speech that the participants were patriots and that if he is elected president in 2024, they will be pardoned.

The day of the riot, a mob marched from the White House to the Capitol, ordered by Trump to “fight like hell” and “stop the steal.”

They proceeded to surround the Capitol, break through barricades, violently assault police, break windows, and crash through doors to try to stop Congress from certifying the presidental election.

I was sickened and disgusted by the images and reports of a failed attempt to stop a basic tenet of our constitutional democracy — free and fair elections with a peaceful transfer of power.

Despite the events of Jan. 6, 2021, continued denials of election results, and indictments for numerous felonies, Trump seems to be the Republican nominee for president in the 2024 election.

In 2016, 71% of Marion County voters went for Trump. In the 2020 election, 73% supported Trump.

Will voters in Marion County once again go to the polls and check the box for him? If I were a betting man, I would say yes given that a founder of the Marion County patriot party is now chairwoman of the Marion County Republican Party.

The raid on the Marion County Record demonstrates that some elected officials and law enforcement officers have little regard for freedom of the press, which Trump likes to refer to as an “enemy of the people.”

To state it simply, in schoolyard terms: Trump is a liar, a cheat, a braggart, a bully, and a coward and would never be elected class president in a decent school.

Harry E. Bennett
Madison, Wisconsin