To the Editor:
This is not a new formula for creating social unrest and violence. Here’s how it goes. First, you create fear: Fear of losing things, like safety, family or individual virtue, or social status or income, or political power, or an election, etc.
Next, you steer that fear into blame, anger, and hatred toward a group, a race, or a person. Then, when your followers act out your not-so-subtle hints for punishment and violence toward your intended target, you protect them from social criticism and you actively reward them with your approval, recognition, and praise. You cultivate and coordinate these violent groups with each succeeding event that utilizes the violence you want.
Each event is a dress rehearsal leading toward the final event or goal. In this case, the overthrowing of an election and installing of himself as a dictator. Of course, he would not call himself a dictator, but instead the “real” or the ‘legally elected president.”
Trump hardly did this alone. Almost the entire Republican Party supported and repeated Trump’s big lie. Right-wing propaganda sources, like Fox News and other outlets, reported outlandish stories about rigged voting machines, rigged voting systems, and the trashing of Republican ballots, etc.
Trump was emboldened by how easy it was to hoodwink right-wing voters. His scheme was catching on and exploding big time.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, every one of the 61 election fraud lawsuits Trump filed failed and lost, as did the seven totally fruitless vote recounts.
Instead of validating the election, Trump said it only showed how pervasive and big the left-wing election fraud was, which was stealing the “landslide” election from him.
Our Rep. Jeff Van Drew is a “perfect” example. He voted against the certification of the totally legal and, I believe, accurate presidential election, plus he chose to ignore the 61 totally fruitless lawsuits and the seven fruitless recounts.
Then, he voted against the impeachment of the instigator of the violent and deadly insurrection. He did this either out of sheer gullibility, or worse.
This Republican cowardice continued into the Senate impeachment trial with Mitch McConnell refusing to take the House’s impeachment indictment until after the election and then refusing to convict Trump, even after McConnell said Trump was guilty because Trump was no longer in office.
