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Jan. 17, 2024 Editor, The News-Gazette: President Trump pressured Vice President Pence to disregard his constitutional duty to certify the Electoral College results on January 6th, 2020. Trump also schemed to create false electors in states where the Electoral College named his opponent the winner. In my opinion, those actions constitute a form of insurrection as Trump tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power and reverse election results.
An opinion was expressed in a recent letter to the editor of The News-Gazette that the U.S. government is exempt from acts of insurrection and only “kingships and dictatorships” can be “overthrown by insurrectionists.” Mirriam-Webster defines insurrection as: “an act or instance of revolting against civil authority or an established government” and does not exclude any form of government from being subject to insurrection. Our U.S. Constitution includes a safeguard against it.
Everyone has the right to express their opinions but we should be mindful not to posit our opinions as if they are facts.
The same letter described the January 6th rioters at the Capitol as a “rowdy crowd” who “ran a bit loose” venting “their grievances because their candidate lost” and implied they were justified because of the First Amendment’s Right to Freedom of Assembly. The Freedom of Assembly is “the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” The January 6th spectacle was not peaceful: dissidents were armed, lawmakers’ lives were threatened, the Capitol was degraded, people were injured, and most horrifically, people died.
In my opinion, it is a euphemism to refer to the rioters as a “rowdy crowd” as they were clearly intent on committing violence. If your opinion is the mob just “ran a bit loose” then you did not see what I saw: a terrifying horde intent on destruction and murder. J.K SMYTH Lexington
