We currently have a president who is literally a convicted felon, but so what? Wasn’t he absolved of any crimes when a simple majority of Americans elected him president? Besides, the crime that made him a felon normally would have been considered a misdemeanor except for extenuating circumstances that the Democrats used to elevate it to a felony. Right?

Everyone would agree that an insurrectionist should not be sitting in the Oval Office. However, not everyone agrees that there is one sitting there now. Many have rationalized that the attack on the Capitol was justified because the election was stolen or it wasn’t Donald Trump’s doing. But, on August 2, 2023 a federal grand jury indicted Trump on charges related to his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election, including conspiracy to defraud the United States. This means that the Jury decided there was enough evidence against him to go to trial. Videos, testimony and facts unequivocally point to Donald Trump’s guilt.

Testimony by White House staff showed that he knew people in the crowd were armed, but he sent them to the Capitol anyway. Testimony also indicated that he was going to go to the Capitol himself, but the Secret Service allegedly refused to take him. According to multiple reports, Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, called Trump to call off the riot but he refused. Additionally, it was reported that Trump wanted to tell the demonstrators that they would be pardoned. This was corroborated by his outrageous abuse of power, pardoning all the convicted rioters including the most violent, thus approving the attack on the Capitol. When a person says the same thing over and over again with conviction some people will believe it, especially people who want to believe it. This is what happened with the big lie. The only people trying to steal the election were Trump, his fraudulent electors and his minions. The only reason Trump isn’t in prison is that he has the best lawyers and spin doctors that money can buy and trials were delayed long enough that he could win the election.

So what? He’s president now so why not just get over it? The problem is, we have an autocratic president usurping congressional prerogatives, who is willing to disregard constitutional and international law. Forty psychiatrists and mental health experts have collectively concluded that Trump is a growing and existential danger to American democracy and global stability and that his psychological deficits and dysfunctions make him unfit for office.

We need to vote in a Congress that will restore the balance of power between the legislative and executive branches of the government.

Dennis Lankford

Tullahoma