Republicans bravely called out former guy Trump during January 6 insurrection committee hearings

The riot took place on January 6, 2021, as Congress was meeting to certify Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election. The Capitol was put on lockdown, and it took several hours for it to be secured. Lawmakers evacuated the House and Senate chambers. Vice President Mike Pence was also moved to a safe location.

January 6 Committee lays out election theft scheme that nearly got Vice President Mike Pence killed

Opinion echo letter published in LancasterOnline, in Pennsylvania and the Susquehanna Valley.

In my opinion, the former guy Donald Trump was and continues to be a danger to democracy. 

If you watch (and everyone should) the U.S. House January 6 select committee hearings, you will see how Trump’s lies and fabricated stories about a stolen election violated the Constitution and turned people against those who upheld their oaths and the rule of law.

The hearings do not involve Democrats testifying. 

Instead, the witnesses are mostly Trump-appointed staff members and administrators, as well as Republican office-holders at state and local levels, testifying about how Trump lied, tried to coerce officials into subverting election laws and convinced his followers to believe the Big Lie.

Trump’s lies have filtered so deeply into the Republican Party that many GOP politicians have endorsed the Big Lie. 

In fact, about half of Republican candidates who have endorsed the Big Lie have won primaries so far this year (❗).

In other words, we have the potential of more and more elected officials who will bring the attitude that they can defy election results and the will of voters and ignore the Constitution if elected to office.

Moreover, in New Mexico earlier this month, a Republican-led commission borrowed a page from Trump’s playbook refused to certify a state primary vote, claiming the voting machines couldn’t be trusted. Only after the New Mexico Supreme Court intervened were the results certified. This is one of many incidents in which Trump’s lies are having an adverse effect on democracy.

If Trump runs for president again in 2024 and, God forbid, wins, then I fear that democracy will suffer beyond repair.

From George Mavros in East Hempfield Township, in Pennsylvania