Letter: Save democracy from Trump’s ‘Big Lie’ of election fraud
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FILE – In this July 24, 2021, file photo former President Donald Trump speaks on a variety of topics to supporters at a Turning Point Action gathering in Phoenix. The midsummer race for Ohio’s traditionally Republican 15th Congressional District wouldn’t typically get much national attention. But it’s suddenly becoming a high-stakes test of Trump’s endorsement power, which he has wielded as a cudgel to silence opposition in the GOP. Trump has endorsed Mike Carey, a coal lobbyist who is among 10 Republicans jockeying to replace former GOP Rep. Steve Stivers, who retired from Congress earlier this year. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
Regarding “AP Fact Check: Trump is relentless in election fabrications” (July 24): The propaganda-laden big lie, propelled by victimized grievance, appeals to a susceptible population that is being played and betrayed. It doesn’t matter that audits, recounts and scores of election-fraud lawsuits in multiple jurisdictions were deemed meritless.
Donald Trump’s big lie has bled into distorted and sordid views of the Jan. 6 insurrection, where one officer died and 140 suffered injury. Riding the wave of post-truth sentiment, fist-raising Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley hauled in millions of donor dollars over his result-decertification attempt. Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson, prince of skillful innuendo and disinformation, mused whether the perpetrators were the FBI. Still others labeled them tourists or patriots. Trump claimed they were a “loving crowd.” And the former president racked up $75 million for his political action committee in the process.
Based on the spurious “stop the steal” mania, 18 state legislatures passed a torrent of voter restriction laws, some of which actually attempt to grant partisan legislators the power to override election results.
Shameless GOP lawmakers, whether vocally or muted, have sown distrust in our secure elections and must be held responsible for the corrosive stain left on their party, history and democracy. Americans of all political persuasions must not allow our democracy to die as a result of lies and silence.
Doris Schwartz • Chesterfield
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