To the editor:

I have but one question for any potential political candidate: Was the 2020 election stolen from Donald Trump? 

If millions of Americans answer in the affirmative, our democracy is doomed. Trump and his minions have been quite successful in sowing doubt around some of our foundational institutions: public health and education, for example, but he has his sights set on destroying the credibility of our elections and if his lies and misinformation convince enough of us (he doesn’t need a majority) that voter fraud is a real problem, our fragile democracy will not hold.

Trump’s plan to federalize elections is clearly unconstitutional, but this is certainly but the opening salvo in a careful plan that will be unfolding in the coming months. As the FBI raid on the Atlanta elections center shows, the DOJ is under orders to build a case to clearly show there were enough “improprieties” in the 2020 election to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the result. Despite massive evidence to the contrary, Trump has long insisted that mail-in balloting is rife with corruption.  He maintains that in blue states illegal aliens are voting in huge numbers, though anyone who has ever worked as an elections volunteer can tell you this is a preposterous claim.  Tell lies often enough and gullible people will start to believe them.

Joe Biden has a distinguished record of public service, but he made a huge blunder in not prosecuting Trump and his allies for their blatant attempt to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power and maintain Trump in office. Arrests should have been made the day Biden was inaugurated.  Now the same cast of disgraced characters who mounted the coup attempt in 2020 are hovering around the White House, eager to rewrite the history of Jan. 6, prove the election was stolen and confirm the infallibility of their exalted leader. 

Let’s tell the Trump administration we’re not going to forget what we saw with our own eyes on Jan. 6 and we’re not going to forget what we’re seeing going on right now in Minnesota and across the rest of the country; we’re not going to believe the lies. 

It is a national disgrace that those attempting to undermine our democracy are not being held to account.  How do we promote democracy abroad while we allow it to slip away at home?

Ray Clasen

North Fort Myers