TO THE EDITOR:

Donald Trump told 30,573 lies and misrepresentations of facts during his 4-year presidency. (The Washington Post) This unprecedented “decay of truth” is poisonous to democracy. The treasonous lie that the election was stolen from him (it wasn’t), that he won (he didn’t), attempted to question the fact that more U.S. Citizens voted for President Joe Biden than him.

And on January 6, 2021 he not only repeated that lie, but said to a crowd of supporters “if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore”. That mob attacked the U.S. Capitol, and five people died. He incited domestic terrorism to mount a coup and must be held accountable. Facts, and evidence, and reality matter.

In 1923, Adolf Hitler led a failed coup. He was treated leniently. Germany moved on. A decade later, he was a dictator, and the worst disaster in the history of the civilized world ensued. In 2021, when the president of the United States leads a failed coup, we must not move on.

Debra Carlson

Clear Lake, MN