LETTER: Jan. 6 should make your choice simple
If you’re one of the people who is still in the undecided camp for the 2024 presidential election, I want to have a word or two with you: Jan. 6.
For me, that shorthand term stirs memories of other shocking events that immediately bring bad memories in just a few words, like the JFK assassination or the World Trade Center. That date nearly four years ago was another day that will live in infamy.
Even if you have decided on a presidential candidate, remember those two words and that day-Jan. 6-when you go to the polls in two weeks. Only one of the two major candidates for president had a direct role in stirring up an angry crowd for an assault on the Capitol as well as on democracy.
And even if you believe Donald Trump’s weak defense that he had encouraged his followers to march “peacefully” – spoken just once near the end of his volatile rally on the Ellipse – why did he wait more than three hours before asking them to disperse? That’s an unadulterated dereliction of duty.
Don’t rely on what the flood of campaign ads try to tell you via exaggeration, half truths, and outright lies. Believe what your own eyes told you as the assault on the Capitol unfolded. Believe what U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy and U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell initially stated during and after the attack that they had lived through, and not the rewrite of history suggested by the GOP.
Above all, be honest with yourself that you truly know who authored one of the darkest days in U.S. history, and whether that candidate deserves your vote for the office of president.
Bernard Quarrick
Uniontown