Editor,

Regarding the Jan. 6 letter to the editor “Trump Should Not Be Removed From Ballot” by Fred Wilferth, Jan. 6: I cannot read Fred’s letters without wondering if they are written by someone who is lampooning Trump supporters. But then I think, no, this is too serious a time for that.

“What Trump did was make a speech and nothing more.” There are mountains of evidence that he had been working on his attempted coup since before 2016 (first the incessant lying about stolen elections, then he and his closest allies energetically organizing the attack after the 2020 loss). True, he wasn’t on the Capitol steps. He said he wanted to be there, but what mafia don is present at the scene of the crime?

As lives were threatened, and lost, against the backdrop of the gallows, Trump contentedly watched it all on TV. Did he know, but could not act? Or did he know, and not care to act? He should have called in the troops; he should have thanked his supporters for coming and sent them home, not to the Capitol; he should not have lured them to DC with the claim “it will be wild.” But he needed some unwitting fools to provide cover for his violent, anti-democratic followers. As they are rightfully sent to prison, boss Trump remains free.

Trump has not been indicted for his insurrection. He has been indicted in four criminal cases, as recommended by our peers who sat on independent Grand Juries.

Fred’s views about foreign affairs are fantasy: we all know Trump would have given Ukraine to Putin, for example.

As for our present candidates, Biden has demonstrated backbone, good judgment and honesty. Trump, as did Herod, waits to see who can pay the most. The inflation caused almost entirely by COVID and Putin is now slight and dropping. Unemployment remains low, and the investments in energy transition and manufacturing will pay big dividends down the road. A Biden-led future looks promising. Israel? Same mess since I was a boy (now 71). I bet your children won’t see that area resolved in their lifetimes, either.

And now Hitler’s words and goals are coming from Trump’s mouth. Hitler meant every word. Should we think Trump, or Fred, doesn’t know what he is saying?

Citizens should speak plainly. If you support Trump’s insurrection, say so, but don’t try to blow it by anyone that it wasn’t an attempted coup and that, oh golly, Trump had nothing to do with it.

In the centuries of our nation, did we ever see anything like this until Trump? What else do you need to see?

When will Fred and the Trump faithful place our democracy and our laws above their clamoring for a dictatorial “champion?” Evidently, never.

Message received.

John Seyfried

Bayview