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Editor, News-Register:
How is it that former President Donald J. Trump remains as the unquestioned defacto current leader of the Republican Party, when while in office it had been documented that he was personally responsible for no fewer than 30,573 false statements (lies), and with his egotism and hypocrisy being quite beyond compare, along with his multitude of misdeeds and divisive rhetoric, have seemingly, done little to curb his popularity within his current political party (Republican)?
Recall also that for decades Mr. Trump had been a staunch Democrat, before becoming an independent politically, and only recently becoming a Republican when he, at nearly 70 years of age, decided to run for office of U.S. President in the 2016 election, but has sadly transformed the once proud and productive Republican Party into little more than the Trump Personality Cult.
Examples of Mr. Trump's hypocrisy include the fact that he constantly derided his Democratic opponent in the 2016 Presidential election, Hillary Clinton, as "Crooked Hillary" and led the chant to "lock her up" as a result of her inappropriate sending of government emails as secretary of state on her private email server.
However, Mr. Trump upon leaving the White House illegally took more than 100 U.S. classified documents and secretly stored them at his Mar-A-Lago property in Florida, which were finally recovered over a year a half later by authorized officials from the U.S. Justice Department.
As a result, should Mr. Trump, himself, not be referred to as "Crooked Donald," accompanied with the chant, "lock him up?"
In addition, Mr. Trump has often stated anyone who pleads the 5th Amendment to refuse to answer pertinent questions in a court of law is, without question, guilty of what he/she had been charged.
Well then, how is it that Mr. Trump constantly, recently, invoked the 5th Amendment when forced to testify before the New York Attorney General from his being charged that he allegedly "made false statements on his assets" to tax officials for his personal benefit.
Does this then, as a result of his previous claim, confirm his guilt as well?
Also, before running for President in 2016 Mr. Trump had oftentimes stated that "anyone who runs for public office that refuses to release their income tax returns for public scrutiny should be barred from running from office."
However, Mr. Trump did just that when he ran from President in 2016 and again in 2020, and only recently the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee has legally, finally, been granted approval to review Mr. Trump's tax returns from 2015-2020, as a result of perceived possible "irregularities."
This in addition to the fact that Mr. Trump continues to insist, in spite of all actual evidence to the contrary, refuses to concede the 2020 Presidential race to the rightful winner, and current President, Joe Biden, which is commonly referred to as "the Big Lie," are essential and lasting, parts of the Trump legacy.
Richard Hord
Martins Ferry