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Editor, News-Register:
How is it that former President Donald J. Trump remains as the unquestioned 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, 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?
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, near 70 years of age, decided to run for the office of president in the 2016 election. He has sadly transformed the once proud 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 his leaving the White House, illegally took more than 100 classified documents, and secretly stored them at his Mar-A-Lago property in Florida, which were finally recovered over a year and a half later by authorized officials from the US Justice Department.
Should Mr. Trump himself not be referred to as "Crooked Donald," accompanied by the chant to "lock him up?"
In addition, Mr. Trump has often stated that 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 recently invoked the 5th Amendment, when forced to testify before the New York Attorney General, for his being charged that he allegedly made false statements on his assets to tax officials for his personal benefit?
Does this, 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 for office."
However, Mr. Trump did just that when he ran for president in 2016, and again in 2020, and only recently the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee has legally been granted approval to review Mr. Trump's tax returns from 2015-2020.
Mr. Trump also continues to refuse, in spite of all actual evidence to the contrary, to concede the 2020 presidential race to the rightful winner and current president, Joe Biden. This will be an essential and lasting part of the Trump legacy.
Richard Hord
Martins Ferry