Letters to the Editor: True threat exposes itself

Did anyone notice that there wasn’t a black or brown face in the mob that stormed the Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6?

“A date that will live in infamy,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer.

This was the unveiling of this nation coming to grip with its white supremacist makeup. Donald J. Trump is what these racist white supremacists who were threatened and fearful that their “white power” leader was recognized by the American public, and who had lost the 2020 election, as shown by what took place Jan. 6.

The real threat did not come from the antifa or BLM, but from the Wolverine Watchmen, the Q-Anon, the 3 percenters, the Proud Boys, the Boogaloo Bois, the Unite the Right, the KKK, the neonazis, Kyle Rittenhous and Trump refusing to lose.

Now what comes next? Every Trump voter is not a white supremacist, but every Trump voter felt it acceptable to the fate of the country over to one.

That poor, deluded kid Kyle Rittenhouse will now spend much of the rest of his life in the correctional and judicial system. It is quite possible that he will become a cult hero, except for the family and friends of the kids he murdered.

We are in an unprecedented time of shock, horror and soul searching. Talking heads are now in a CYA mode, including Sen. Daines and Rep. Rosendale.

Wyman J. McDonald, Ronan

What Daines and Rosendale must do now

In their first acts of 2021, Sen. Steve Daines and Rep. Matt Rosendale of Montana signed the list that will forever define those who aided and abetted an attempted coup.

Many have described Trump’s supporters in Washington as “thugs” and “goons.” Those terms actually minimize and depoliticize who they are and what they did. They are domestic terrorists who engaged in violent sedition.

Both Rosendale and Daines know that in fact every single state election was accurate, clean and legal, and every single accusation of fraud was false. Yet Rosendale remains part of the sedition caucus. At the last second, Daines withdrew his name from the 12 treasonous senators, but still refuses to admit fomenting insurrection through falsehoods.

If Daines and Rosendale do not resign, Congress must assess whether they and others who repeated these lies, and thereby incited domestic terrorism, should be removed from office and then face prosecution.

We also demand Trump’s immediate removal from office. His lawless attempts to subvert democracy — including his Jan. 2 call to Georgia’s Republican election officials and his Jan. 6 speech instructing his supporters to assault Congress — prove the clear and present danger he constitutes in these final two weeks of his term.

Thompson Smith, Charlo

Well deserved thanks

In this time of political and pandemic turmoil, I think we need to take some time to thank people for the good job they are doing. One I am thinking of is our county clerk, Katie Harding. She and her staff have done a good job of running a nonpartisan election once again. We often forget what a job these county clerks have done with the present nationwide turmoil. Also thinking of the pandemic, what a wonderful job our health department has done with just as much turmoil. I think all of our leaders should take some time to thank them. Maybe make a County Clerk and Health Department Day to thank them.

Ken Edwards, Polson