Demand accountability from your representatives
I wish I could say I’m surprised by what happened at the U.S. Capitol. I’m not. This has been building since the Tea Party crawled out from under their rocks, outraged that a Black man had the audacity to win the presidency. It has never been about “economic anxiety” or any of the other dozens of cover stories the media has provided for naked white supremacy and perverted Christian dominionism.
Even during the worst days of the Civil War, Confederate traitors never succeeded in hanging their treasonous flag in our Capitol — armed insurrectionists did it this month. Worse, they did it with the willing assistance of at least some portion of the U.S. Capitol Police, who opened barricades, posed for selfies, and tenderly escorted some of the more doddering white nationalists down the steps of the Capitol when they decided they’d managed enough mayhem. These officers showed no such care for disabled protesters trying to protect their health care a few years ago, or the sexual abuse survivors who came to speak out against Brett Kavanaugh. And it doesn’t take a very vivid imagination to picture the cataclysmic violence that would have ensued had these rioters and looters been Black or Brown.
Every Republican who went along with Trump bears responsibility for this day. The GOP senators and representatives who encouraged this sedition, Montana’s own Daines and Rosendale among them, should not only resign but should be actively investigated. There must be consequences at every level if we are to survive as a democracy. It may already be too late. I hope it’s not.
Call your representatives, even the seditious ones — maybe especially the seditious ones. Let them know you’re watching and that you demand accountability. Our democracy isn’t going to save itself.
Nicole Rosenleaf Ritter
Bozeman
Daines, Rosendale are not fit to serve in Congress
Senator Daines and Representative Rosendale are complicit in the insurrection at the US Capitol that occurred on Jan. 6, 2021. They persisted in stoking their base by amplifying Trump’s falsehoods about the Nov. 3 election without providing solid evidence or sworn testimony regarding their allegations of election fraud. One assumes they knew better, but were nonetheless motivated by a craven and irresponsible calculation that appealing to the anger and disappointment of Trump supporters will earn them their votes in the next election, even though they were warned that such falsehoods risked damaging our faith in free and fair elections and the peaceful transfer of power.
Daines and Rosendale bear their share of responsibility for the mob violence that resulted from the constant repetition of demonstrably false information about the election by Trump, right-wing media, and his sycophants in Congress. Aside from being shocked — shocked — by the inevitable violent turn at the Capitol, Rosendale persisted in challenging the certification of two states’ electoral votes (seemingly oblivious to what happened earlier that day), and Daines has been more concerned about Twitter — a private company which, unlike the government, can legally do as it wishes — banning Trump because he failed to comply with their terms of service.
Daines and Rosendale are not fit to serve and should resign or be removed immediately.
Brian Globerman
Bozeman
We need statesmen in Congress, not cowards
Rosendale and Daines need to resign. They lent their support to the fiction of voter fraud that led to the insurrection in the US Capitol. We need statesmen in Congress, not cowards who kowtow to the radical right. I have written Sen. Daines many times asking if he really wants his children to live in the country that he is helping to create. An authoritarian future is one where the rule of law is
replaced by the cult of personality, where institutions bend to the will of the leader instead of serving all Americans.
This may look fine to those who figure that they will be on the side of the leader, but as we’ve seen throughout the Trump years, who is in favor with the leader can change at a moment’s notice: Mike Pence was only the most recent to fall from grace. At some point, the grift of the leader and his enablers may come for something you value and then you will have two choices, to yield or to fall from grace. The courts in this future will also likely be in on the grift and provide you no recourse.
At that point Sen. Daines and other enablers may finally find themselves saying, “This isn’t what I supported.” But, at that point, it will be too late.
Charles Romeo
Bozeman
Bozeman Daily Chronicle Letters to the Editor 1/17/21