Daines’ reversal a day late and a dollar short
In response to the article “Daines denies he played role in Capitol siege; Tester lays blame on Trump, other lawmakers,” I must say my jaw just plain out dropped to the floor. But that has been a common occurrence in my life and the lives of millions of Americans over the last four years.
Daines actually believes that the rhetoric that Trump and his followers — Daines being one of them — had no effect on extremist Trump lovers? He actually thinks that not immediately recognizing Biden as our President-elect and making noise about the election being stolen from Trump had no effect on these wackos who think Trump is a demi-god? He thinks that his campaign that sent out the message saying, “Dems are stealing the election. Trump needs our support. Give $5 & help us fight back now!” did not fuel what happened at the U.S. Capitol? Wow!
Oh, but now he has reversed course calling those Capitol mobsters “criminals” who should be “prosecuted to the full extent of the law.” Mr. Daines, sir, you are culpable.
You helped drive this mess forward for months and even years by bolstering a president who is a known liar, instigator of hate, racism and misogyny, and a man who should be imprisoned for
his crimes against our democracy. But then, as the old saying goes — birds of a feather gather together. You, sir, need to resign immediately because of your very real hand in what happened at the U.S. Capitol.
Your reverse course is a day late and a dollar short. You were just trying to save your bacon and much of your constituency knows it without a doubt. We are watching, Mr. Daines.
Kathryn McKeen
Bozeman
Daines backpedaling after insurrection
Maybe not today, but sometime soon I expect to see a picture of Sen. Steve Daines riding a bicycle next to the dictionary definition of “backpedaling.” Sen. Daines, do you really think you can you climb into a clown car, scream that ‘the election was stolen and Trump needs our help!’ and actively and overtly challenge the will of the American people, perpetuating misinformation and fueling discontent — then the moment things blow up, you want to back off and say, ‘I wasn’t in the car, I just wanted a commission to review our electoral process’?
Hawley and Cruz were sadly leaders of this deadly anti-American effort and they have blood on their hands. Equally pathetic, and responsible, are the 11 other followers like yourself, who joined
them. Unfortunately for you, things went much worse than you probably imagined, but there is still undeniably blood on your hands, too — a stain on your record that will never come out.
I imagine the week’s events are especially troubling for you. Ambien might help you get to sleep at night but there’s no remedy other than accepting responsibility for your actions to help you live with yourself.
Kyle Bajakian
Bozeman
Daines, Rosendale cost Montanans our credibility
We should be ashamed of some of our political leaders in Congress. What a travesty that Sen. Daines can say with a straight face that he had no role in the siege of the US Capitol. He was raising money for our soon-to-be exPresident Trump while claiming that a democratically elected President Biden had stolen the election.
Daines can try to backtrack but he is complicit in the desecration of our US Capitol. He knew exactly what he was doing.
I can excuse big ego Rosendale a bit as he does not even yet have an office in Washington and is a follower.
Montana loses its credibility thanks to these two clowns. At least we have Sen. Jon Tester to be a statesman.
Joan Montagne,
Bozeman
Daines’ words matter to his constituents
Sen. Daines, words matter, and as our senator, your words matter to your constituents. The headline in our paper after the Nov. election caught my attention. “Democrat are stealing the election. Trump needs our support …” What is implied here is that a crime has been committed.
In this past year how many times did our President say if he lost the election it would be because of fraud? In other words, no candidate running against him could ever win the Nov. 3 election
legitimately. Over and over this was said. And when Biden won, the American people were told it was stolen, including you, in spite of the most scrutinized election we have ever held, in spite
of the federal courts refusing to hear fraud cases without proof, in spite of the Supreme Court refusing to overturn the election, in spite of the Attorney General declaring there was no basis for investigating fraud and in spite of the certification by the states that their election processes were legitimately conducted.
To your point that millions of Americans had concerns about the integrity of the election and that was what directed your words and actions, I can only say what did you expect? They were primed to believe, over these months, that if Trump lost the election, the election was fraudulent. Yes, Sir, “stolen” as a choice of word,(regrettably on your part, I am sure) was an insightful word that
served no purpose but to inflame those who could not ever accept the election results unless Trump won.
Sheila Bennett
Bozeman
Bozeman Daily Chronicle Letters to the Editor 1/15/21