Letters to the editor July 23

Integrity

Integrity doesn’t have to be a partisan election issue, unless Republicans choose to make it so.

Opinion polls should be asking whether Republican voters will respect the results of elections if their candidate loses. For voters who answer “no” perhaps you should not even be voting.

Former President Donald Trump knew he lost the 2020 election but decided to push forward “The Big Lie.”   Numerous White House staffers interviewed after Jan. 6 gave testimony that Trump privately acknowledged defeat.  Here’s what his attorney general, Bill Barr, had to say:

“I made clear I did not agree with the idea of saying the election was “stolen” and putting out this stuff which I told the President was bullshit.” (Jan. 6 Report, p. 379)

Politicians like Sen. Steve Daines and Repl Ryan Zinke want to investigate the recent failed assassination attempt against Trump. But why are they silent on America’s previous assassination attempt, the attack on the U.S. Capitol and targeting of former Vice President Mike Pence? Trump encouraged his mob to attack Pence via text messages. He then waited over three hours before telling the mob to go home, and only after the Secret Service had safely evacuated Pence.

Trump’s people have already initiated plans to subvert and challenge the legitimacy of the 2024 elections. The vital question for Trump voters, the same one asked of Mike Pence, is whether to act with integrity and respect the will of the voters, or engage in political conspiracy by attacking the foundation of our democratic system of government.

— David Daniels, Missoula