The Daily Sentinel’s headline on June 11^th (Tenney, Stefanik blast House panel hearing) should come as no surprise. Reps. Claudia L. Tenney, R-22, New Hartford, and Elise Stefanik, R-21, Schuylerville, are among the Republicans that Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) refers to as “defending the indefensible” and whose “lasting dishonor will remain” long after Trump is gone.

Tenney and Stefanik understand that disparaging the hearings means they support the actions of the insurrection that day, with all the violence and desecration that occurred. They do it because they believe it is the path to re-election and advancement within the Republican party and have no concern about our democracy.  

If you believe, against all evidence, that Trump won the 2020 election, and chose not to watch the hearings, then you must believe the insurrection was, as the Republican National Committee said, just a “continuation of political discourse.“  If that is the case, further discussion is worthless, because for you facts mean nothing.

If you are a Republican who may have voted for Trump, but have an open mind, I hope you will listen to the hearings and what they have found. Propaganda can be defeated by facts if reasonable people listen.

For the rest of us, we listen to the hearings totally disgusted with what occurred that day – and what did not occur. Donald Trump took no action to defend the Capitol for three hours and totally ignored his duties as commander-in-chief. Vice President Mike Pence did act and will be honored by history. Trump, well, somewhere below Nixon. Well below.

— Mike Corbett, Rome