Letter: Trump is not only person to blame for Capitol attack

Like many, I am angered and sickened by the attempted insurrection led by President Trump on Jan. 6, 202l. The mob he incited, fueled and led had been fed a steady diet of lies for four years, and the final lie, that his election loss was the result of a "rigged election," was the most dangerous of them all because it undermined our very democracy. Even though the lie was refuted by his own attorney general, his handpicked director for election security and by 60 state and federal courts, the lie persisted and became fuel for those determined to believe it.

President Trump did not achieve his attempted insurrection alone. He was aided and abetted by supporters and political leaders who appeased him no matter how outrageous and deranged he became in the hopes he would not turn on them. Trump's calling our service members "suckers and losers"; his infamous Hollywood tape bragging about what he had done to women; his impeachment for attempting to strong-arm Ukrainian leaders; his support of white supremacists in Charlottesville; his criminal call to the Georgia secretary of state demanding the secretary find more votes for him months after the election; his rejection of his own intelligence officials in Helsinki while standing next to Vladimir Putin; warnings from numerous four-star generals and admirals (including Gen. Colin Powell) and 70 former security officials (including William Webster) that he was unfit for office; and, finally, Trump's claim that he had won the election could not deter them from their appeasement. Winston Churchill said an appeaser is someone who feeds the crocodile in the hopes it will eat him last. Trump's most loyal appeasers, Vice President Pence and Sens. Graham and McConnell, were ultimately devoured by the Trump crocodile when there were no others left to eat.

Our country is on the precipice, but we can begin to regain our national sanity and moral integrity by telling and demanding the truth as urged by Sen. Romney. Truth and kindness, not lies and conspiracy theories, must light our future path.

JOHN P. FORD

Sumter