When I read Gerald Todd’s Community Voices piece ("It wasn't a direct assault on 'democracy,'" May 8) I didn’t question his right to hold non-factual beliefs. He has the right to believe what he wants.
I do question the wisdom of printing said beliefs without comment. The recent Fox settlement with Dominion shows that reporting falsehoods has consequences.
Recent convictions for seditious conspiracy demonstrate that GOP extremists were the ones who were trying to steal an election. The people who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 were not patriots. The majority of those who participated were duped into showing up that day. But the government proved that there was a deliberate effort to prevent the lawful transfer of presidential power.
Donald Trump tweeted to his misled pawns to descend on the Capitol on that particular day ("Be there, will be wild!") If there’d been no such call, hundreds of his supporters would not have ended up in jail. There’d have been no destruction of government buildings. There’d have been no beatings of law enforcement officers. There’d have been no seditious conspiracy convictions. There’d have been a peaceful transfer of power, as has happened in all prior years since this country was founded.
Retired Judge Robert Tafoya, like most of us, correctly assessed the events of Jan. 6. Rather, I think it is Mr. Todd who revealed a strong bias.
— Sandy Minner, Bakersfield
