Trump, Biden aren't cause of divisiveness
Letter writer Charles Falk asserts that political divisiveness would magically disappear if both Trump and Biden were not running for the presidency in 2024. Oh, if only it were that simple.
Political divisiveness did not originate with either Trump or Biden, although Trump certainly saw an opportunity to advance his own interests by leveraging, amplifying and magnifying divisiveness via grievance rhetoric and telling more lies than any other political actor to date.
Trump and his acolytes and apologists in Congress have also used various media sources - Twitter, Fox News, radical right-wing radio programs - to throw fuel on the fire of divisiveness.
Thus, even if Trump and Biden were gone tomorrow, divisiveness would persist as it's in the interest of many members of Congress and talking heads in media for a divisive atmosphere to continue.
It is also disingenuous to declare both Trump and Biden as equivalently unqualified to "step into the White House again." One can argue that both men are too old to serve - as are many in Congress and SCOTUS - but that's where the comparison ends.
Trump incited a seditious insurrection, an unprecedented action of disloyalty to the Constitution and values of a democratic republic. That horrific action is in a dishonorable category of its own.
I hope that Trump will eventually be held to account for violating the rule of law and threatening the existence of our nation.
Kim Freitag
Elgin