In his 1981 Inaugural address, President Ronald Reagan had this to say about the United States quadrennial change in presidential administrations: “The orderly transfer of authority as called for in the Constitution routinely takes place, as it has for almost two centuries, and few of us stop to think how unique we really are. In the eyes of many in the world, this every-4-year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle.” [emphasis mine]
What President Reagan said was unalloyed truth, right up until Jan. 6, 2021. On that day it was time for then President Donald Trump to do likewise, having lost the election to President Joe Biden. Instead, Trump showed the United States and the world that his administration would mimic the kinds of skullduggery that heretofore had been the exclusive province of tin pot dictators and other malodorous authoritarian despots. The routine miracle Reagan described was shown to be as susceptible to an aspiring dictator’s machinations as the same kinds anti-democratic, suppressive measures seen elsewhere.
Any United States citizens calling themselves patriots, who support or minimize the historical enormity of what Donald Trump vigorously attempted to accomplish on Jan. 6, 2021, befoul the term.
Thomas Walker, Salt Lake City