To the editor:

The editorial in the Nov. 4 edition of The Messenger by Armstrong Williams was a very good one. What’s happening politically in our country is appalling on both sides of the aisle and it’s been that way for years, but Donald Trump has taken it to a whole new level by not only instigating the assault on our Capitol but also condoning it and praising the people who did it. Then when our senators had the chance to hold him accountable and make sure he couldn’t hold office again they rolled over and played dead so they wouldn’t lose the support of his fan base. I have an e-mail from Senator Grassley saying that although he thought Trump was guilty of causing the attack on our Capitol, he didn’t vote to impeach him because he didn’t think it was legal to impeach a former president. Well, the Senate took a vote and decided it was legal so just because he didn’t agree with what the Senate voted for, he thought he didn’t have to abide by their vote. What kind of an example does that set for the rest of us when our own senator doesn’t feel like he has to abide by what Congress voted for? I have often heard that a democracy never lasts for more than 200 years because the people in charge get to be more concerned about their own interests than they do about the people and in my opinion, we are at that point. Who wouldn’t love a job where you could give yourself raises, work when you want and have lifetime benefits after working a few years? The people in charge of fixing the problem are the ones that are creating it! For anyone who watched Trump’s “first” impeachment hearing, you would have heard Marie Yovanovitch testify that Russia is renowned for planting misinformation in hopes that it would do exactly what it is doing today, getting our parties fighting with each other in hopes to bring down our country. Putin found the perfect person to carry this out when he befriended Donald Trump. I think everyone would love to know what was in the notes of his conversation with Putin that he ripped from his secretary’s hands captured on video. Evidently the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree since Donald Trump Jr. was making fun of Senator Pelosi’s husband being brutally beaten. How much lower can this country sink?

Doug Brand

Fort Dodge