To the editor:

I have supported Donald Trump for president in both the 2016 and 2020 elections with votes and letters to the editor. That support has changed.

I believe Donald Trump, president at the time, had direct and, in my opinion, sole responsibility for the Republican loss of both runoff elections for senator in Georgia on Jan. 5, 2021, that allowed Democrats to take control of the Senate in Biden’s first year in office. How was Trump responsible? Following Trump’s defeat in the November 2020 election, Trump turned off voters in Georgia in four ways: 1) his continued argument that he won the 2020 election that the Georgia voters heard over and over again, which gave Republican voters a distrust of the vote in the runoff elections, 2) his veto of the military appropriation bill in December 2020, even though he absolutely knew his veto would be overturned by Congress, which it was, and the effect his veto had on the minds of the huge number of military personnel stationed in Georgia, 3) his advocating a $2,000 COVID stimulus payment, days after he had signed legislation in December 2020 approving a $600 stimulus payment, that presented the two Republicans in the runoffs with an immediate dilemma, and 4) his continued berating of the Republican governor and the Republican secretary of state in Georgia over his loss in Georgia in the November 2020 election. If just one Republican had won in the Georgia runoff elections in January 2021, Republicans would have had the majority in the Senate in 2021 and may very well have retained that majority in the November 2022 election. After the runoff elections, Dana Perino, on FOX News, stated that tens of thousands of Republicans that had voted in the general election in November 2020 did not vote in the runoff elections.

Add to this Trump’s attacking Vice President Mike Pence regarding the certification of the 2020 election, and add whatever you may think of any involvement Trump had regarding the rioting at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump has a lot of other “baggage,” including his many indictments and ballot challenges. And then consider this, his name-calling is juvenile and something one would expect of a middle schooler, not a presidential candidate.

I will not support former President Trump at the Iowa Republican Caucus on Jan. 15, 2024. But make no mistake about it, I will vote for whoever the Republicans nominate for president in 2024. The world is unstable with conflicts in Ukraine and Israel and China is threatening Taiwan. Here at home, President Biden and the Democrats have lost control of crime, the economy, and the border, just to name a few failures. Ah yes, the border. Recently Biden sent Homeland Secretary Mayorkas and Secretary of State Blinken to Mexico to explore ways for the Mexican government to help curb the ongoing immigration crisis at the border. They came back empty handed. Chaos at the southern border and the millions of immigrants that have entered the country illegally will be an important issue in the 2024 election. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, since Biden took office nearly 6,800,000 immigrants have been encountered entering the country illegally at the southern border with over 1,600,000 reported gotaways.

Chuck Peterson

Fort Dodge