Readers sound off on Trump, LaMalfa, election

Trump needs to be held responsible

Shouldn’t Donald Trump be cited or arrested for inciting mob violence in the United States Capitol recently? Or will he pardon himself like he did many others lately?

— John Babcock, Chico

Still time to send Denney to DC

Sure, Douglas LaMalfa, we believe you had a hard decision to make. While thinking about whether or not to obey the oath that you took when you were voted into Congress or to follow a group (including the president) to break the laws of our country and mislead your followers with untruths. I am so sorry you had to have angst about that decision.

There is still lots if time left in your attempt to serve the people in your district. I am willing to work hard to begin a recall and install Audrey Denney to serve the rest of your term. Your do not deserve to hold any office of government.

— Karen Baxter,

Paradise

A lawless president out of order

Donald Trump has elevated his criminal activity to a new level — provoking domestic terrorism that put the lives of police, lawmakers and civilian staff in jeopardy. A lawless president who masquerades as a “law and order” president while pardoning war criminals and felons convicted by a court of law; a feckless narcissist who needs to be lawfully removed from office and held accountable for his despicable sedition.

An unhinged president, his personal lawyer and his two-bit gangster son, fired up a mob with hostile rhetoric and outlandish lies, encouraging them to march to the capitol to disrupt and imperil the constitutionally mandated work of Congress. This trio of thugs should be arrested for inciting a riot, and for treason against the United States government.

On June 1 U.S. Park Police and National Guard troops used tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper spray, sting ball grenades, horses, shields and batons to clear peaceful Black Lives Matter demonstrators from Lafayette Square and surrounding streets, so Trump could have a Bible photo- op.

When this deranged and out of control mob of white nationalists attacked the U.S. Capitol the Capitol Police removed barricades, opened doors and gleefully took selfies with these anti-American hoodlums. The despicable behavior by them, and the long delay in deploying the National Guard, necessitates a thorough investigation, including the role Trump played in ensuring that police action against his “supporters” would be kept to a minimum, and most would be allowed to freely walk away.

Again, racism rears its ugly head.

— Roger S. Beadle, Chico

Saying a lot with a few choice words

Shame! Shame!

Shame!

LaMalfa.

Shame! Shame!

Shame!

— Michael Bertsch, Chico

A perilous game, a violent outcome

It is no surprise Congressman LaMalfa is peddling Trump’s voter fraud conspiracies. In his abject servility, LaMalfa betrayed conservative principles, forsake the most vulnerable of his constituents and lost the high ground by abetting a man with the morals of an alley cat.

LaMalfa knew when he supported the sloppy, harebrained Texas lawsuit and the electoral count fiasco there was no chance of success. He is purposely battering public trust and raising doubts about the legitimacy of our elections. Is LaMalfa so ignorant that he can’t think precedent? Is Federalism dead?

Every single attempt to prove that the election was marked by fraud has flopped. But, this immutable, provable fact didn’t deter LaMalfa from regurgitating dangerous, treacherous conspiracies.

LaMalfa is not a conspiracist. He is a craven political opportunist. He knows for those awash in anxiety and feel that everything is spinning out of control, conspiracy theories are extremely effective emotional tools that could lead to violence. For those who feel powerless they provide a sense of superiority: I have the power to reject experts and expose hidden cabals. When LaMalfa dehumanizes opponents and convinces his followers that malevolent “socialist haters” are out to get them, he should anticipate any result including insurrection.

LaMalfa is playing a perilous game. Hopefully, while he was cowering with his nose planted on the House floor, he thought about the role he played in instigating the outrageous, seditious behavior of those who believed his lies.

— Wanda Burleson,

Chico

Hoping for apology from congressman

Dear Congressman LaMalfa, Rather than the People’s Business, it is violence, including now, an unfortunate and unnecessary death, that is occurring in the halls of Congress.

This is a direct result of your continued support for President Trump’s false claims of voter fraud (which have been consistently legally rejected by the courts, many with Republican appointed judiciary, and disproved through multiple ballot recounts). Your continued encouragement of these debunked conspiracy theories stoked the unfounded anger, terrorism, and loss of life, unleashed by these misinformed citizens. You know better. As an intelligent person, at your core, I am sure you recognize your culpability for what happened today.

You swore an Oath of Office to uphold the United States Constitution, and against all enemies foreign and domestic. Yet you have been actively encouraging behavior that is anti-democratic, suggesting you place your allegiance to the current president over the oath you swore to protect our nation. Your actions leave me unclear as to how you plan to continue to serve as the people’s representative. Will you offer an apology to those of us who still believe in the promise of the American Experiment: your constituents, and your congressional staff? I for one, will be waiting to hear it. Thank you for your continued service.

— Cameron Crawford,

Chico

LaMalfa must step down, or be replaced

I demand Congressman Doug LaMalfa resign his office immediately.

As a constituent of California’s first congressional district, I am outraged that LaMalfa supported President Trump in his false claims of a rigged election. LaMalfa’s gesture of public support, questioning the results of the election in Congress on 6 January, together with Trump’s encouragement for people to gather at the Capitol, resulted in violence, rioting, and at least one death. LaMalfa is complicit.

In the New York

Times, former Trump ally and conservative businessman Jay Timmons criticized Trump, noting that the “outgoing president incited violence in an attempt to retain power, and any elected leader defending him is violating their oath to the Constitution and rejecting democracy in favor of anarchy.”

LaMalfa has supported Trump at every stage of his presidency. In December, he backed a Texas lawsuit asking the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate Presidentelect Biden’s victory. On 6 January, he joined Senator Ted Cruz and others questioning the results of the Electoral College. LaMalfa has actively undermined democracy, blatantly ignored the Constitution, and now he has helped to incite violence — a riot on the capitol.

LaMalfa’s behavior is unbecoming of a U.S. Congressperson and he should resign immediately. If he refuses, the citizens of California’s First District must vote him out. We will not forget.

— Rob Davidson, Chico

Not exactly a ‘fall classic’ election

I think last year’s presidential election can best be described in baseball World Series terms. How would you feel if your team went ‘on the road” for Game Seven of the series and the umpires changed the rules after the game had started? During the game every close call went to your opponent and when you appealed the judges rejected them every time.

Then in the 8th inning the lights went out in the stadium with your team leading comfortably. After the lights came back on your team was behind. Your team rallied in the 9th inning and went ahead as the game ended but the scorekeeper added runs after the game was over. You lost!

To add insult to injury, the MVP was a player who went 2 for 26 and committed six errors. Ugh.

— Daniel Fitzgerald,

Chico

Wondering where LaMalfa gets news

Curious about Doug LaMalfa’s information sources in his joining the Republican effort to challenge the Electoral College certification, I typed in a portion of his quoted phrase from this morning’s Enterprise Record, “… 1865, 1873, Nixon in 1969 to Democrat’s challenges in 2001, 2005 and 2017 …” and pressed ‘enter’ on my computer.

Here is a list of computer sites that immediately popped up (these — in the order given — were all on the first page of the sources listed):

“Fox News,” the multinational conservative cable news network.

“Townhall,” created by the conservative Heritage Foundation.

“Free Republic,” a donation- driven computer site, whose articles and comments are posted pseudonymously (SIC) by members.

“Breitbart,” the far right syndicated news site that brought us the Acorn, Obama birtherism, Hillary Clinton Pizzagate and climate change denial conspiracies.

“Pjmedia,” a subscription-based right wing website.

These are the (reliable?) right-leaning outlier news sources that our sitting House of Representatives member Doug LaMalfa apparently chooses to refer to for information in doing his constituents’ business, neglecting all of the other official channel U.S. Government information sources that he and his aides have access to. Also sadly missing on this cited first page of computer sources — mention of any of the almost universally recognized and established center-bias news outlets.

It’s well past time for LaMalfa to go.

— Mark S. Gailey, Chico

‘Enablers’ in Congress need to step down

In the wake of the seditious acts perpetrated by Trump cultists in storming the U.S. Capitol on June 6, I call on all Republican enablers in Congress to immediately resign, particularly our own cowardly Representative, Doug LaMalfa. LaMalfa and his like have openly fomented this crisis by repeatedly lying about the integrity of the 2020 national elections, even as lawsuit after lawsuit have been shot down in courts throughout the land for lack of any credible evidence to suggest the elections were ‘rigged.’

We need a leader who works hard addressing the issues of the north state, not a conspiracy-goon who can’t tell which way is up (hint: it’s the opposite direction liars will be going). We need an honorable realist willing to get their hands dirty in the muck of governing, not an entitled whiner who can’t accept truth.

— Joe Gleason, Oroville

Democrats didn’t ‘get over’ loss in 2016

“Move on.” “Get over it.”

These phrases would otherwise be quite humorous, considering they come from the same “enlightened” set who promoted the sheer nonsense of Trump colluding with Russia to win the 2016 election — and refuse to apologize. For years. Not weeks. Years.

To actually look away from evidence, and pretend nothing is amiss in this election requires the same intellectual non- curiosity as it did to believe a wholly fictitious narrative about Russia.

You want us to accept implausibly high urban turnout in specific swing states, but demographically identical cities in neighboring states would have normal urban turnout.

You want us to ignore suspicious activity like blocking poll watchers, stopping the ballot count, then resuming with huge statistically impossible spikes for Biden, mysterious suitcases with ballots, running the same ballot stack through counting machine multiple times.

You would have us believe that Joe Biden got a 20% higher vote total than Obama in 2012, despite having virtually nobody at his rare campaign stops, while Obama had packed stadium rallies, and actual enthusiastic voter support. Rich, old, senile, white guy Joe Biden? Meh.

You would have us believe that Biden won in an enthusiastic Federal landslide, but lost all 27 tossup House seats.

There certainly are more reasonable, legitimate questions than these, and Doug LaMalfa is interested in having a legitimate inquiry. We all deserve a President we can support who actually belongs there. So no. We aren’t accepting being told “Get over it” for Joe Asterisk Biden.

— Barry Johnson, Chico

Blood is on hands of Trump, enablers

Jan. 6 was a horribly tragic, and yet not unexpected, day.

It’s not entirely Trump’s fault. I also blame his enablers. And I blame those who overlooked his obvious mental instability and those who were more concerned with their political futures or economic benefits than their ethics and integrity. By their passive behavior they enabled and legitimized domestic terrorists like these we saw today.

The president is the one who urged the crowd on (and then bailed on them after promising to go with them). The blood of that woman is on his hands.

He should be removed from office.

— Donna Knorton, Chico

Time to choose someone else

I grew up here. This is my home. Wednesday, January 6, 2021, I watched with horror as our U.S. senators and House members were ushered out of the two chambers of congress fearing for their lives. Trump supporters broke doors and windows to disrupt the proceedings to ratify a fair election. One of the rioters proudly replaced a U.S. flag with a Trump flag. These rioters entered with guns. Six guns have been recovered. Fifty two people have been arrested. It doesn’t take an imagination to know that this could have been far worse than it already was.

A few hours after this horrifying situation, our local representative, Doug LaMalfa voted to reject the legal and accurate election results of both Arizona and Pennsylvania. Mr. LaMalfa shortly after the 2020 presidential election, joined a case brought before the Supreme Court to overthrow the election results of Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The Supreme Court rejected the case.

A man doesn’t deserve to be our representative because we like his cowboy hat and he seems like “a good old boy,” you know, one of us. He doesn’t deserve to be our representative because he served us pancakes at a local grange hall. If this man’s obedience to Donald Trump and everything he stands for truly represents how you feel and what you value and how you want to live, then keep voting for him, but if he doesn’t, then it’s time to choose someone else.

— Brian Anthony

Kraemer, Chico

A ‘disgraceful’ scene in Washington

As I watch the rioters in Washington, the Russians and Chinese must be completely gleeful as they watch the United States lose its position of moral authority over other governments that have displayed the same type of out of control elections. So much for the Land of Democracy. We have just joined the ranks of second or third world nations, another Banana republic. Using Trump’s favorite epithet, “it is disgraceful.” Trump instigated this disgrace but politicians like Congressman LaMalfa are complicit by enabling his deranged behavior. LaMalfa should be ashamed. — Donald McLean,

Oroville

We need to learn from this awful mistake

As I attempted to digest the events in Washington on January 6th, I looked for a historical analogy to help me understand it. And, sure enough, one readily appeared. In the fall of 1923, a charismatic orator roused a crowd in a Munich beer hall to overthrow the German government. He appealed to their sense of grievance and betrayal and stoked their racism. They marched on the seat of the local government. The attempt was poorly conceived and disorganized and was rapidly suppressed. Ten years later, that same orator became chancellor and declared himself Fuhrer.

Trump’s attempted coup has failed, as it was doomed to do. But the attempt alone has done enormous damage to American institutions and the future of the country. We must not allow this kind of action to become normalized or accepted as legitimate. Attorneys who brought frivolous challenges to the election that they knew were baseless should be disbarred. People who worked in his White House and amplified his lies should never again be given a position of responsibility.

We’ve learned a hard lesson — A democratic republic only works if its leaders believe in the basic principles behind it and respect its institutions. We must never again give the reins of power to someone who does not believe in our constitutional form of government.

— David Welch, Chico

LaMalfa defies will of the American people

As expected, Congressman LaMalfa joined with over 100 of his colleagues in voting to reject the electors from Arizona and Pennsylvania. Those objections were based on lies about the integrity of the presidential election that have been disproven repeatedly and definitively for the last two months — and he knows it. He cast those shameful votes just hours after insurrectionists fueled by those exact same lies stormed and vandalized the Capitol, forcing him and all of his colleagues into hiding.

This was all shocking, and also entirely predictable. The president and those closest to him encouraged and celebrated this mob. When he was finally shamed into issuing a statement against this violence, the core of his message was to double down on his lies about a stolen election and to tell the insurrectionists, “we love you, you’re very special.” And after all that, Doug LaMalfa stood by the president and voted in support of his attempt to remain in power in open defiance of the will of the American people. That he knew he wouldn’t succeed is no excuse.

I don’t share Mr. LaMalfa’s politics, but I’ve never been anywhere near as disgusted and ashamed as I am today by the fact that he represents me in Congress.