There is a line that should not be crossed

It is hard to understate the revulsion and anger I felt when reading the commentary “Some good must come of this” by Thomas G. Storch of Sperryville. In any partisan political debate, especially among friends and neighbors, there is a line that should not be crossed. Mr. Storch has crossed that line.

On January 6th, Ron Frazier joined an estimated 85,000-plus other Americans at the Ellipse Park by the White House to rally on behalf of President Donald Trump. Mr. Storch implies that all of them; Ron, the rest of the huge crowd, and by extension the 75 million Americans who supported Trump, are all “Nazis.”

He writes, “But it was his (Frazier’s) very presence on January 6 among those who espouse Nazi ideology for which he had No right.”

He says that Ron Frazier is culpable of Nazi sympathies because he is guilty of being present in the company of those “who espouse Nazi ideology,” and the obvious implication is that all of the Trump supporters there were culpable of the same offense. But if there were any “Nazis” there, I have seen no evidence. And if they were, then all 85,000 Americans there, according to Storch, were guilty of a terrible offense against humanity. And by extension, everyone who voted for Trump is guilty of that association. Mr. Storch should remember that our county went overwhelmingly for Donald Trump in this past election, and Mr. Frazier was not the only neighbor you are accusing of collaboration with “Nazis,” and forfeiting their rights by being present at that huge and lawful event.

Like everyone else, I’ve seen video of the event at the Ellipse, but I didn’t see any Nazis. In fact, I saw concern, but I didn’t see any anger. And I did see Jewish people there, and Black people, and Hispanics and people of all ages.

The Holocaust and World War Two were the most dreadful acts of the 20th Century. I remember its end and the relief and joy of our war-weary nation. Over the years, I have become a student of that war and of the insanity of Hitler and the Nazis. I have spoken at several Holocaust Memorials. I have visited Auschwitz and reflected deeply there about man’s inhumanity to man.

I am deeply offended that you could suggest that your neighbor, a decent fellow and a tireless public servant, had “No right” to attend a public event by our nation’s White House and that you took time to attack him with “guilt by association” even though the Nazis whom you think were there were not. It is ironic, of course, that this is how the Nazis operated.

The title of your attack was “Some Good Must Come Of This.” An apology to Ron Frazier and the other attendees might be a good start, sir.