Insurrection aided by many in Republican Party

But Trump did not act alone. He was aided and abetted by numberless Republican politicians, some who actively endorsed his lies, others who remained silent.

The ticket of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the presidential election. They won by a comfortable margin in the Electoral College and with a historic numerical margin in the popular vote. This is a fact, and it is a fact of which Republican politicians, both nationally and locally, are perfectly aware.

It is not surprising that President Donald Trump chose to deny this basic truth and attempt to steal the election by dubious legal means if he could, or by illegal means if he must. It is a given that it was Trump’s lies and incitements to violence, amplified by the right-wing media, that whipped up the seditious crowd that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, the first time the United States government has been attacked in its capital since the Civil War.

But Trump did not act alone. He was aided and abetted by numberless Republican politicians, both those who enthusiastically endorsed his lies and those who were complicit by their silence. Had elected Republicans stood up for the truth from the start, this attack may never have happened. It is doubly ironic that those in Congress who affirmatively sought to overturn the will of the people justified their actions by pointing out that lots of people believed the lies that they themselves were spreading.

We are now witnessing belated attempts, by those who actively supported Trump’s lawlessness and those who supported him by their silence, to separate themselves from the malignant tumor on democracy that they have enabled for the past four years.

We must not be fooled. We must not forget.

If and when another and more capable authoritarian arises from within their party, Republicans will revert to form, and we may lose the Republic, which has been presently preserved by the Biden-Harris victory in November, and Stacy Abrams’ leadership in Georgia.

Benjamin Franklin, when asked about the newly penned Constitution, said that it created “A Republic, if you can keep it.” That Republic is threatened today.

We Groton Democrats will do our part to preserve our Constitution and keep our Republic. Like the founders, we want to “secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.” We can do so only if all who truly love this country, and believe in representative democracy, join together to defeat those who have actively sought to undermine our democracy and those who have silently acquiesced.