Letters

The second impeachment trial of Donald Trump starts this week on charges of “incitement of insurrection.” People are debating whether citizen Trump can be tried for impeachment out of office.

An equally important question is how officials allowed a president to amplify falsehoods accumulating to the “Big Lie” that Biden was stealing the election.

In the public, private and academic organizations in which I have worked, similar deceitful behavior could not have lasted four years. Organizational leaders, employees, clients or the board would have checked the conduct as detrimental to the goals of the organization.

Although the press may be criticized for amplifying the president’s rhetoric, it was congressional leaders, governors and administration officials who fell short on their responsibility of balancing power.

The falsehoods passed through three stages:

At the first stage, when Trump started telling falsehoods, individuals chose not to push back, as the lies seemed harmless. Examples include:

• Claiming more people attended the 2016 inauguration than Obama’s (photos by the National Park Service prove otherwise).

• Claiming the trade deficit with China was over $500 billion for several years before his presidency (it actually maxed at $410 billion in 2018, under Trump).

At the next stage, the lies were bigger, with financial or legal impacts. Examples include:

• Claiming Hurricane Dorian in 2019 would hit Alabama (it was not projected to get past Florida), wasting resources as states unnecessarily prepared.

• Claiming Trump was unaware of $130,000 payments from his political campaign to Stormy Daniels, a porn star, even though he personally reimbursed his lawyer. It is illegal to pay personal expenses with campaign funds.

At the third and last stage, the lies resulted in a threat to our democracy, and lost lives due to violence and inaction. Examples include:

• Claiming COVID-19 was under control and the loss in life would not be significant. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has predicted over 500,000 domestic deaths from COVID-19 in one year.

• Claiming the 2020 election was rigged and that Trump actually won. This resulted in a mob descending on the Capitol, leading to theft, looting and deaths of police officers.

We need to hold accountable people who allowed these lies to grow and that propagated the “Big Lie.”

First District Congressman Lee Zeldin is one of the individuals who voted to overturn the Electoral College results as not valid, even after the violence occurred at the Capitol. I will share my letter to Lee Zeldin in the coming weeks.

The irony of the “Big Lie” is that the six senators and 121 congressmen (including Zeldin) who voted to overturn the Electoral College results were the ones who actually tried to steal the election.

Waseem Noor

Sag Harbor and Manhattan