Letters

The word “treason” has been thrown around so often in contemporary political discussions that it almost seemed to lose its meaning. Fortunately, U.S. Representative Lee Zeldin was kind enough to provide a perfect and clear-cut example of treason to help us out!

An email from Mr. Zeldin was sent to his constituents on December 30, asking if they believed it was appropriate for members of Congress to “object and debate 2020 Presidential election issues that have been raised in a variety of battleground states.” The few cases of voter fraud that have been discovered were from individuals who voted for Trump, but on a national level there is absolutely no evidence of widespread voter fraud.

I would say that his email — along with the treasonous associations embedded in it — came as a shock, but Zeldin has made it abundantly clear that his true loyalties lie with himself, his party and the soon-to-be-ex-president.

It was disturbing watching Mr. Zeldin, a veteran of the U.S. Army, embarrass himself by submitting entirely to the whims of President Trump. Not only has our representative in Congress become subservient to the Executive Branch, but the fact that President Trump is an unabashed disparager of our armed forces shows a clear cognitive dissonance, in which even the camaraderie between veterans, and the oath all soldiers within the armed forces swear to protect our Constitution, is less important to him than his own political future.

I do not believe Mr. Zeldin is delusional, though I am inclined to encourage him to seek some other source of support in preparation for the next election, as Mr. Trump will most likely forget he exists come January 20, when President-elect Joe Biden will be sworn in.

Unfortunately, it seems Mr. Zeldin and his other colleagues calling for the overturning of a legitimate election seem to have the same disdain for our Constitution as Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis held all those years ago.

To put it simply, Mr. Zeldin and his colleagues are attempting to overturn the legitimate results of an election and strip the power of the vote from every single American in the country. This serves as a brazen betrayal of the men and women who have died in defense of our sacred right to vote and our democracy as a whole.

Mr. Zeldin unsurprisingly continues to defy our already low expectations. I can only hope that Speaker Nancy Pelosi holds Mr. Zeldin and his “traitors in arms” accountable.

Mr. Zeldin, I encourage you to reread the Constitution and recite that oath you swore many years ago into the nearest mirror, assuming you can bear to see the shell of a man reflected in it.

Dylan Rice

Smithtown

Mr. Rice was a Democratic candidate for the 8th District seat in the New York Assembly this fall — Ed.