Dear Editor,

The presidency of Donald J. Trump came to its formal conclusion on Jan. 20, 2021, with the inauguration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr. as the 46th president of our great nation.

President Trump exited quite reluctantly, with his overall approval rating at an abysmal 34 percent, and his disapproval rating at 62 percent.

In addition, the final poll of U.S. citizens indicated that as a result of the Trump presidency, only 24 percent of those polled believed that our country was on the “right track,” with 73 percent convinced that we were on the “wrong track” as a nation.

This from a president who made an unprecedented 30,573 false and/or misleading statements during his tenure as the country’s chief executive.

Also, Trump is the first U.S. president since Herbert Hoover, who left office in 1933, whose party lost the Senate, as well as the White House during his bid for re-election, while remaining the minority party in the House of Representatives.

In addition, a record 4 million U.S. jobs were lost during his presidency, many as a result of his “leadership,” rather lack thereof, in addressing the ravages of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, which he grossly mismanaged, which led to our country being the unquestioned epicenter of the deadly virus.

Also, outgoing President Trump, breaking a long-standing tradition of respect and decorum, declined to attend the inauguration ceremony for his successor, which had always been indicative of a smooth transition of power, and had been done by all outgoing presidents since President Andrew Johnson, who conversely had also been impeached as has President Trump, in 1869.

Also, the outgoing president neglected to even refer to his successor by name in his farewell address to the nation, which demonstrated much pettiness and disrespect, as such he should have done, at the very least, for the good of our country, respecting the democratic process and the will of the American people, in order to help ensure a smooth transition of power.

Four years earlier, then-president Barack Obama participated, graciously, in the transition of a new chief executive, Donald J. Trump, who oftentimes had personally demeaned the legitimacy of the Obama presidency, with absolutely no supportive evidence whatsoever.

But President Obama was not willing to let this dissuade him from fully participating in the ceremony and in the transition of the new president into office in spite of the unjustified and unsubstantiated personal attacks he had endured, generated by his successor.

President Trump’s abject refusal to accept the will of the American electorate, by constantly claiming, with absolutely no supportive evidence, and with his extremely bellicose rhetoric, undoubtedly led to an attempted overthrow of our democratic form of government by Trump loyalists on Jan. 6, 2021.

That could well be viewed as perhaps the low point in the storied history of our government, which has long been the envy of the world.

In closing, in spite of a large number of Republican legislators who have largely been willing to ignore President Trump’s oftentimes ill-advised conduct, it has been reported that in order to express his “gratitude” to his current political party, he is considering the creation of his own political party to be called “The Patriot Party.”

I am sure that former President Trump’s longtime ally and advocate, President Vladimir Putin of Russia, is quite pleased by all of this, indeed.

Richard Hord

Martins Ferry