Dear Editor,

At a recent campaign-style rally that was staged in Florence, Arizona, former president Donald J. Trump continued to espouse his totally false and discredited claim that the 2020 presidential election in which he lost substantially to Democrat Joseph R. Biden was rigged.

Trump said that “the real insurrection took place on Election Day (Nov. 3, 2020),” and that the bipartisan congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection on our nation’s capitol as being “totally biased (against him) and dishonest,” and that the 2020 presidential election was “the crime of the century.”

Obviously this man’s grandiose ego and perverted concept of reality, as well as his obvious disrespect for the mores that have made us the undisputed greatest country in the history of the world, continue to have a very disturbing impact on our government, the likes of which have not been realized since the American Civil War, over 150 years ago, and who knows where, and how, this will all end, as our great country has not seen such division, and how much worse may it get before it, hopefully, gets better.

Certainly, not all of the blame for our nation’s current divisive predicament falls on Trump, as many Republican office holders, who obviously know better, have become little more than sycophants to “the Cult of Trump” in particular Matt Gaetz of Florida, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, and Jim Jordan of Ohio, among countless others.

In addition, in Trumpian fashion, Jason Mariner, a Republican candidate for a congressional seat in Florida, has filed a lawsuit to challenge the results of the election, which he lost 79 percent to 20 percent to his challenger!

Incredible, but not surprising in the “Age of Trump!”

Also, recently former Republican Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, who left office in abject disgrace, stated that “if Republicans regain control of Congress in the upcoming election that members of the Jan. 6 commission could be jailed” on Fox News.

I wonder where former president Trump’s sentiments actually lie regarding our current very concerning situation with Russia, does he side with his confessed “buddy” Vladimir Putin or with our great country, that is currently led by his political adversary, President Joe Biden.

In closing, conservative commentator Tucker Carlson recently stated on his Fox News program, “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” his unwavering and unequivocal support of Russia’s very bellicose actions on the border of Ukraine, a long-time U.S. Ally. What next?

Richard Hord

Martins Ferry