Disappointed by GOP
What happened to the Republican Party I've supported the past 40 years? One hundred thirty-plus congressmen/women voted to toss out two states' electoral votes -- a recipe for a coup. Liz Cheney's party status was put to a vote at the same House of Representatives event in which Marjorie Taylor Greene received a standing ovation. Are you serious?
But the coup de grâce is the impeachment vote where our two senators gave Trump "a mulligan," in Sen. Mike Lee's words. I hope I'm not the only Republican who will never vote for a politician that supported The Big Lie-r. Boozman and Cotton: If you had been leaders in our Normandy D-Day invasion, we'd all be speaking German today. You don't have to explain your reasons to me for not voting to impeach -- save it for the battered Capitol police force that defended you on Jan. 6.
JIM KREUZ
Fort Smith
Gave slap in the face
Forty-three senators voted to acquit rather than impeach. So now, Feb. 13 tops Jan. 6 as the worst day in the political history of our democracy. The world is watching. Our standing as a nation that follows a democratic Constitution has slipped further. Trump got away with fomenting lies and rallying domestic terrorists/white supremacists to attack our government. Clearly grounds for impeachment.
The actions of those 43 will embolden both domestic and foreign terrorists and dictators. Those 43 hid while law officers put their bodies and lives on the line to protect them. Their votes are a slap in the face to law enforcement officers everywhere.
TERI PATRICK
Little Rock
Stand for democracy
If I was a senator of either party at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and I had my fellow senators, their families and staff threatened and attacked as they were and the president did nothing to stop it for over three hours, I would not think twice about convicting him.
If it occurred on the president's watch he can and should be held accountable. How can a president get a free pass just because the event occurred in the last two weeks of his term? What if there were criminal charges? Does he get to walk away because a trial would be after his last day?
For months Trump repeated the lie that if he lost it would be because the election was rigged. He tried everything he could to overturn the election results. When none of that worked he played the big con again and marshalled his supporters to Washington on Jan. 6. The day the votes would be certified. It was no coincidence.
Even if you believe that Trump did not incite an insurrection, he did nothing to stop his minions for over three hours and almost got Vice President Mike Pence hung. History will remember that day, but not as Trump would like. History will record who had the courage to stand for democracy.
ED PARKS
Rogers
The sad commentary
Trump's response to being "acquitted": "It is a sad commentary on our times that one political party in America is given a free pass to denigrate the rule of law, defame law enforcement, cheer mobs, excuse rioters, and transform justice into a tool of political vengeance, and persecute, blacklist, cancel and suppress all people and viewpoints with whom or which they disagree. I always have, and always will, be a champion for the unwavering rule of law, the heroes of law enforcement, and the right of Americans to peacefully and honorably debate the issues of the day without malice and without hate."
My words: Yes. It is a sad commentary that this former president has the audacity to use terms referring to others that most assuredly reflect on himself.
The GOP senators that failed to see what was obvious before them have ensured the recurrence of similar events in the future.
And for those who voted to acquit on the grounds that it was unconstitutional, that constitutional decision had already been decided. And if they were still unsure, then they should have voted what conscience they had to convict and let the Supreme Court decide the legitimacy thereof.
JIM LINSLEY
Little Rock
Evaded responsibility
It seems Donald J. Trump was right. He can shoot someone and probably get away with it.
He eventually put his boast to a feat-of-arms test. He did what no American politician had ever done before: He sent his violent private army of Brown Shirt minions to invade and unseat his weaker constitutional competitors, the House of Representatives, the Senate and his own vice president. And why? Simple: These masses of weak people had defied him and his fiction that he alone was still president and he deserved to retain the power, a goal he lusts after quite madly. Donald Trump never had any intention to giving up the limelight and power and prestige of Air Force One.
Our two senators, abandoning common sense and ignoring unimpeachable evidence, let him skate on responsibility for this mountainous mass of filmed and well-documented crimes. But there are, after all, laws for others and legal lawlessness and exemptions and even newly created legal precedents for Mr. Trump.
The legend grows of Invictus the Invincible (unconquerable and undefeated -- nothing and certainly no one is mightier); so say the two senators of Arkansas.
DANNY HANCOCK
Lonoke
Will be a best-seller!
As an avid reader, I'm eagerly awaiting the release of the forthcoming book from Senators Boozman and Cotton, "Profiles in Cowardice."
DREW JANSEN
Little Rock