#Letters to the editor — Jan. 22, 2021

The Issue: Sen. Mitch McConnell’s claim that President Donald Trump provoked the Capitol Hill rioters.

Michael Goodwin is correct, and Sen. Mitch McConnell needs to either step down as a GOP leader or be removed immediately (“Mitch’s betrayal hurts the nation,” Jan. 20).

Like Rep. Liz Cheney, McConnell is not acting in a manner that represents the will of his constituents or the will of the GOP base. McConnell is acting out of malice and his own self-interest, and that sort of grotesque behavior should find no quarter on the floor of the United States Senate, let alone by a party leader.

McConnell seems to forget that at least 74 million people just voted to reelect President Donald Trump, and Trump won Kentucky by a massive 62 percent.

If McConnell persists in this egotistical manner, along this destructive course, then he needs to go. If the Senate convicts the president, especially under these extremely dubious circumstances, then the GOP will be finished, and there will be nothing to lead, anyway.

Jonathan Stein

Roslyn Heights

As a proud Republican who voted for Trump, I find it incredible that Michael Goodwin accuses McConnell of betraying the nation by indicating that he may vote to convict Trump.

Trump certainly deserves to be convicted and barred from running for office in the future. Does Goodwin not see how Trump misled his voters into believing conspiracy theories about his “stolen election” and “landslide victory”?

He betrayed the nation by whipping the crowd into a frenzy that ended violently on Jan. 6. He betrayed his ever-loyal Vice President Mike Pence by pressuring him to disregard the results of the election before Congress.

And he betrayed Republicans by suppressing the Republican vote in Georgia, thereby giving Democrats full control of the Senate (likely in an attempt to “punish” McConnell and other Republicans who he didn’t deem as being sufficiently loyal to him).

Which other president from either party would get away with this? None.

Anne Reich

Forest Hills

Mitch McConnell’s position on Trump is unbelievable.

Being a conservative, not registered Republican, I will not vote Republican again. I will find a party that I think will more echo my feelings.

John Rossano

Oceanside

“Lowlife” has new meaning now, as Michael Goodwin points out re: McConnell. Betrayal and rubbish is the order of the day.

It is not because “politics is a rough game” or anything like that. It’s that people the likes of McConnell, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer have nothing to show for having lived, save personal vengeance, duplicity and nastiness.

They represent, blessedly, no one. Policy regarding the people who voted them into office simply isn’t an issue.

Impeachment and a potential trial thereafter is not of the slightest interest to anyone — Republican, Democrat or independent — but them.

Steven Wolosker

Manhattan

McConnell claims that Trump provoked rioters. He only says this to cover his own shortcomings in the Republican Party.

He is a RINO and has, over and over again, sold out Republicans and the American people.

Steve Preziosa

Deptford, NJ

Among Trump’s great accomplishments is managing to unite all the sleazeballs in Congress on the left and the right.

McConnell, Rep. Kevin McCarthy and Schumer all seem on board with a post-presidency impeachment for Trump.

They all deny election fraud without seeing the evidence. And they all blame Trump for the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, when there is evidence the riots were planned before the rally.

So, the corrupt, cheating and dishonest Congress has been united like never before thanks to Trump, who came into office to change all that.

John Kirkwood

Westwood, NJ

If McConnell and the Republicans in the Senate vote to impeach Trump, I am through with the Republicans.

Charlie Honadel

Venice, Fla.