Trump Impeached a Second Time
[Note to Readers: The views expressed here are solely those of Ross Kaplan, and do not represent Edina Realty, Berkshire Hathaway, or any other entity referenced. Edina Realty is a subsidiary of Berkshire.]
Of all the desecrations committed by President Donald J. Trump or his followers the last 4+ years, the most heinous isn’t the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
However indelible those still-raw images may be, I believe history will judge Trump’s worst sin* to be his unconscionable 
defaming of the 2020 Presidential election — the Big Lie that inspired January 6.
Of course, that’s in addition to Trump’s previously doing everything in his considerable power, as sitting U.S. President, to undermine the very same election.
That includes hamstringing (crippling?) the U.S. Postal Service; fighting the widespread use of mail-in ballots in a pandemic (imagine, protecting people’s lives!); and countenancing exactly one ballot drop box for a county with almost 5 million people (Harris, where Houston is located).
Civilian vs. Military Heroes
New York Times columnist (and fellow St. Louis Park native son and former Echo staffer) Thomas Friedman sets the record straight:
Trump took the most heroic election in American history — an election in which more Americans voted than ever before, freely and fairly in the midst of a deadly pandemic — and claimed it was all a fraud, because he didn’t win. And then, on the basis of that Big Lie, eight Republican senators and 139 House members voted to nullify Joe Biden’s electoral victory. That is sick.”
–“Trump Is Blowing Apart the G.O.P. God Bless Him”, Thomas L. Friedman; The New York Times (Jan. 12, 2021).
Voters this year faced an invisible virus, not bullets; any election-related deaths (from Covid-19) pale by comparison with Antietam, D-Day or other military battles.
Nevertheless, over 150 million Americans braved the worst pandemic in a century to exercise their franchise, in many cases enduring physical harassment or hours-long delays to do so.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands around the country — mostly volunteers — faithfully oversaw that process, and vouched for its integrity.
Tom Friedman is exactly right: that’s what heroism and patriotism look like . . .
P.S.: According to Thomas Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the 2020 Presidential election was “the most secure in American history.”
Donald Trump fired him on November 17, 2020.
*Acts of (C)ommission. Trump’s worst dereliction of duty as President: his disastrous (non)response to Covid-19, beyond politicizing mask wearing and leaving states to fend for themselves as he downplayed the threat.
As a result, almost 400,000 American are dead as Trump prepares(?) to leave office.
See also, “Republicans Call for Healing, “Moving On” in Wake of Trump-Incited Attack on Capitol.”
