Letter: Can’t blame Trump for Jan. 6 riot

Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump clash with police officers in front of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington
Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump clash with police officers in front of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, U.S. January 6, 2021. REUTERS/Stephanie Keith
REUTERS/Stephanie Keith

To the Editor,

Re: Pasqual Pelosi’s most recent opinion piece stating that Donald Trump told the Big Lie and incited the insurrectionists.

A previous job involved having an elementary knowledge of medicine and medical abbreviations. I bought a book by a doctor

advocating to eliminate them. The doctor recounted a story in which a nurse treating a bad wound read TAB (triple antibiotic) on the prescription as the soda “Tab.” There being none available, the nurse instead irrigated the wound with Pepsi.

How does this relate to Donald Trump? Simple. If a nurse is so lacking in common sense, he/she feels it is all right to irrigate a wound with soda and risk hurting and further infecting a patient, who shoulders the blame?

It is very difficult to ascertain if Trump was or was not responsible for the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, although I find it telling that he has not been charged with anything more than a year later. Time will tell. However, even assuming for the sake of argument he 100% incited the riot, how can you possibly blame him for the stupidity, ignorance and lack of common sense of his followers?

Peaceful civil disobedience has had a role in our history (Rosa Parks is a fine example). There is nothing — I repeat, nothing — worth committing violence over, risking lives and engaging in wholesale property damage. There is nothing — I repeat nothing — worth exposing yourself to arrest and possible federal charges. If Trump’s followers are so lacking in common sense that they don’t understand this, who is to blame?

Mr. Pelosi in his excoriation of the Frank Vernuccio’s column makes a number of points that are if not valid, at least debatable. I cannot possibly blame Trump for this riot. I blame the people that participated in the riot.

Nat Weiner