I should no longer be surprised, or shocked, by what transpires in this country. I received the following information from my alma mater this past week:

“One year after thousands of supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to protest and disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election, the results of a new national University of Massachusetts Amherst Poll released today show 71 percent of Republicans – and one-third of the nation – continue to believe that Biden’s victory was illegitimate, and that Republicans continue to blame Democrats, Antifa and the Capitol Police for the events of Jan. 6. They also oppose both the continuation of law enforcement efforts to prosecute the rioters and attempts to learn more about what happened that day.

“The poll of 1,000 respondents found that only 58 percent of Americans believe that Biden’s electoral victory was legitimate, with more than a fifth (22 percent) saying that it was “definitely not legitimate,” numbers nearly identical to an April 2021 UMass Amherst Poll (59 percent / 24 percent). Only one-fifth of Republicans (21 percent) view Biden’s victory as legitimate.”

And as the first anniversary of the traitorous acts of Jan. 6, 2021, is here, another revelation from the survey is beyond troublesome. “Republicans continue to defend the events of Jan. 6 and those who perpetrated the attacks on the capitol, with 80 percent describing the events as a ‘protest,’ while the majority (55 percent) of all respondents of the poll use the term “riot.” While 62 percent of Republicans said the perpetrators were ‘protestors,’ more than a quarter (26 percent) deemed the pro-Trump horde ‘patriots,’ while similar numbers (27 percent) also said they were ‘Antifa.’ Democrats, meanwhile, nearly equally described them as ‘insurrectionists,’ ‘white nationalists’ and ‘rioters’ (68 percent each), a ‘mob’ (67 percent) and ‘terrorists’ (64 percent).”

So, the concept that we can have an honest election and a peaceful transition between presidents is now over. So, when Ronald Reagan won his first term were there Democrats screaming about an illegal election? No. When President Bush lost to Bill Clinton were there Republicans saying the election was stolen?

Will this be the new trend in American politics? I certainly hope not but it wouldn’t surprise me.

Is there such as thing as election fraud? Sure. Did it happen on the widespread basis during the last presidential election? The New York Times noted in November 2020 that it contacted election officials in every state and no irregularities were reported.

Trump simply lost. Biden had more votes. As we all know, Trump couldn’t handle the idea of a defeat and stoked his supporters to believe that he was the victim of a huge national fraud. Too many of his supporters took his rhetoric as a call to arms and we know what happened.
As the investigation into the Jan. 6 insurrection continues, we are seeing more of the communications between key members of the Trump administration as well as reaction from members of the right-wing press.

It’s pretty damning.

Here is another interesting note from this survey: “A large plurality of Americans – 44 percent – blame Donald Trump for the events of Jan. 6 compared to any other person or group,” says Raymond La Raja, professor of political science at UMass Amherst and associate director of the poll says. “Only 4 percent blame Joe Biden. Stunningly, almost one-in-three Republican voters blame the Democratic Party for the events of the day. On the flip side, just 8 percent of Democrats voters blame the Republican Party. They blame Trump by a wide margin, with 75 percent saying he is the cause of it all.”

I hope as more and more evidence is made available that people of all political beliefs understand the election was not stolen; that Vice President Mike Pence was following the Constitution and could not stop the proceedings at the Capitol; and the attack on the Capitol was a traitorous act, not protest.

I would like to say that, but if some people live in their own echo chamber and pay attention to the claims made by talk show host, self-appointed experts and the most radical of political stripes, I’m afraid we will continue down the path we have started.

Clarification

In my recent column concerning a local woman and her long effort to receive the medical treatment she needs I wrote a sentence that read she had done much research about her condition. What would have been more accurate is to note that she learned much about her status through the medical specialists she had consulted.

Also, I probably should have explained that Commonwealth Care Alliance was an organization that has not delivered the services the subject of my column had requested.

I hope these amendments add greater understanding of this person’s plight.