Capitol-siege aftermath: Senators are accomplices

Re: “Nearly all GOP senators vote against impeachment trial for Trump, signaling likely acquittal” [Jan. 26, Nation]:

Sen. Rand Paul and the majority of his Senate Republican colleagues can offer up all the excuses they can muster to deny the facts. But had not a made-up conspiracy theory by the president been beaten into the heads of that president’s most overzealous supporters, no mob riot on the United States Capitol would have occurred on Jan. 6.

The president and his enablers continued to agitate people and called upon them to perform a treasonous act, for two months, not just to “fight” for their country but to interfere with a constitutional process and do whatever is necessary to overthrow a democratic form of government. Sen. Paul’s failure to acknowledge this makes him just as much an accomplice to the events as the ex-president on trial.

Herman Gilman, Seattle