This is a tough column to write, because I don’t want to demean or insult those who write me in good faith. I’ve started it a half dozen times since November but turned to other topics each time because this needle hard to thread.

The truth is that Donald Trump undermined faith in our elections in his false bid to retain the presidency. He sparked an insurrection intended to overthrow our government and keep himself in power. No president in our history has done worse.

This is not subjective. We all saw it. Plenty of leaders today try to convince the masses we did not see what we saw, but our eyes don’t deceive. (If leaders began a yearslong campaign today to convince us that the Baltimore bridge did not collapse Tuesday morning, would you ever believe them?) Trust your eyes. Trump on Jan. 6 launched the most serious threat to our system of government since the Civil War. You know that. You saw it.

The facts involving Trump are crystal clear, and as news people, we cannot pretend otherwise, as unpopular as that might be with a segment of our readers. There aren’t two sides to facts. People who say the earth is flat don’t get space on our platforms. If that offends them, so be it.

Cleveland Plain Dealer teaches The New York Times how to journalism.

  • @[email protected]
    4•8 months ago

    I sent a thank-you email to the editor and also pointed out a missing word so the can fix a sentence (I’m just pedantic like that). I hope more newsrooms will follow this example.

    I heard in a podcast interview that whatever GOP org is now adding the following to their interview process: “Who won the 2020 election?” If you don’t say Trump, you don’t get the job. The amount of control that he has over the GOP is still startling.