To the editor:

As a result of the Nov. 5 presidential election, former President Donald J. Trump will be returning to the White House, as a result of his winning a majority of votes in the Electoral College (which ultimately determines who will win the U.S. presidency), as well as the popular vote (being the first Republican to do so since George W. Bush in 2004) by fairly large margins, and, as result, will be inaugurated as the 47th president of our great nation on Jan. 20.

However, while Trump, who failed to follow the long-established protocol in contacting the then-President-elect Joe Biden after his defeat of Trump in the 2020 presidential election, Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Trump had defeated in the recent election, graciously conceded the election to Trump, along with offering well-wishes. Also, Biden was willing to meet with the incoming president to help ensure a smooth transition of power.

This, in spite of the total disrespect that trump has shown the current president and vice president, and that when he (Trump) lost the election to Biden in 2020, he refused to brief the incoming office holders, and even failed to attend their inaugural ceremony, which was unparalleled, unprecedented, completely disrespectful and un-American.

To this day, Trump continues to refuse to concede his legitimate defeat in the 2020 presidential election, claiming, with absolutely no corroborating evidence whatsoever, that the aforementioned election was, somehow, rigged against him, leading to his directing his supporters to violently storm the U.S. Capitol in order for him (Trump) to illegally remain in power, which, if it had proven successful, would have marked the sad end of our democratic form of government, which is by definition of, by and for the American people.

Recall that Trump also claimed that the 2016 presidential election was, without a shred of evidence, rigged against him as well, until after the votes were tabulated and he had been declared victorious by the Electoral College, and, as a result, became the 45th president of the United States, despite his significant defeat to his then-opponent Hillary Clinton in the popular vote.

It is quite obvious that Biden and Harris prioritize what is in the best interest for our great nation, in spite of their being tremendously disappointed in the election results, whereas the twice-impeached Trump, who has been convicted of committing 34 felonies, showed complete disrespect for the incoming President Biden and Vice President Harris following their decisive victory over him and his running mate, Mike Pence , in the 2002 election. Trump, as he has essentially always done, placed his massive self-interests as being paramount to what is in the best interest of the country.

Richard Hord

Martins Ferry