State Rep. Jerry Knowles, R-124, state Sen. David Argall, R-29, and U.S. Rep. Daniel Meuser, 9th District, chose to take a hard line over the past four years standing by President Trump and passing down his dangerous rhetoric and messaging.

When Gov. Tom Wolf enacted shutdown orders and mandates last spring amid the COVID-19 pandemic, all three officials escalated their behavior by deliberately defying a fellow elected official’s orders, creating chaos and division among their constituents. For nine months, they have used their platforms to cultivate an unsafe atmosphere for anyone in our area who does not support Donald Trump or wish to be safe from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The response given in the Standard Speaker regarding their participation and hosting of pro-Trump rallies was appalling. To speak about their joyous experiences in the past while giving no repudiation of the actions which culminated in Wednesday’s attempt of a coup is disgusting. Two buses departed the Tamaqua YMCA parking lot that morning to transport area residents down to Washington, D.C. These are your constituents. These are people who live in our communities, and these ideas do not go away with the inauguration of a new president on Jan. 20, 2021. A coup takes longer to recover from, and that recovery must start at home.

Our own state Legislature turned into a circus this week because Republicans unconstitutionally refused to acknowledge the victory and seat the certified winner, Jim Brewster, D-45, despite a state Supreme Court ruling in the case. Do you feel good about following in the footsteps of Trump with your own participation in the undermining of a free and fair election after this week’s events, Mr. Argall?

I am calling on all three of our local elected officials to come up with a plan for how to heal this area and bridge the divide they helped create through their own words and actions over the past four years. They did their part to make this mess. It’s past time to fix it.

Emily Paisley

Tamaqua