Letter to the Editor: Rise above temptation like Ford

To the Editor:

In a recent letter to the Daily Journal, Lisa Voiles made a very strong argument for prosecuting former President Donald Trump to the fullest for his crimes against the nation. I cannot take issue with any of the charges she made against the former President. I too wish he could be made to pay for his crimes, but I fear the consequences for the nation would be onerous. Trump and his kowtowing supporters would not go quietly or peacefully and the matter would consume the nations’ attention for years.

Former President Gerald Ford set a wise precedent when he pardoned former President Richard Nixon of his crimes against the nation in 1974. In response to criticism of his action, Ford asserted he acted “to change our national focus … to shift our attentions from the pursuit of a fallen president to the pursuit of the urgent needs of a rising nation. The passion generated (by prosecuting Nixon) would seriously disrupt the healing of our country from the great wounds of the past.” History has proven Ford’s action to have been in the best interest of the nation. I believe the same argument could be made for not prosecuting Donald Trump. He too is a fallen president. The American people have overwhelmingly rejected him as our leader, and except for a minority of Republican diehards and spineless politicians, his power is fast slipping away. Quoting President Ford: “someone must write an end to it.”

Jim Curry

Franklin