To the editor:

Brian Nolan’s letter to the editor in The Journal Nov 10, 2020 invited comparison between the elections of 2016 and our most recent election. The presidential election between Trump and Clinton occurred on Nov.8, 2016. Secretary Clinton gave her concession speech on Nov. 9, 2016. There were recounts, at first initiated by Jill Stein of the Green Party, but later joined by the Clinton campaign. These efforts did not interfere with the peaceful and timely transition from the Obama to the Trump administration. In the current situation, the Trump administration has not allowed these usual aspects of the transition to occur, such as national security briefings and release of transition funds.

Mr. Nolan included other misinformation in his letter. To address several erroneous assertions, Russian interference in the 2016 election was reported by our intelligence agencies and reiterated by the Mueller Report and by the findings of the Senate investigation run by Republicans. Impeachment was not, in my opinion, half-hearted. Such blatant attempts to subvert our democracy by seeking political ammunition against an opponent from a foreign leader should not be over-looked. Most of his party chose to ignore the offense, but an offense it was.

Certainly Americans should be for fair elections. Aspersions should not be cast without proof, however, or you do have banana republic atmosphere where losers do not accept election results. Mr. Trump said in 2016 and again in 2020, well ahead of the current election results, that he would accept results only when they favored him. That is not democracy.

Mary Kluge

John Kluge

New Ulm