An open letter to the Republican Party of the United States:

August 29, 2023

To all concerned:

The Jan 6, 2021 insurrection should have never happened. It is a sad reflection about where we
are heading as a nation and on the quality of the leadership we have in Washington, especially
the leadership of the Republican Party who refuses to call out Trump for what he is, a power
hungry psychopath who cares for only one thing, himself. Instead of being a wake up call for
our nation to reflect on what unites us as a country, the Insurrection simply widened the divide
we have among our people. It has become a war cry for the Republican Party to tear down
anything or anyone that challenges their views on any subject. The same party leaders, who, in
spite of overwhelming evidence gathered by many true patriots who put their love of country
over love of party (yes, even a precious few Republicans) are still pushing Trump’s Big Lie.
How much evidence does one need before making a decision that it is well past time to move
on from Trump and his lackeys and move the party past this very dark time? The 60+ failed
legal challenges to the election results, many in courts run by Trump appointees, wasn’t enough
evidence? How does a party go from being one of overall integrity to one that, for all
appearances, should meet under a big top circus tent instead of in the hallowed halls of the
United States Capitol Building?

My family continues to be deeply affected by the death of my brother, Officer Brian Sicknick of
the United States Capitol Police. His death was due in large part to the actions of Mr. Trump and
his misguided cultists who, on that fateful day, attacked the United States Capitol with the full
intent of doing serious harm to Members of Congress, even many Republicans unless they
threw out over two centuries of precedent and illegally overturned an election. Insurrections are
something you would expect in a third world dictatorship, not the beacon on the hill that Pres.
Reagan referred to our country as in the past. I wonder what President Reagan would think of
Today’s Republican Party…

Even in the aftermath of the Jan 6th insurrection attempt, I see repeated attempts to hide the
significance of that day, the people responsible for its execution, and the damage caused by the
insurrectionists. I see elected officials hosting fundraisers for the legal defense of those
convicted of crimes during the Insurrection and I continue to hear some in positions of party
influence claim that the actions of the Jan 6 terrorists were comparable to those of Vice
President Al Gore when he lost to President Bush. This comparison is delusional at best. Unlike
Trump, who incited the vulgarians who stormed the Capitol that day, V.P. Gore legally
challenged the election results in court and, after exhausting all legal options, conceded that he
had lost and moved on with his life. He did not concoct the Big Lie, he did not organize and
deploy an angry mob, and he certainly did not attempt to overthrow the government of the
United States. Mr. Trump on the other hand, not only refused to concede the election, but
concocted a series of ever bigger lies about the integrity of the U.S. election system, blamed
“the corrupt Biden family” without any solid evidence, non-existent large scale voting
anomalies, and everything else he could imagine to hold on to power he should have never held
in the first place. If there is solid evidence of anyone in office, Republican or Democrat doing
something blatantly wrong, it should be brought out, but continued lies without evidence does
little more than damage our entire nation.
Many people in leadership positions in the Republican Party dutifully supported Trump in his
efforts, whether actively, or, more often, passively by not calling out criminal behavior. This is in
spite of their own lives being threatened during the Insurrection. Some actually called Trump out
on it, for a moment, before traveling to Mar-a-Lago and then suddenly had a change of heart.
(Sound familiar Mr. McCarthy?) Funny how such things work in the swamp that Trump claimed
he would drain, but actually deepened substantially.

Unfortunately, our Founding Fathers never envisioned such a corrupt, power mad individual
holding high office in our nation. Actually, they did to some extent when the impeachment
process was put into our Constitution and again, when the 14th Amendment was crafted and
added to the Constitution. A party as corrupt as the current Republican Party is incapable of
putting country before party and made sure that Trump held power for as long as he was able to
do so in spite of an ever growing mountain of evidence that Mr. Trump was heavily involved in
all that transpired during the Jan 6th Insurrection. Where are the “good Republicans” who
should demand the resignation of every member of Congress who will not denounce the
insurrectionists and their leader? Why are the Republican representatives not purging their own
ranks of members who openly support the insurrectionists? The allure of holding office is far
more compelling to them than the oath they swore when taking that office.

I lost what little respect I had for the Republican party after the constant noise coming from the
party that tried to make my brother’s death fade quietly away while hinting at his demise
stemming from causes other than the insurrectionists. Most of the party chose lies and deceit
over truth in the aftermath of Trump’s riot. Many party members conveniently left out the last line
of the Medical Examiner’s report related to Brian’s death when the topic came up as it did not
promote their narrative. If they would like to visit Brian’s grave, they can do so as Arlington
National Cemetery is not far from the Capitol Building.

Unfortunately, my family is not wealthy or powerful enough to directly challenge D.C. insiders so
we have to resort to interviews, letters such as this one and actions such as the one we took
during the Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony on Dec 8th, 2022. On that day, we showed our
displeasure of the Republican Party with our refusal to shake hands with either Speaker
McCarthy or Senate Minority Leader McConnel at the Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony as
none of us were willing to acknowledge the leadership of the party whose actions (or inactions)
caused the death of my brother and pain for many other police officers and their families during
and long after the insurrection. Even in the aftermath of the insurrection, party leadership put
itself over decency. The party, at the behest of its leadership, largely voted against the
recognition of Brian and his fellow officers deserved by being awarded the Congressional Gold
Medal after they were beaten, chemically sprayed, tasered, and in many cases, seriously
injured by so-called Republican patriots who were hell bent on overthrowing an election
because Mr. Trump told them to.

The party claims it is pro law enforcement, but the actions of its leadership speak far louder than
the false words they spew. The same party claims to maintain a higher moral ground than their
opposition, but continuously shows that they are not capable of taking the high road. Several of
the party members openly concoct insane theories which continue to feed feeble minded
followers and keep them angry enough to turn to violence. “Jewish space lasers''? “Antifa
organized the insurrection”? “Trump was not involved”?, “The riot was a false flag orchestrated
by the FBI”? And numerous others, all without a shred of solid evidence. Crazy theories are one
thing when uttered by the occasional crackpot, but when those who are very visible as elected
officials say them, it becomes much more dangerous. It becomes even worse when party
leadership fails to shut down such theories in their ranks. Speaker Pelosi, while facing
continued crazy theories spouted by some of the more radical members in her party, put a stop
to it. Mr. McCarthy? Not a peep.

Even something as simple as voting for a bipartisan committee to look into the events that
caused the riots was met with either silence, or opposition, made even worse when party
members such as Ms. Greene denounced the commission as fully partisan after the attempt
was made to place hardline party mouthpieces on the committee instead of people who would
actually look at factual evidence, no matter where it would lead. This attitude of deflect, attack,
and ignore was reinforced after Rep. Liz Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger were increasingly
harassed by not only Trump’s loyal followers, but by fellow members of Congress when they
dared to look for the truth as Jan 6th Select Committee members. Instead of embracing
members who based their politics on honorable ideals, the party as a whole forced
Representatives Cheney, Kinzinger, and several others out of office.

After all is said and done, I am simply a lone citizen who has suffered at the hands of the
Republican Party “leadership” and many of its members and who has to deal with the results of
their actions daily. I can’t help but wonder how Mr. McCarthy can sleep at night while continuing
to genuflect to anyone who even hints at challenging his leadership. How can Mr. McConnell,
who has been a Senator longer than many of his constituents have been alive, look in a mirror
after so many years of worming along the aisles of the Senate Chamber? How can members
like Ms. Greene watch herself spouting completely insane rhetoric on television and not think “I
look unhinged, maybe I should tone it down a bit”? How can the party claim it is the party of “law
and order”, yet continue to support domestic terrorists and challenge our entire justice system
which the Republican party now claims is somehow “weaponized” against Trump, but was
perfectly functional when investigating Bill and Hillary Clinton? How can the party not eject
members like Rep. Santos who are incapable of telling the truth on just about any issue? How
can such a party possibly lead the United States into a decent future instead of sliding into
continued decline? I urge the party leaders to look deep within and ask themselves why they
claim to serve the people of the United States. If it is simply to remain in power, I would say that
you may want to reread the U.S. Constitution, if you ever read it initially. I also urge the party
adherents to look at fact based evidence and ignore listening to talking heads like Tucker
Carlson and many of the fantasy based “newscasters” who present opinions, not news, all while
ignoring anything that even remotely deviates from their narrative. The party needs to find
people of better character to lead than those currently in power. One of Pres. Obama’s unofficial
guidelines during his terms was “Don’t do stupid stuff”. The Republican party seems to be doing
just the opposite and the current party slogan seems to be: “Only do stupid stuff”. This needs to
stop. During the recent Republican primary debate when Brett Baier asked: "If former President
Trump is convicted in a court of law, would you still support him as your party's choice? Please
raise your hand if you would." It was chilling to see so many hands shoot up so quickly.
Continued worship of a seriously flawed narcissist who has called for the suspension of parts of
the Constitution, at least when it suits him, will lead us to a very dark place for our nation, a
place from which we may not recover.

Craig Sicknick