When is it ever all right to interfere in the life of another person with intimidation, lies, fear tactics and unrelenting threats of violence toward that person and their family members? It is never all right.

When is it ever all right to lie over and over again to push the Big Lie that the 2020 presidential election was wrought with fraud when all claims were investigated and no legitimate proof was ever provided to substantiate those erroneous claims? It is never all right.

Did the people who believed the Big Lie ever consider that there were Republicans on the same ballot as the former president who won their respective races? Did the Republicans who won ever question the legitimacy of their wins on those same ballots that Trump claimed were fraudulent? Trump lost but they won? You can’t have it both ways.

Plain and simple, Democrat candidate Biden won and Trump lost. Trump was told over and over again by many in his inner circle that he had lost. He responded by firing those people who would not go along with his Big Lie and replaced them with people who would do his bidding. He knew perfectly well that he had lost the election but continued to push the Big Lie to rev up his base of followers, which included the extremist groups of QAnon, Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, Three Percenters, Boogaloo Boys and NSC-131 (Nationalist Social Club).

Is it ever all right that at the behest of Trump his legal team and other of his associates instructed the Republicans in the seven battleground states to issue false Electoral College certificates declaring that Trump and Pence were the winners of the presidential election in their respective states? It is never all right and it is illegal. Is it ever all right for Trump to claim that Pence could overturn the Biden win and declare that he was the winner of the 2020 election? It is never all right.

No one person has the power to overturn an election. Is it ever all right to use all the tactics above to incite the insurrection that occurred at the Capitol on Jan. 6 — an insurrection that put the vice president, senators and representatives in grave danger? It also resulted in many injuries and the subsequent deaths of some members of the various police forces that responded to the surge of protesters. It is never all right.

The organizers and the perpetrators must be held accountable and it should never be allowed to happen again. For those who still believe that Trump should be the current president or the best Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election, please be open in your thinking to seek out the truth.

Don’t base your beliefs only on far-right news sources, conspiracy theories and unsubstantiated claims on the internet. The integrity of our elections and our democracy is at stake.

Carol Pomeroy lives in Salisbury.