This is going to be short, because I have no intention of relitigating an issue that has been decided in the courts over 60 times.

But Trump lost a free and fair election, and it is time to move on.

The courts, the state legislatures, the Electoral College, and Congress have recognized Joe Biden as the president-elect.

The president and many of his supporters do not accept this, and over that I have no influence or control.

But a more important and alarming thing is that the president of the United States incited a mob that vandalized the Capitol building, tried to intimidate legislators into installing Trump as an unelected dictator, and whose actions resulted in four deaths.

Spin it all you want to, but the video of Trump speaking to the crowd, and the amazing number of video clips of the destruction that ensued make it obvious that the president’s words directly resulted in violence by his followers in the crowd.

I usually do not comment at all on national politics, but this lack of recognition of how American democracy works is poisoning our democracy, and that has implications for how we treat each other in Cobb County.

It’s time for everyone to take a few deep breaths, then move on to fulfilling our roles as productive citizens.