To the editor:

Speaking of Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol building, ultra-conservative congressional Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming, stated: “There is no question that the president formed the mob. The president incited the mob. The president addressed the mob.” 

Former Marine Corps general and Secretary of Defense James Mattis called the insurrection a “violent assault on our Capitol, an effort to subjugate American democracy by mob rule.” Mattis noted that Trump’s attempt “to destroy trust in our election … has been enabled by pseudo-political leaders whose names will live in infamy as profiles of cowardice.” 

One of the those many cowards, as well as a sycophant of the highest order, is Rep. Elise Stefanik. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a sycophant as a boot licker, brown noser, flunky, suck-up and a parasite “who clings to a person of wealth, power or influence or is useless to society.” 

The founders of this nation were aware of the thin line between democracy and “mobocracy.” However, they likely did not consider that crowds bent on violence would be encouraged to undermine the democratic process by a sitting president whose every disgusting utterance and policy was enabled by sycophantic politicians. 

Dictionaries for children and young adults often include pictures and photos to further describe a word. Next to “sycophant” there should be photos of Mitch McConnell, Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, Mike Pence and Elise Stefanik, whose names, as Gen. Mattis noted, will “live in infamy as profiles of cowardice.” 

George J. Bryjak

Bloomingdale