In Geyer Balog’s letter to the editor in The Alpena News (Saturday, Jan. 23) regarding “the narrative the media is currently pushing” about Donald Trump supporters being responsible for the violent raid on the U.S. Capitol back on Jan. 6, he asserts “those invaders were identified as antifa and far leftists dressed in sheep’s clothing.”

What nonsense! The fact that the rioting was done by Trump supporters is not a “narrative” from the media but simply the facts that many of us watched “live” on TV news as it happened.

The crowd that gathered on the Ellipse near the White House for the Save America March had permission for 30,000 people to attend. President Trump challenged the news reporters to pan their cameras to the sides and behind their media platform, to show the viewing public how many tens of thousands of his supporters had gathered there.

“But they won’t show that,” he said, “because they are the lying media.”

Despite the violence done to them later, the reporters bravely did their job.

There were no counter-protesters in the crowd, just Trump loyalists carrying American flags and Trump flags, wearing “Q-anon” gear and red MAGA hats, chanting “Stop the steal.”

I hope Commissioner Balog had a chance to see the photo in The Alpena News on Monday., Jan. 25 (Page 6B) with the caption “Protesters loyal to President Donald Trump storm the Capitol Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington.” If he counts the number of Trump flags in that photo alone, it may help correct his error in identifying them as “antifa and far leftists.” They were, in fact, Trump supporters who were attacking the U. S. government.

Let’s not try to write a new narrative.

PAUL LANCE,

Alpena