To the editor:

When a significant majority of Republican senators, including both Kansas senators, voted that the former president was not guilty of the impeachment charges against him, they convicted themselves of a failure to honor their own oaths to protect and defend the Constitution. The insurrection of Jan. 6 (intentionally incited over a period of months by then-President Trump as thoroughly recounted by the House managers) was a final unconstitutional effort by Trump to retain power, despite having resoundingly lost a fair, free and democratic election. An insurrection against the government is an attempted coup. A failed coup should be described as “a dress rehearsal.” By failing to convict the former president, the Senate has failed to disqualify him from again holding an office from which he might again attack our Constitution. Those who voted not guilty have placed a permanent stain on their names in the annals of history.

David Collins,

Lawrence