It is difficult to put into words the events of the past week, when American democracy suffered a direct attack from supposed “patriots” led by, of all people, the President of the United States.
Similar to the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor which was, in Franklin Roosevelt’s words, “A day that shall live in infamy”, the Trump Riot of January 6th 2021 will forever be part of the ignominious legacy of our 45th President.
Donald J. Trump, who once swore to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution”, spent most of the Summer and Fall of 2020 sowing distrust of America’s electoral system, probably because he knew he was going to lose the popular vote again, by many millions of votes. And then, when his defeat became real, the President began a scorched-earth campaign to discredit Joe Biden’s victory via angry Twitter screeds, scores of lawsuits, and demands for polling recounts. He would annoy his way to victory.
With no evidence to back his claims that the election was “stolen” from him, he enlisted his army of G.O.P. sycophants in the House of Representatives and the Senate to throw a wrench into the Constitutionally-mandated ceremony in which Congress accepts the results of the Electoral College and declares the winner of the Presidential election.
Twelve Republican Senators and 140 Republican Congressmen enlisted in the ill-conceived farce, which was headed by Senators Josh Hawley (Missouri) and Ted Cruz (Texas) and supported by the House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
Months of propaganda disseminated by Republican officeholders, the Republican National Committee, the Trump Campaign, friendly media outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, and web-based conspiracy bullhorns had evidently convinced a majority of Republican faithful that the Presidential election had been rife with illegal voting, fraud perpetrated by the Democratic Party, and “irregularities” condoned by State officials which tilted the election against President Trump.
The President was reported to have had a number of conversations with advisors on the possibility of declaring martial law, asserting control through the Insurrection Act, and utilizing the military to rerun elections in swing states that the President had lost. Shortly thereafter, an opinion piece in The Washington Post, signed by all ten living former secretaries of defense, cautioned against any move to involve the military in pursuing claims of election fraud, arguing that it would take the country into “dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory.”
Those White House discussions were tabled, for the time being.
Now, at the 11th hour, Republican officeholders were reporting “lots of angry constituents” (i.e. the ones that they’d been brainwashing for months) who were demanding that something be done to reverse the so-called “stolen election”.
This “self-licking ice cream cone” justified their principled opposition to the ceremonial January 6th approval of Joe Biden’s win by Congress. As one observer put it, “This is the arsonist calling the fire department to put out the blaze that he kindled.”
In reality, the lame-ass stunt planned for January 6th was the obvious self-serving positioning of these opportunists to demonstrate fealty to President Trump, who controls a huge political action committee and was making threats (daily at that point) that he would “primary” any Republican who wouldn’t go along with his attempted coup. These 152 so-called “patriots”, “public servants” and “honorable” lawmakers were very publicly making a deal with the Devil, backing an unlikely putsch to the detriment of the Constitutional democracy which they had all sworn to support and defend.
The President and these lapdog Republican elected officials were warned, by leaders of both political parties, that they were playing with fire, that meddling with the electoral process and attempting to disregard the will of the people could, as Majority Leader McConnell said, send “democracy into a death spiral”.
(That’s the first thing that McConnell has ever said that I agree with!)
As the saying goes, “Words have consequences.” And yet, all of these ambitious political nincompoops insisted that theirs was a virtuous undertaking, a patriotic quest for answers, an endeavor rooted in love of country and the Constitution.
Bullshit. It was blatant kowtowing to Donald J. Trump.
White House Trade Advisor and Trump apologist Peter Navarro then went on Fox News and claimed that Vice President, as presiding officer of the Congressional electoral vote confirmation, had the authority to postpone Inauguration Day so that Congress could investigate the allegations of election fraud. Pence does not have that authority, by the way, and Navarro acting in a Trump campaign capacity via the Fox News interview was violating the Hatch Act, which prohibits Federal employees from campaign activities while serving in the Administration.
(Not that Trump or any of his Cabinet members or advisors have paid much attention to the Hatch Act over the past four years. And, besides, Peter Navarro has previously waded into areas that he knows nothing about, like medical advice during the pandemic and the impact of tariffs on imports. The guy is a loudmouthed doofus whose primary skill is polishing Trump turds.)
Simultaneous with Navarro’s ignorant claim, the President pushed forward in his effort to reverse the results of the election in key swing States that had gone Democratic. Having tried without success to strong-arm Republican officeholders in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Arizona, Trump then called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to talk about the voting fraud that must have occurred in Georgia…because Trump lost there.
Raffensperger, a Republican who supported Trump’s reelection, had followed-up on the election with three recounts to verify accuracy of the count and of the integrity of the voting machines and software: Trump had lost fair and square. But now the President was on the line and went on for 60 minutes laying out discredited conspiracy theories, asking the Secretary of State to “find” enough votes for him to win, and threatening Raffensberger with criminal charges and possible political payback if he wouldn’t play ball…and throw the election to Trump.
The whole sordid exchange, which was tape-recorded and later provided to the news media, was eerily reminiscent of the extortion conversation that President Trump had with the Ukrainian President more than a year ago and led to his impeachment. In that instance, the President was promising military support in exchange for a promise that the Ukrainian government would dig up some dirt on Joe Biden’s son Hunter.
Trump can’t help himself: he’s pond scum.
And so, with a few days left before the critical Georgia runoff elections for two Senatorial seats, President Trump publicly soiled himself, revealing once again what a low life he is and the extent to which he will debase himself and the Republican Party to retain power.
One can only imagine the glee in Georgia Democratic headquarters when this public relations disaster hit the airways, just days before the all-important Senatorial runoff elections in that State to determine which party would control the U.S. Senate.
At about the same time that Trump’s ill-conceived shakedown was taking place, another Republican bootlicker, Representative Louie Gohmert of Texas was filing a lawsuit in Federal court seeking to force Vice President Mike Pence to help throw the election to Donald Trump.
Louie Gohmert is the same Congressman who refused to wear a facemask a few months back, berated other Congressmen and staff for wearing them, and then got Covid-19 himself.
Gohmert’s claim was that the Vice President, as presiding officer at the January 6th Congressional counting of Electoral Votes, had the power to decide which electoral votes to count, suggesting that vice presidents can directly determine who wins a presidential election, regardless of the results, even in an election where that individual (the vice president) is on the ticket.
That’s ironic, the idea that a Vice President wields such power. John Nance Garner, who served as FDR’s sidekick from 1933 to 1941, observed that the Vice Presidency is “not worth a bucket of warm spit”.
The Gohmert lawsuit was so ludicrous that even Vice President Pence implored the court to throw it out, stating that “Ironically, Representative Gohmert’s position, if adopted by the Court, would actually deprive him (Representative Gohmert) of his opportunity as a Member of the House under the Electoral Count Act to raise objections to the counting of electoral votes, and then to debate and vote on them.”
Not surprisingly, the Federal court unceremoniously showed Gohmert the door.
The President had one more ace up his sleeve, or so he thought. That was his planned rally in Washington D.C., at the Capitol, on January 6th, the day that the Congress would meet to count the Electoral Votes. For a month Trump had encouraged his MAGA supporters to mass there and vent their outrage at the “stolen election” and their anger at Congressmen of both parties who wouldn’t accept the President’s version of reality: “It’s gonna be wild”, he said of the blatant attempt to intimidate Congress.
Web sites favored by Trumpists, 2nd Amendment militias, White Nationalists, QAnon conspiracy nutjobs, and wingnuts of all stripes hyped the upcoming rally and, not so subtly, advised Trump supporters to come ready to fight. These aggressive dingdongs planned the riots openly on social media for weeks, bragging about how many guns they’d bring and the mayhem they’d set off. They called themselves “Donald’s Army”.
Thousands of supporters massed near the Capitol on January 6th and listened to speeches by the President, his sons, daughter Lara, and others…egging on the crowd, telling them that the bad folks in the Capitol right then were about to formalize the “steal” of the election and that they should be outraged, which they already were.
In essence, a lynch mob was thrown a rope by the Commander-in-Chief, who said that he would march down the street to the Capitol with them (which, of course, he did not).
At about the time that the first “objection” to the Electoral College results was being filed in Congress by the President’s lackeys, the unruly, pissed-off gaggle of rebellious Trumpists stormed the Capitol building, pushing down barriers, breaking windows, overwhelming the Capitol Police, and wandering the halls looking for traitorous lawmakers (Republicans and Democrats alike) who were about to legitimize the President’s electoral defeat.
Lawmakers were ushered to safety out of harms way while the massive crowd of insurrectionists ransacked offices, posed for pictures, and pilfered “trophies” to show the folks back home. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s lectern was proudly carried off by one idiot.
One policeman was killed when someone hit him on the head with a fire extinguisher, one protester was killed when shot by Capitol security forces, and three other protesters died from medical emergencies during the fracas. Numerous Capitol Police and Washington D.C. policemen were injured trying to restore peace. One wonders what would have happened if the violent crowd had actually encountered a “disloyal” Congressman or, heaven forbid, the Speaker of the House.
It took four hours for law enforcement personnel to clear the building. Amazingly, almost all of the insurrectionists were allowed to merely walk out of the Capitol building, get into their cars, and go home. Only 13 individuals were arrested out of the thousands of trespassers, vandalizers, thieves, assaulters, and (in one case) murderers.
No kidding.
Had these White insurrectionists been African-American protesters, it is certain that the Federal response would have been immediate, massive, and deadly.
The incident was a very public manifestation of White privilege, which minority Americans have been exasperated about for generations, where White urban terrorists (like the Klan, the militia that stormed the Michigan capitol early this year, the youngster who shot BLM protesters with his assault rifle and was allowed to exit the area by police without arrest, White policemen who kill unarmed Black men for sport, etc.) rain violence down on society without penalty. On the other hand, people of color are harrassed by police for driving their car, eating ice cream in their house, and jogging through their own neighborhoods.
While the Capitol was under siege by the Trump-instigated insurrection, our President released a video in which he said, “This was a fraudulent election, but we can’t play into the hands of these people”.
“These people”? Does he mean the Representatives and Senators elected by the citizens of the United States?
And, then he added, “So go home. We love you. You’re very special.”
I’m guessing that the family of slain Officer Sicknick wouldn’t categorize these hooligans as “very special” in any sense of the phrase.
Gee, Trump’s compliments of the rioters are similar to what he said after the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, when he included White Nationalist murderers in his “very fine people” quote.
By the way, this planned, seditious riot was telegraphed by organizers long in advance on the Internet (“Bring guns”). Many did, and one guy had a dozen Molotov cocktails ready for use. Question: Why was the Capitol unprepared to defend itself on this day? Could it be that President Trump wanted it that way?
When the dust settled, the National reaction was swift and furious. Everyone had seen the whole fiasco on TV and knew who had lit the fuse. If the Trump Organization had been publicly traded, its stock would have cratered.
Leaders of both political parties were outraged, the media had a field day, the National Association of Manufacturing called for the removal of President Trump, and a Wall Street Journal editorial called on Trump to resign.
Yes, that Wall Street Journal, the one published by Trump’s buddy and Fox News owner, Rupert Murdoch.
Needless to say, members of the House of Representatives were not amused by the televised spectacle, which saw them awkwardly fleeing for their lives and then returning to their trashed chambers and offices.
There was blood in the water, Speaker Nancy Pelosi was enraged, and calls for activation of the 25th Amendment (removal of the President on the grounds of incapacity) and/or impeachment were made immediately by numerous influential lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans alike.
Not exactly what Donald J. Trump had in mind when he arose that morning.(Of course, who really knows what goes on in his mind.)
Once they’d shaken off the dust and regained their composure, Congress resumed the ceremonial task of approving the Electoral College results. Amazingly, after the nationally-televised insurrection caused by bogus election fraud allegations by Trump and his band of conspirators, a large contingent of Republican Senators and Congressmen continued to object to the reality that Joe Biden would be the next President.
The bottom line for the day was that Trump’s coup attempt had failed, his legacy was permanently stained by treasonous behavior, and those Republican enablers who had played along with his dangerous scheme would also forever wear a Scarlet Letter identifying them as anti-American insurrectionists.
Not exactly what ambitious ringleaders/Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz had in mind when they woke up on the morning of January 6th.
Probably more damaging to Donald J. Trump was the quick reaction of social media giants Twitter and Facebook which banned him from their sites. This wiped out the President’s preferred method of communication to stoke or incite his political base: 88 million followers on Twitter and 33 million followers on Facebook.
As his former attorney/fixer Michael Cohen once said, “Trump’s dependence on Twitter supercedes even his basic need of oxygen to breathe.”
Trump biographer Gwenda Blair likened it to “virtual impeachment”.
What a week it was!
Oh, by the way, Trump’s Riot was maybe not the biggest news of January 6th. The other earth-shaking development was the realization that the Democrats had won both Senatorial contests in Georgia, giving that political party full control of both the Executive and Legislative branches of government!
This means that incoming President Joe Biden will have the opportunity to execute policy initiatives without being hamstrung by Mitch McConnell and his band of Republican flamethrowers in the Senate. It will also allow Mr. Biden the opportunity to get speedy approval of his Cabinet nominees and, perhaps, put a liberal judge on the Supreme Court when the occasion presents itself. And, it will allow Biden the unfettered opportunity to erase much of Trump’s deregulation efforts which were so dear to Republican conservatives.
None of this would have been possible if President Trump had behaved like an adult after his November 3rd election defeat. Instead of wallowing in pity, spending precious time enumerating his personal grievances, and striking out at perceived disloyal Republicans, he could have been helping with the campaigns of the two Republican candidates in Georgia.
But, true to form, the last two months of the Trump Presidency, just like the four previous years, were all about Donald Trump, not the Constitutional democracy that he was elected to lead. He is what he is.
And the Republican Party will now have to reinvent itself while it sits on the bench, watching the Democratic varsity have its way in Washington D.C.
In a political sense, Donald J. Trump really screwed the pooch.
UPDATE: Four days after the riot in which Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick was killed defending Federal property, Senators and House of Representatives members, the White House lowered its American flag to half-mast.
Can you imagine the arm-twisting that must have been involved to gain that concession from the President?
UPDATE: On 1/11/21, with only 9 days left before Joe Biden is inaugurated, a resolution was introduced in the House of Representatives to impeach President Trump for “inciting insurrection”. The resolution will be voted on later in the week. If approved, Donald J. Trump will be the only President to have been impeached twice.
