One week ago today, on a chilly Wednesday, America’s Capitol was overrun by insurrectionists in a violent mob, urged on by President Trump in a speech riddled with falsehoods, to “take back” the government.
Angered that he lost the 2020 presidential election and after a series of calculated disinformation, Trump’s rallying call contained only a perfunctory call for peace. And,
emboldened by his words, the mob proceeded to smash windows and doors in the Capitol, in an attempt to prevent the formal ,and mostly ceremonial, counting of the electoral votes, presided by Vice President Mike Pence in a joint session of Congress.
Trump lost the electoral vote in a 306-232 final count, in short a free and fair election in accordance with U.S. election laws.
Shortly after the first objection was raised and debate was to begin, the Senate retired to their chamber, from the House, and then the mob reached the very doors of the chamber as the Secret Service grabbed the vice president and then the Speaker of the House Chuck Schumer, followed in turn by Senate Majority leader, Mitch McConnell,and Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.
In a well publicized, and well planned effort, hundreds of thousands of people poured into the Congress, replete with guns, pipe bombs, Molotov cocktails; and, with rumors of the possible use of tear gas, lawmakers hid under their desks, with gas masks on, and some remanded to the House gallery, lying on the floor as the insurrectionists surged into the chamber, some with plastic zip ties, presumably as handcuffs for “errant” lawmakers, chiefly Pence and the long hated Pelosi.
One elderly woman, according to USA Today, yelled at Capitol Police officers, “Tell Pelosi we’re coming for her.
The scene was shocking and unforgettable, the most frightening act towards American democracy since the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 that threatened the early days of the republic; and, the burning of the building by the British in the War of 1812, but no one had thought that this horror was possible, as image after image gave the impression of the much maligned “banana republics” of Hollywood, or the march toward the Duma, in the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg, during the last days of the Russian Imperial government, and the beginning of The Russian Revolution.
Neither were expected in the United States, an 18th century experiment that became the world’s leading democracy, especially in its entrance into World War I, and its role in ending World War II.
To see the unfolding events and later images made many Americans awestruck and saddened, ourselves included, while still others were in tears.
The Capitol Police with a vast underestimation of the rally turned down the use of The National Guard, and its chief, Steven Sund, even rejected offers of help by the FBI as “extremists were climbing Capitol Hill” as the vandals roamed halls, stealing official documents and posed for pictures with their feet on the desks of the Speaker in her office, and on the dais.
Lying at the core of the mob was the insidious odor of racism, as gangs of white supremaicsts, spearheading the call to Washington: The Proud Boys, The Bugallo Boys, The 3 Percent and others whose extremist views have been allowed to foment over decades in America, and whose rise and now has manifested itself in what is truly our 21st century day of infamy.
The racist core, and the desire for a new civil war seems to replace the one that ended in the 19th century, and has been given new impetus by the inflammatory rhetoric of Trump, who with this scorched earth movements, has given these groups what they want, a hero, a leader, and an emergence from the shadows.
In an appearance on Tuesday in Texas, the president refused to take the blame for his incendiary actions saying according to The New York TImes, ““People thought what I said was totally appropriate,” Mr. Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews, en route to Alamo, Texas, where he was set to visit the border wall. Instead, Mr. Trump claimed that racial justice protests over the summer were “the real problem.”
“If you look at what other people have said, politicians at a high level about the riots during the summer, the horrible riots in Portland and Seattle and various other places, that was a real problem,” he said.
There are more revelations: members of law enforcement and even local government leaders joining in the fracas, and with some “mom and pop” folks saying that Jan. 6th was the best day of their lives.
What we face as a nation today is a moral reckoning, and the realization that we are no longer, the City on the Hill, or the New Jerusalem; and, will be a problem for years to come as not simply the 70 million voters who voted for Trump four years ago, but the these groups that have energized the violence and the rhetoric that has turned whatever accomplishments for racial and gender equality, the U.S. has created, on its head.
Many in the media as well as on the streets and the shops have been angered that the majority white crowd that caused the horror were simply allowed to melt away, while this summer, Blacks peacefully demonstrating caused such alarm that virtual armies were sent out, not to mention the clearing out of a multiracial crowd of protestors in Washington’s Lafayette Square, was dispersed with tear gas and rubber bullets, so that the president could hold a photo op in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church, holding a Bible.
When some Black hooligans hijacked peaceful demonstrations ro racial justice, in Chicago, they were derided again, and again, by whites, but these white insurrections have not been condemned at all by most of white Chicagoans.
The task before us, as a nation, is how do we go forth?
Calls for charges of sedition may be one of many steps to hold the perpetrators accountable.
While lawyers and academics argue the fine points Bill Kennedy writing for The Baltimore Sun, noted the following in his research: “Overt conduct, such as speech and organisation that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or rebellion against established authority. It may include any commotion, though not aimed at direct and open violence against the laws.”
The trajectory of lies, misinformation and disinformation and the subversion of human dignity also, has sadly led to this debacle, and, Kennedy also noted that “The members of Congress who also fed their constituents a litany of lies about the legality of the election and stoked the fires of discontent, many to try to preserve their standing with that portion of the electorate and stay in office, share in the wrongdoing and should also be held accountable.”
Ultimately President Trump, who was impeached for the second time Wednesday, has created the establishment of a cult which has led to this violent episode that perpetuates a skewed version of reality, both of law and content.
It is worth noting that Andrew Sullivan writing in NYMag.com, two years ago, derided Trump and “his ludicrous reality show” which has led his followers to state “the truth is whatever he says it is.”
No comments:
Post a Comment