As we reach the first anniversary of what I will always call the "Trump Insurrection," because that's what it was, an insurrection against the will of the American people by one of the most notorious, narcissistic, selfish and blatantly evil men ever to be elected to the Presidency, we recognize January 6th as one of the darkest days in American history. It is an event that will go down in history with April 13, 1861, the Ft. Sumter attack and the beginning of the Civil War, December 7, 1941, the Pearl Harbor attack, and September 11, 2001, the attack on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center.
In a country where freedom of speech and expression is still constitutionally guaranteed, we can talk about differences of opinion, perspectives and perceptions, but I'm going to call this what it is, an attempted coup aimed at disrupting the peaceful transfer of power, which is one of the foundational cornerstones of representative democracy in the United States. It was a blatant and deliberate attack on the American people, against us, "we the people" who hold the very sovereignty of our nation in our hands via the ballot box, which was what the insurrectionist traitors were trying to destroy on that day.
The insurrectionists were not patriots in any sense of the word. No one who participated in that despicable riot demonstrated any love or loyalty to their country, they were acting out of misplaced loyalty caused by their radicalization to a selfish, would-be dictator, Donald J. Trump. They were attacking the Congress of the United States, in session in the U.S. Capitol building, which, irregardless of which political party is in control, is a treasured historical symbol of the American Republic, "The People's House," as my high school history teacher once called it. No patriot would ever stand for the desecration of that building by breaking down its doors, breaking out its windows, smashing its furnishings, defecating and urinating on the walls and floors, ransacking offices and acting like the barbarians who destroyed Rome. Many of them looked exactly like those barbarians. They are all traitors.
Patriots know how representative democracy works and they participate in it, accepting the full rights of all of their fellow citizens, not just those in their own party. Ignorance and misplaced loyalty, leading to the belief in the lie that the election was "rigged" and "stolen" is not an excuse for violence. There's a system in place for determining the accuracy of the ballots cast in an election and in this case, there was more scrutiny, security, observation, auditing, checking and re-checking than any other election in history. There are always a handful of fraudulent ballots, as there were in this election, but just as many fraudulent ballots were cast for Trump as for Biden. If you don't like the outcome of an election, go vote again the next time. That's how it works. If you're not in agreement with that, then you are no "Patriot."
In the media interviews and statements from insurrectionists after the event, especially those who have been rounded up, arrested and charged with crimes, it is clear that most of them are inexcusably ignorant of the Constitution, what rights it guarantees and how it protects them, the role of the government, how it functions, and the ideals around which America itself was built. They were there because their loyalty was to a person, not to the nation, and their ignorance made them easy marks for an egomaniac who has no respect for the rule of law, who built his fame and reputation on debauchery, fraud, and the worship of wealth. Their behavior demonstrates a level of selfishness that is epidemic, the result of way too much prosperity, disrespect and disdain for education to the point that they can't think for themselves and have hatred and resentment of anyone else who doesn't think like they do.
Few of the insurrectionists gave any consideration to the potential consequences of their actions, or the long-term effect of what would happen if they had succeeded. They thought they were going to get away with it because they were told Trump would protect them. Do these people not realize that we share the planet with others, including those whose political aim is the destruction of American democracy, because its existence is a threat to their autocratic power? Are they not capable of seeing that what protects us from destruction is the fact that our government utilizes our national resources to provide the kind of protection necessary to keep us safe and if our national unity dissolves, the ability we have to protect ourselves dissolves as well? Are they so ignorant and so out of touch with the real world that they cannot see that the Civil War they keep threatening will simply open the door for someone like Vladimir Putin to achieve his political goal?
Maybe that was the point of it.
Let's Talk About the Silver Linings
That's an old saying, "There's a silver lining in every dark cloud," and I don't want to get into cliches. But the analogy works, so I'll use it.
The biggest benefit we gain from January 6th is that it doomed any chance Trump may have had to get himself back in the White House. I'm convinced of that for several reasons.
First of all, it was clear from the results of the election itself that the country was done with Trump. In spite of the Republican Party's supreme efforts to turn out their voters, the Democrats bested him both times, though the antiquated and quirky electoral college worked for him, but just one time. In spite of massive efforts in Republican controlled states to suppress Democratic voters, Biden got all he needed, ultimately flipping five states that Trump carried in 20I6. Even if Trump had not attempted to subvert the constitution and hadn't become the first President in American history to fight the peaceful transfer of power and attempt a coup, he had no chance of a comeback. But after January 6th, his fate has been sealed.
Though there appears to be a majority among Republicans who still believe "the big lie," and think that Trump had the election stolen from him, there's a sizeable chunk of them who see this for what it is, and who would not support his return to the White House. I don't believe we're ever going to see an attempt by Trump to win the GOP nomination for 2024 because I think once the January 6th commission wraps up and the justice department is through, which I believe will happen before the 2022 mid-terms, Trump will be among several politicians and former advisors who won't be eligible to run for public office. And I don't think that will come from a congressional vote, but it will come from the courts.
The numbers aren't in his favor. Never a popular President, his favorability, even among Republicans, dropped considerably after January 6th. The fact of the matter is that even though they may be a minority in their own party, somewhere around 30% of the Republican party are not on the Trump train, and that leaves him with nowhere near enough support to win a nationwide election. And while there might be some muttering, and some shifts in President Biden's approval ratings, much of which depends on the way the questions are asked, there's no way the voters of this country would ever put Trump back in the White House.
If you get past the rhetoric, you can hear that being expressed by Republicans like Mitch McConnell, Ted Cruz, and even some real extremists like Rick DeSantis. Reading between McConnell's lines, he'd be thrilled if Trump just disappeared completely. Cruz and DeSantis are feathering their nests for a Presidential run of their own and in so doing, are sucking contributions and resources from contributors. The cash stream is flowing, but what's going to Trump is a fraction of what it once was. Recent Trumpie rallies feature more empty seats than people trickling in. Attempts to "primary" uncooperative Republicans, while still in the early stages, are underfunded and don't appear to be gathering much steam.
Then, there's the fallout that's inevitably going to come as the members of Congress who knew about what was going on January 6th and aided and abetted the insurrectionist mob. I can't wait to see the names of everyone on that list, and the holes that will open up when all of that moves forward.
A Growing Awareness of How Our Representative Democracy Works
We're going to find out just where we're headed and what needs to be done educationally if we want to preserve this democratic republic and see its existence continue into the future. Schools have done an abysmal job of educating students in American History and Civics, it's been shoved to the side in favor of math, science and technology. Maybe at some point we'll recognize how shallow our education really is, and learn from countries where students spend enough time in school each day to cover what they need, and do it in a way that sticks. In twelve years of education, our students only get one complete run-through of American history, and about a semester's worth of government.
This needs to happen among our entire adult population. An educated electorate is a necessity for the preservation of representative democracy.
Foreign Exploitation of American Weakness
As long as there is an element of the population willing to abandon American principles, follow conspiracy theories and stew in their ignorance and stupidity, the country is in danger. Now more than ever, technology is available to "radicalize" people, organize them and turn them into a mob. We've already seen the intrusion of the Russian government at high levels and found mountains of evidence of their interference in 2016 on Trump's behalf. Having an ally in the Presidency with his hands on the nuclear football is the best thing that could happen to Vladimir Putin, and the extremist right wing media is already trying to change his image from hard line autocratic communist to "Vlad the Great." Can you imagine if the North Koreans had a stool pigeon in the White House?
The rest of the world's attention was fixed and focused on January 6th. It brought fear to our democratic allies, the possibility of opportunity to improve their position to our enemies. That's the dark side of this cloud.
We cannot have any more January sixths.
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