One year ago, today, on Jan. 6th, a violent mob of right-wing insurrectionists, incited by Donald Trump, overran the U.S. Capitol in a coup attempt intended to stop the peaceful transfer of presidential power.
American democracy survived. Barely.
But what about the next time?
Trump and his armed-to-the-teeth white supremacist army–the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, The Three Percenters, Boogaloo Bois and others–remain “a clear and present danger.”
The MAGA terrorist collective came very close last year to overthrowing the American government and installing their white power savior Trump back into the White House. We were that close to seeing a wannabe dictator-in-waiting take power in America, the supposed bastion of world democracy.
Shocked by the scale of the violence and the naked attempt to retain power by Trump, for a few days some “leaders” of the Republican Party, like Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy and Lindsey Graham denounced Trump’s incitement and weaponizing of the Capitol Hill coup participants.
But it didn’t take very long for these very same men to retreat back to their cowardly, opportunistic, power-hungry selves by pretending that Jan 6th was really no big deal. They did this after seeing that the Republican base was not at all fazed or upset by the violent attempted takeover of American democracy. Once Republicans saw this, their political calculus was to pretend nothing monumental happened on Jan. 6th.
At play here as well is the fact that Republicans were confronted with the realization that their own lives were also at risk. The MAGA mob chants of “hang Mike Pence” (along with the images of a noose on the gallows erected outside Congress) were no doubt bone-chilling for these Republicans. What if Trump turns his terrorist hordes against them, particularly inside their home states?
McCarthy, who had reportedly engaged in a war of words with Trump during the attacks–when Trump was busy, safely in the White House, doing nothing to stop the violence–ran with his tail between his legs down to the Mar-a-Lago rat’s nest to kiss and make up with the twice-impeached Trump. Graham and McConnell also changed their tunes making it clear they still supported Trump–including pledges to back him if he runs for the White House in 2024.
This is the kind of principled leadership we get from the current Trumpian GOP Party.
The supposed “rule of law” Republicans decided they can’t even be bothered to commemorate today. Doing so would piss off their dear leader. So, the truth of that day must be avoided with “alternative facts,” like the idiotic assertion which posits that Jan 6th was nothing more than a day where some people just got a little bit too rowdy.
The same folks who make a lot of noise about Blue lives mattering when they are excusing the criminal brutal behavior of those trigger-happy “license to kill” murderers of Black people somehow, say nothing about the viciously bloody attacks that Capitol Hill Police officers faced on Jan. 6th.
Capitol Police officers Brian D. Sicknick, Jeffrey Smith, and Howard S. Liebengood died in the aftermath of the insurrection. Mepropolitan Police Officers Gunther Hashida and Kyle DeFreytag also died. They all committed suicide, except for Sicknick who suffered several deadly strokes.
Where are the denunciations for attacking Capitol Hill Police officers? Why haven’t Republicans seen it fit to forcefully condemn those who used the poles of American flags, baseball bats, bricks, fire extinguishers, and other items to beat police?
The hypocrisy of this reality reveals just how phony most of these Republicans and Blue lives matter liars are.
One of these Trump terrorists, when an officer decided to opened fire, as a portion of the MAGA mob was about to breach an area near the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was reported to have marveled that the officer would do this. According to this woman, the police are supposed to be shooting Black people, especially Black Lives Matter activists.
As far as she was concerned, why would police be shooting at white people–even white people who were in the process of assaulting police officers trying to protect Congress? This is the kind of white mad sickness we find in the minds of a sizable section of America who need a white hope savior like Trump to quell their fears about the scary emerging multi-racial America that they find objectionable and impossible to accept.
Trump fully aware of this racist fear by these backward “conservative” Americans, pushed abominable lies about the 2020 Election so he could retain his grip on presidential power. The not so hidden message here: too many Blacks, and other non-whites, are being allowed to vote. This is why Republicans are now engaging in widespread racialized voter suppression.
Republicans have fully embraced Trump’s big lie about election fraud just so they can continue clinging to political power themselves. Afraid of primary challenges, many of them have to prove their loyalty to Trump.
Honest Republicans–which is a hard thing to find nowadays–are being largely forced out of the party. Who would’ve ever thought the day would come when a daughter of Dick Cheney would be considered a disloyal RINO?
How many times, over the years, have Republicans lectured us about putting “country before party?” Yet, these people are willing to let one egomaniacal criminal destroy American democracy just to fulfill their vain selfish individual lust for power.
If ever there was a time for people to be putting the country before partisan and individual goals it would be now. This is the most serious political crisis of our lifetime. Yet, except for a few brave Republicans, like Adam Kinzinger and Liz Chaney, Republicans have largely acquiesced to the wants of a venal monster who had no business being president in the first place.
So where do we go from here?
The harsh truth is that the Republican Party cannot be trusted to protect American democracy. They have clearly shown this during the Trump White House years–and especially, since they continue to make excuses for Trump and are busy undermining American democracy.
This is why it is so insane to hear people like West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin talking about doing things in a bi-partisan fashion. Bi-partisanship with who? Does Manchin really think these Trumpian Republicans are going to vote on things like protecting voting rights and risk the wrath of Trump who has made it clear enough that stealing elections–by claiming fraud–is his strategy to take back the White House?
If American democracy is to be preserved, the Democratic Party–with the help of the new American multi-racial majority–will have to be willing to go it alone by battling Trump and his white supremacist army. For voting rights, that means Democrats will have to find whatever ways necessary to pass voting rights with no help from Republicans.
And Democrats must bring the major conspirators of the Jan. 6th coup attempt to justice–especially the primary perpetrator: Donald J. Trump. If this is not done we certainly will face another coup attempt, and, or, stolen elections.
If this is allowed to happen, American democracy will come to an end.
