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The
failed coup was well planned and well telegraphed. It will go down as
the most blatant act of domestic terrorism ever orchestrated by a
sitting U.S. president who wants to continue being president. The
country is on high alert for the next round of insurrection, which is
scheduled for say, on January 20.
The
attack was publicized for weeks by trump and his traitorous gang over
social media. We know that Capitol security was warned that the
threat was real. The National Guard and Pentagon forces offered their
services but they were turned down. The mob had full reign of the
premises and from all indications, were prepared to take hostages.
After they did their dirty work, they were allowed to leave without
incident or arrests. We know if those had been Black Lives Matter
protestors, their bodies would have been piled up all around the
perimeter of the Capitol grounds and the use of lethal force easily
justified.
The
mob of angry, confederate flag-waving extremists were not just a
bunch of country bubbas. They included West Virginia Republican,
Derrick Evans (who has since resigned), CEO Brad Rukstales, off-duty
police (who posed for selfies with the rioters) and former military
officers repelling off walls.
The
sickening part is how trump’s monster-making enablers and
financiers are distancing themselves from what they’ve created.
Thousands of hate-filled tweets later, the social media geeks want to
suspend his accounts. These platforms made millions of dollars from
trump’s disinformation and outright lies. The Mark Zuckermans
of the world must count themselves as trump co-conspirators.
We
can’t leave out the corporations who are having revelations
about the constitutional crises they helped to bankroll. Corps like
Amazon, Comcast, Walmart and a cast of other characters are
suspending donations to the 147 GOP legislators who united to
question the results of the Electoral College. Life was good when
trump was giving them tax cuts and demolishing regulations.
Their
collective actions have fueled the rancorous voices wailing of stolen
election allegations. They all bear responsibility for inciting the
seditious behavior of the crazed throng whose aim was to overturn a
hard-fought election to overthrow a crazy man who had no business
being in control of a country.
As
we stumble into the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, I’m
reminded of one of his most poignant quotes: “The ultimate
tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the
silence over that by the good people.”
I
believe the majority of white America agrees with some elements of
trump’s twisted view of the world on race, women, immigrants,
Muslims, the economy and power. It’s the reason this wanna-be
dictator received little condemnation or censure along the way.
America, always refusing to tackle its deep-seated roots of white
supremacy and racist systems, found comfort in a man who spoke on
their behalf.
Between
the pandemic and this betrayal of democracy, the King commemorations
will look and feel quite different. Black and Brown people have been
put in harm’s way by trump, his noisy collaborators and his
quiet abettors. In the days ahead, we’ll be thinking about
self-defense.
While
the investigations continue on the failed coup and the casualties are
mourned, I’m totally in favor of another impeachment process,
invoking the 25th Amendment and any other methods at our disposal to
hold trump and his thugs accountable. What took place on January 6
must be punctuated by condemnations and prosecutions of all forms
from all quarters to make this a memorable history lesson.
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