MORE ON THE WASHINGTON RIOTS

 

                                      …A rioter sitting at Speaker Pelosi's  desk

 

What do we allow the current president to now get away with?

 

The National Association of Manufacturers, is one of the nation’s premier business organizations, which has long been friendly to Republicans.  They called on Vice President Pence and the Cabinet to consider invoking the 25th Amendment to force Trump from office.

The only other living Republican past president, George W. Bush, finally issued a statement that was stunning in the sharpness of its language.  Especially considering how long Bush had resisted criticizing Trump for his transgressions.  “Laura and I are watching the scenes of mayhem unfolding at the seat of our Nation’s government in disbelief and dismay,” Bush wrote. “It is a sickening and heartbreaking sight. This is how election results are disputed in a banana republic, not our democratic republic. I am appalled by the reckless behavior of some political leaders since the election and by the lack of respect shown today for our institutions, our traditions, and our law enforcement.”

A rioter’s face was visible in the broken glass in a door of a House chamber, all as security agents pointed their weapons directly at him.   Why didn’t one of them shoot an armed rioter?

History will remember Jan. 6, 2021, as a day without precedent in America’s 243-year experiment with democracy.  Some past presidential election outcomes have been contested, and in 1860, the dispute led to the Civil War.

The Capitol has been occupied before; it was attacked and set ablaze by British forces in 1814.  But this is the first time it was attacked by domestic terrorists.  You may recall that the current head of the FBI has stated that the biggest threat to the nation was not foreign terrorists, it is the domestic terrorists.

But never before has American democracy been so strained, and the seat of representative government so imperiled, and with the president being so  much at fault.  That issue is so strong, that the Twitter organization, adhering to its rules for civic integrity and threats of violence, removed three of Trump’s messages and  locked his account for 12 hours.  Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook has locked  Trump's Facebook account until he is out of office.

“It’s terrifying,” said historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, who has studied and written about Abraham Lincoln and other presidents. “There’s been nothing like this. . . . Democracy is absolutely at stake right now, and it’s up to the people.”

David Blight, a Civil War historian at Yale University, said the only possible parallel to this insurrection that unfolded in Washington on Wednesday was the secession of the Southern States.

“That’s a radical act that ended up in civil war and an attempt to destroy the American republic,” Blight said. “There have been zillions of protests in Washington, D.C., some of them turned violent — about war, about civil rights, about all kinds of things — but no one’s ever breached the Capitol and taken it over. This was mobs of people acting against the state while trying to disrupt the functioning of the state and being egged-on by the sitting executive.”

Leaders around the globe watched, totally aghast, not knowing who was in charge of the world’s greatest democracy or whether order would be restored.  Presidents and ministers in Ukraine, Estonia, Denmark and a host of other countries weighed in with alarmed concern about the fragility of government in the United States.

“Disgraceful scenes in U.S. Congress,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has been Trump’s closest friend among Western allies, wrote on Twitter. “The United States stands for democracy around the world and it is now vital that there should be a peaceful and orderly transfer of power.”

There were scenes of a number of Lawmakers and staffers wrestling with safety gas-mask hoods from under their desks as protesters breach the Capitol.

Back in the aftermath of World War II, the United States had helped build an alliance of Western democracies. On Wednesday, the leader of that alliance, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, felt compelled to guide the United States on how to repair its own democracy  “Shocking scenes in Washington, D.C.,” Stoltenberg wrote on Twitter. “The outcome of this democratic election must be respected.”

Barry McCaffrey, a retired four-star U.S. Army general, said, “This is an overt coup attempt against the Constitution and to take over the government of the United States. This wasn’t a momentary, impulsive crowd. This was deliberately structured by Trump, almost all out in the open.”

Mabel Wilson, a professor at Columbia University who has studied the history of the Capitol and other civic buildings.  She said the images she saw Wednesday not only represented a subversion of democracy, but also were a painful reminder of the racial injustice that had so animated Americans, just last year.  “How do they storm the Capitol and they’re not stopped, but Black people can’t sleep in their beds like Breonna Taylor and not be murdered?” Wilson said. “White people could freely waltz in with arms onto federal property. And I watched them file out as if they’re just tourists wandering out.”

The day began with tensions running high and Republicans deeply divided. Protesters surrounded Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) outside the Russell Senate Office Building just after 11 a.m. Young said that though he had hoped Trump would win a second term as president, he would not be joining the 14 of his Republican colleagues, led by Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri, who planned to object to certifying Biden’s victory.

“I think it’s a hijack effort,” Young said. Objecting, he explained, would violate the Constitution. “I took an oath under God,” he said.

As Young walked away, protesters shook their heads and spat at the ground. “Coward!” one shouted at the senator. “We’ll remember this,” another said. “You’re going to be primaried out.

At the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, Trump addressed his rally crowd, with the White House as his grand backdrop. He began with a lie, declaring that there were hundreds of thousands of people there; attendance was far smaller.

Then another lie: “They rigged an election, they rigged it like they’ve never rigged an election before. … We won it by a landslide. This was not a close election.”

But in fact, Biden won with 306 electoral college votes to Trump’s 232. Biden also won the popular vote by 7 million votes, or a 4.5% point margin.

As Trump concocted his fantasy about the election, ticking through one baseless or debunked claim of fraud after another, Trump vowed, “We will never concede.”

Inside the Capitol, lawmakers began the ceremonial process of certifying the electoral college results. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) delivered an impassioned plea to the rebels in his GOP conference who were determined to stay in Trump’s good graces by objecting. McConnell called this certification vote the most important he would take in his 36 years as a senator.

“If this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter a death spiral,” McConnell warned. “We’d never see a whole nation accept an election again. Every four years would be a scramble for power at any cost.”

Congressional staff members were eventually evacuated by the Capitol Police after the protesters breached the Capitol.

Minutes later, however, the rioters breached the barricade. Soon, Vice president Pence, who had been presiding as president of the Senate, was whisked away.  Doors to the chamber were locked. Senators went into hiding. Seven hours passed before the rioters were cleared, the chamber was secured and senators were allowed to return to the floor.

With Pence presiding, one senator after another, both Republicans and Democrats, condemned the violence that had occurred.

Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, the lone Republican who voted to convict Trump in his impeachment trial last year, drew sustained applause in the chamber as he delivered an impassioned affirmation of democracy and truth.

“We gather today due to a selfish man’s injured pride and the outrage of his supporters who he has deliberately misinformed for the past two months and stirred to action this very morning,” Romney said. “What happened here today was an insurrection, incited by the president of the United States.”

Even Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Trump’s frequent golfing partner and arguably one of his closest supporters, said he was effectively giving up on this Trump presidency.  But only 12 days before its expiration.

“Trump and I, we’ve had a hell of a journey,” Graham had said. But, referring to contesting the election, he added: “Count me out. Enough is enough.”

Hopefully, there will be a way to rid ourselves of this president before he can do more damage.

Copyright G. Ater 2021