It's remarkable, though oddly not terribly surprising, how quickly events are moving in news related to the insurrection. This is my sense of things:
The more time that passes, the more we see new galling videos of brutality at the U.S. Capitol, and the more stories we hear about the risks to their lives that members of Congress and their staffs were actually facing, and the more we find out about security measures that weren't done that should have been, and the more we come across videos of members of the insurgency mob getting arrested (currently around 100), and the more we learn about other plans like those for during the Inauguration and at all 50 State Capitols -- and again, this is all going very fast, not slowly developing over months, but overlapping on itself by the hour -- and the more Trump officials resign, and the more news investigations uncover details of what went on, and the more impeachment proceedings progress in the House and pressure is put on the Senate to act, and the more Republicans in Congress start to see the writing on the wall and desperately try to save their careers, and the more Trump is silent but acts like nothing happened... ...and the more and more and more this builds, I get the sense that what began as sadness and disappointment and horror and wariness is slowly developing among most people in the country as white-hot, visceral fury. Not all people, there will always be fascist apologists, and that's a large group, maybe 25-30%, but the rest of the country, the other 70-75%, including lifelong Republicans who are...well, Republicans, not fascists, Americans who wholeheartedly have lived their lives believing in democracy and the United States, all of these people -- the vast majority of Americans -- seem to have a growing, roiling, volcanic anger. A smoldering, churning rage. And we're seeing some of the manifestations of that already, even if just in seemingly small ways -- but ways that are very personal and profoundly, deeply hurtful to Trump. First, getting banned from Twitter. Then losing the PGA Championship at his golf course. And yesterday being rejected by the legendary coach Bill Belichick for the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. And we haven't even gotten to the Impeachment vote yet. Yet, for all the significant, important news of the week, I suspect these three personal rebukes hurt Trump, who cares solely about himself, the most. Though the Republican Party is hurt even more by all the corporations who've already said they won't be donating to anyone who voted to object to the election certification. And I'm sure more reactions are to come -- like banks turning Trump down for loans. By the way, one thing to keep in mind as we start to see more and more Republicans start to belatedly distance themselves from Trump who they enabled for four years, like rats fleeing a sinking ship: when rats flee a sinking ship, they are still rats. I don't know where it all will lead. But it appears justifiably horrible for the Republican Party in the present -- and the story is still in its infancy -- and as the story and details grow, in 2022. And I sense that if there is even the slightest violence or perhaps even just disturbance at Joe Biden's Inauguration, or at any of the 50 State Capitols where intelligence services are hearing reports of chatter, it will not only be horrible on the purest level, but be disastrous for the Republican Party. It will nail their undemocratic complicity to the table. It would not just be one more leap too far in domestic terrorism and fascist actions, but I think Americans take the Inauguration of a new president an almost sacred event, even if it's from the other party, because it is the foundation of democracy and the heart of Constitution, I don't know where it all will lead, because we don't know all of the details yet -- or, I suspect, even close to most of them. But what we do know looks truly repulsive for the Republican Party. And what was sadness and horror at one point is now, I sense, becoming pure anger. And it is not something that, like many issues, gets shunted aside with the passage of weeks or months. Not just because of how the public, and notably Democrats, feel, but far more this time because of how Democrats in Congress feel. Because, remember, they were all hiding for hours in the U.S. Capitol at the risk of their lives. That's not something you probably ever move past. And then, after that, after finally returning safely with democracy intact, they watched around 150 Republicans come back to the chambers and still vote to object to certifying the fair, democratic election. That's not something you likely ever move past either. Neither is testing positive for COVID-19 -- or even just knowing fellow-representatives who tested positive -- when you had to hide with Republican members who refused to wear masks and mocked others for not doing so. And in the end, the mantra holds true. This is not about Trump -- just about Trump -- this is about the elected members of the Republican Party who enabled him, supported the foundation of his seditious insurgency every step of the way, with each lie about a non-existent fraud, and are entirely, down to their seditious bones, complicit,
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
Categories
All
|
© Copyright Robert J. Elisberg 2024
|