You Are There

As horrific as it was, the question still deserves being asked -- What kind of a day was it?  And yes, even still, a day like any other in TrumpWorld -- as awful as it was -- except...You are There. 

Imagine the response from the administration if these were the Black Lives Matter protestors storming the Capitol and roaming the Senate chambers. Law enforcement wouldn't have had enough helicopters and tear gas in their arsenals to use, the National Guard would be swarming from the start of the day, and as insurrectionists moved on the U.S. Capitol, probably many would be shot dead.  But this yesterday at times -- with inexplicably so little visible law enforcement presence -- looked like tourists strolling through the Capitol building and onto the Senate floor, sitting at the podium like posing for a selfie for the folks back home, and visiting their local Congressmen in their offices.

And lest Trump, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley and the 140 House Republicans and 12 Senate Republicans try to avoid any responsibility -- not to mention almost all Republicans in Congress for at best their silence and worse, support for Trump's cries over the election being stolen from him -- not only was the far-right storming of the U.S. Capitol incited by their direct prompting and faux-"outrage" at losing the election by supposed, non-existent "fraud," but there is no way it can't be tied back to the protests in Michigan that moved into the state capitol there and were applauded by Trump and met by silence by the rest of the party.

As I've written for the past couple of years, this is not about Trump, we know who he is, this is about the elected Republicans in Congress who have enabled him and are complicit.

And in the midst of this far-right mob rioting in Washington, DC, and in the U.S. Capitol -- who was it who first addressed the nation to try to bring comfort and order?  President-Elect Joe Biden.

As for the man who incited it all, Trump was silent. Until he finally, eventually put out a brief video, which was so awful that it still included him whining about losing the election, which is what helped cause this insurrection riot in the first place.  And then later put out a tweet, telling insurrectionist rioters to "go home" -- while calling them "patriots."  Yes, really.  "Patriots."  Apparently he felt that "very fine people" wouldn't have been strong enough.

While his far-right followers will continue to give seditious support as the Republican Party's base, it's nonetheless good to finally see Trumpism discredited in full view for what it actually is and actually means.

Further, it was interesting to watch the presidential dreams of Josh Hawley go up in smoke before our eyes in real time.  The photo of him on the street with his arm up in the air as a power move will haunt him whenever he decides to run for anything.

So, let's see then, after getting elected, the Republican Party under Trump --

Lost the White  House

Lost control of the Senate

Lost control of the House

One wonders if Republicans are tired of winning yet?

At least as a consequence of all these losses, and Democrats taking control of each of these institutions, Trump finally did make America great again.

​So, while the overall election results weren’t at all the “destruction of the GOP” lesson we were hoping for, winning the White House from Trump, taking control of the Senate from Mitch McConnell and holding on to the House isn’t bad as far as disappointing results go.

And I think that Republicans losing majority control of the Senate and losing it specifically because of losing two near-guaranteed Senate seats in Georgia in large part because Trump divided the party over a sociopathic, delusional meltdown will have an impact on hurting his authority in the GOP.  And his part in inciting this insurrection will hurt his authority in the party even more.  He'll still have his strong, loyal support.  Just much less than before.

As for losing control of the Senate, I saw a great tweet.  It said –

“You’re fired, McConnell.

Laughing my Ossoff.”

By the way, after it became clear Tuesday night what the results in Georgia would be be, and that Democrats would control the majority, it occurred to me that this should now make the approval of Neera Tanden’s controversial nomination to be OMB Director likely.  And I wondered at that same time if Joe Biden was waiting for the Georgia results to help decide who he’d pick for Attorney General.  And then, within hours of those results the next morning – the news story broke that Biden will pick Merrick Garland to be Attorney General.  I don’t know if the selection and timing was related to Georgia or not, but Garland a) might have been seen as difficult for the GOP to swallow after having not even agreed to speak to him when Supreme Court nominee, and b) more importantly, he can now be replaced on the federal bench.

Happily, I even had tweeted right after the November general election about the possibility of Merrick Garland being the Attorney General, so it’s nice to put oneself on the record with a longshot and not be embarrassed….

And so, on this truly awful day yesterday, it was joyous to be able to celebrate Democrats actually taking control of the Senate.  A couple days earlier, a friend was bemoaning that a "51-50" majority wouldn't permit much legislation to pass.  I lit into him and explained all the deeply important things that a paper-thin Senate majority meant --

It allows Democrats to simply just bring bills to the floor.

It makes Democrats the chairs of every committee/

It lets Joe Biden get his federal judges approved.

It will let a Supreme Court nominee to get approved if there's a vacancy.

No matter how difficult it may be to pass many bills, the reality of getting committee chairmanships, bringing bills to the floor, holding hearing and approving judges, including for the Supreme Court if any open is massive.

In the end, for all that went on yesterday, in two weeks on January 20, Joe Biden will be President of the United States.  And Democrats will have control of the Senate and House.

So, there are still some very good things today.

There was also additional sadness.  Because 4,330 Americans died yesterday alone of "COVID COVID COVID," as Trump described it when he said he was tired of hearing about the pandemic and insisted it would disappear as a topic after the election. He was wrong.

But that's the kind of day it was.  A day like any other in TrumpWorld.  Except -- you are there.