JANUARY 10, 2021 – Remember the good ol’ days when the story of the week was Trump’s “perfect phone call”? Oh, what we’d give to have our outrage confined to that! I guess I have to qualify “our outrage.” If you weren’t outraged by Trump’s ham-fisted attempt to extort a foreign leader to feed naked narcissism, then We the people doesn’t mean what a lot of us thought it did.
Now, eons later, we face the “perfect video”: Trump’s incitement of the attack on the Capitol. This time around, the stakes are the highest they’ve been since the (capitalized) Civil War. Congress must act—or more specifically, Republican senators must act—to avoid the “perfect demise” of our democracy. Oops! I’ve done it again. I’ve characterized it as “our democracy.” What’s starting to sink in is that not only are “we” all not riding in the same direction. We the people are no longer of the same country, the same set of principles.
It’s time for Republicans, especially, to figure out what of what sort of country they want to be citizens. How they decide will determine whether America survives—however flawed it was before dark narcissism was confused with enlightened leadership.
So far, I’m hearing the bleating of sheep: “It’s a Democratic political stunt”; “It will further divide the country”; “Trump’s days are numbered anyway.” (And then there are the Republican goats who still insist that the election was stolen.)
This time around, the case is simple enough for simpletons.
First, the law: The impeachment clause of the Constitution—which, thanks to Trump’s “perfect phone call” in mid-2019, should be familiar to anyone not dead or comatose.
Second, the evidence:
Exhibit A: The video of Trump, Flynn, Giuliani, and Brooks ranting and raving in chorus, directing their followers—then and there—to storm the capitol.
(Exhibit A -1: An image of pro-slavery, pro-states rights South Carolinian Congressman Preston Brooks caning abolitionist Charles Sumner—on the floor of the senate.
Exhibit A-2 through A-500: Photos of Civil War carnage.)
Exhibits B through ZZZZ: Hundreds of photos and videos of the capitol rampage last Wednesday, including, for starters: TRUMP flags too numerous to count; the smashing of doors, windows; the screaming police officer being crushed against an interior door; Mr. Anti-American sitting smugly in Nancy Pelosi’s office; Mr. History Passed You By, carrying the Confederate Flag across the floor of the rotunda; Mr. You Have No Brain and No Shame waving the Nazi flag on the steps of the capitol; Mr. Friendly Floridian wearing a “Trump” hat and clutching the Speaker’s lectern; the group chanting, “Hang Mike Pence” as they marched down a capitol hallway; and mug shots of identified elected public officials who participated in the mob scene.
Third, the application of law to facts—and this stern warning to every Republican senator: IF YOU IGNORE THE LAW OR DENY THE FACTS, THEN YOUR WEAKNESS, YOUR COWARDICE, YOUR RATIONALIZATIONS WILL BE THE SOUND OF SHEEP BEING CHASED TO SLAUGHTER BY RABID WOLVES.
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© 2021 by Eric Nilsson
