1/7/21
I am writing today because we have now arrived (if we hadn’t some time ago) at a point in history in which to keep silent and do nothing is to give assent to the destructive forces inside our government.
Since I assume everyone is aware of the insurrection and treason that was committed by Trump supporters yesterday at the Capitol, I’ll skip rehearsing the events and instead focus on a few salient points to keep in mind.
It’s important, I believe, to see the events of yesterday as a symptom. Thus to argue about what happened risks missing the “why” of it happening. We all knew this was coming; at some level no one was surprised.
What’s worth paying attention to is several things:
First, the question of the police. It’s clear that had this been BLM protestors, they would have been beaten, gassed, shot, and arrested. There is video of the police allowing protestors into the Capitol and even taking pictures with them.
That raises the question not only of where the collusion occurred (Did Trump somehow get the Capitol police to “stand down”?) but what it says about our government. Assume for the moment Trump did get the cops to allow the insurrection to happen. That’s bad enough, but the greater question is: Why did everyone else allow it? Why was there no one to call in the National Guard before the mob started rioting?
What this says, of course, about our government, is that there is justice and fairness for white people but not those black or brown. Why anyone gives assent to such a system of injustice escapes me, other than to note that, psychologically, plenty of people like to be enslaved. It’s one of the darker parts of being human.
Second is the question of what happens now, as a consequence. So Congress certified the election—big deal. They did what the Constitution requires. That’s a bar set so low that no one can limbo under it, ever.
Beyond simply doing their job, what is Congress going to do about this treasonous president? Just allow him to continue in his job for the next two weeks? Or will they impeach and remove him immediately, in order to save the country? To do nothing is to give assent. Trump knows that. That’s how we got here.
Treason, by the way, is a felony punishable by death, according to US federal law. Trump recently reinstated the use of the firing squad for capital punishment. Was he unconsciously preparing himself?