Too Much Tequila, Too Little Sunscreen

I searched for better words than FDR used to describe the attack on Pearl Harbor in his famous speech, but FDR said it best when he called it, “a date that will live in infamy.” The dictionary defines infamy as an evil reputation brought about by something grossly criminal, shocking, or brutal, also an extreme and publicly known criminal or evil act. January 6, 2021 was all of those things: grossly criminal, shocking, brutal, criminal, and evil. FDR chose the right words.

At noon on January 6 Trump held a “Save America” rally on the Ellipse, a park 2.7 miles from the Capitol. Trump repeated his big lies about the election fraud and energized the crowd with, “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” Along with, “We’re going to the Capitol. We’re going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.” And, to focus the mob on who he felt would let him down, he added, “Mike Pence, I hope you’re going to stand up for the good of our Constitution and for the good of our country, and if you’re not, I’m going to be very disappointed in you.”

Many of the protesters left the rally and headed directly for the Capitol and by 1 p.m. they were storming the outer police barrier around the Capitol. By 1:30 they were on the steps on the backside of the Capitol and engaged with the police. By 2 p.m. they broke windows and entered the Capitol. The siege, the insurrection was on.

This mob of 2,000 Trump supporters and antigovernment extremists was led by the 300 or so Proud Boys along with the Oath Keepers and Three Percenters, but it also included Republican Party officials, state legislators and political donors, far-right militants, white supremacists, and conservative evangelical Christians.   

They soon were in the Capitol looting offices, vandalizing, and taking souvenirs. They broke into the Senate chamber, climbed onto the podium, and took photos and selfies, as they rifled through papers our lawmakers left behind. Others marched through the halls, banging on the doors and breaking into offices.

The mob invaded our Capitol, fought with those that guard it, disrupted and terrorized our Congress, sent our Vice President into hiding, and vandalized the building, but the most disturbing behavior of the insurgents was the lynch mob shouting, “Hang Mike Pence,” as they dragged their make-shift gallows up to the Capitol, along with the mobsters combing the halls looking for Nancy Pelosi and shouting “Where are you, Nancy?” “Oh Nancy, we’re looking for you!”

Thank God they didn’t find either.

This may have been the darkest day in American history. I’m appalled by the Americans, especially politicians, who support, deny, or down-play the seriousness of the January 6th insurgency. Ronna McDaniel, the Republican National Committee chairwoman, said this about the two Republicans who joined the House investigation of the assault, “Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger crossed a line. They chose to join Nancy Pelosi in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens who engaged in legitimate political discourse that had nothing to do with violence at the Capitol.”

Ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse. How can she believe that? Say that? The mob set out to hang our Vice President and to do unspeakable things to our Speaker of the House.

I watched all of the televised sessions of United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack and can’t wait to read their final report. And, I’m on pins and needles waiting see what the Justice Department does with the committee recommendations. The committee accuses Trump of breaching four federal criminal statutes, including those relating to obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress, assisting an insurrection, and conspiring to defraud the United States. It also said Trump may have committed seditious conspiracy – the same charge which a jury found two members of the rightwing Oath Keepers militia group guilty of last month.

Will Trump be charged?