Seditious Conspiracy, aka D.J. Trump

 On 24 August 1824, a British force led by Major General Robert Ross ransacked and burned the U.S. Capitol building. Confederate forces under Lieutenant General Jubal Early never made it to the Capitol Building, with the closest penetration on 12 July 1864 repulsed by Union troops. It was with horror, sadness, and rage that this image appeared after an armed insurrection and assault on the Capitol Building on 6 January 2021:

I am going to guess this photo wins a Pulitzer Prize. We have experienced a true gut-punch that will rival those of 9/11 and Pearl Harbor. 6 January was the date for Congress, in joint session, to count the Electoral Votes already certified by the states and the District of Columbia, a Constitutionally-mandated requirement of our democracy. After four years of propaganda from Donald Trump undermining the legitimacy of our democracy, and a crescendo of lies since Election Day, he ended with a rally at the Ellipse on 6 January immediately before Congress performed its duty and directed his cult to march down Pennsylvania Avenue. He said he would join them, then retreated like the total coward he is into the White House while his deranged mob of domestic terrorists invaded the Capitol Building. His mob desecrated not only the building but our democracy itself. 

In addition to Trump, inciters of this insurrection include his GOP cabal. In December, Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fantasyland) tweeted his disdain at Joe Biden’s call for unity and healing -- because someone used an intemperate word to describe Republicans. Three weeks after that tweet, we had absolute proof that the Republican Party has become exactly the word that Rubio was complaining about. As Congressman Adam Schiff described the day in a Facebook post, Republican members of Congress (and others too numerous to name) violated the sacred oath they took to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic by themselves becoming the domestic enemy, no different from the Confederates in 1861. Treason was called to account by the Republican Party under Abraham Lincoln in 1861; sadly, the Republican Party under Donald Trump has become the party of treason. 

When Trump spoke and the mob followed his directions, they were claiming that their voices were not being heard. The mob came so that “Congress will hear our voices.” To which I say, emphatically: BULLSHIT! The ultimate way that Americans’ voices are heard is through the ballot box. This past Election Day, Joe Biden had 81,283,098 votes as opposed to Trump’s 74,222,958. Do the math -- Biden received 7,060,140 more votes than Trump. Trump supporters whining that their voices were not heard is simply pitiable whining. The Electoral College vote was also decisive -- 306 vs. 232. I firmly believe that the Electoral College needs to be abolished. The Founding Fathers were afraid of true democracy because they feared mob rule but we need to recognize that what they really feared was a demagogue becoming president. After 233 years as a constitutional republic, we have enough experience and enough maturity to cast this fear aside. The Electoral College, gerrymandering, and voter suppression have allowed minority rule for too long. 

Today there is a difficult job ahead for the United States. First and foremost is a repudiation of the seditious conspiracy that Trump has fomented for a long time. Calls for Trump to be thrown out of office using the 25th Amendment will falter on the fecklessness and sycophancy of Pence and the Cabinet. It is beyond doubt that Chao and DeVos hastily resigned from the Cabinet to avoid having to weigh in on use of the 25th Amendment. Trump is being urged by many to resign but that is doubtful. Calls to impeach him a second time are swelling and the House may move to do so on Monday. This is against a backdrop of chatter on social media suggesting that the insurrectionists are planning further physical assaults on our government. A second and just as urgent job is tracking down the other inciters of violence and the individuals in the mob of domestic terrorists who carried that violence out. Giuliani and Mo Brooks were videoed and will have to explain what they did. Others too. The mob itself was so proud and cocksure of themselves that they filmed and photographed their treason in plain view and then posted the result on social media. I have to say this was not a brain trust unless you count the number of amygdalas only in the crowd. They materially helped the FBI and other law enforcement agencies who are tracking them down and arresting them to be charged and offered their day in court. Hopefully many will be charged with committing seditious conspiracy; here is the definition and penalty for that crime. And finally, the Republican Congresspeople and Senators who attempted to overthrow the government on 6 January by objecting to a free and fair election for president. Their punishment in the immediate future rests with Congress. One possibility is censure; seems like a slap on the wrist. Another is removing them from committees; another slap on the wrist. I think that the time to invoke Section 3 of the 14th Amendment is at hand:

“No Person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.” It also applies to the several state legislators identified as part of the domestic terrorists who did this.

But I will end where the ultimate blame for this travesty belongs. Donald Trump, a demagogue just like his hero Andrew Jackson, must be dealt with. Jackson at least handed the office over to Martin Van Buren peacefully. Trump attempted a coup. He failed. He must be held accountable. He now should be impeached and tried, even if that means a trial in the next Senate. Our democracy demands it. Jennifer Rubin said correctly he must be prosecuted. He can’t just walk free after this assault on America. No one forgave Osama bin Laden; no one should forgive Donald Trump. To quote Ms. Rubin, “No president has done anything remotely like what Trump did, so his prosecution would not run the risk of criminalizing ordinary political activity or even highly unacceptable behavior (such as obstruction of justice, as the Mueller investigation had found). As we come to grasp the enormity of Wednesday’s political and criminal offense, the notion of letting Trump “walk” can rightfully be seen as preposterous.” 

There is a famous quote, wrongly attributed to Sinclair Lewis: “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a bible.” We all have much work to do to banish this plague.