It has been
three weeks now since the shocking coup attempt of January 6, 2021. Yes, I called it a coup. It is nothing less than that. Some prefer to call it a protest, a mob, an
unruly crowd, a riot, and many other labels.
It was all of these, but much more.
We cannot escape the fact that on January 6, 2021, a huge group of angry
people stormed the United States Capitol building while Congress was in
session. They violently forced their way
into the building, destroying vast amounts of property, murdered a police
officer, and threatened the lives of several members of Congress as well as the
Vice President of the United States.
That, dear reader, is the textbook definition of a coup.
There are
so many disturbing elements to this horrific event. Here are just a few.
1.
The Violence of the Mob.
This mob was determined to use violence from the very beginning. A vast number of them showed up in military
fatigues, bullet proof vests, and with various weapons. Make no mistake about it, this was organized
as an armed attack.
Violence is never justified, and especially on the grounds of the United States
Capitol building. The Congress is an
institution that debates issues in order to make informed decisions for the
purpose of passing laws. Disagreements
are inherent in such a process.
Violence, however, is not. No
one, other than authorized law enforcement officers, should be allowed to even
carry a gun of any kind onto the Capitol grounds. That goes for the legislators themselves. And it certainly applies to citizens who are
not members of Congress. Let me be
clear, the violence that took place on that day was abhorrent, wrong, and
illegal. It must be condemned.
2.
The False Claim of Patriotism.
The people who attacked the Capitol claimed to be patriots. They claimed they were doing their civic duty
to protect the integrity of the 2020 election.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Such a claim is a lie, through and through.
a.
Patriots do not desecrate the American flag, but
these goons did.
b.
Patriots do not proudly, defiantly carry or even
display the flag of the Confederate States of America, but these goons
did. That flag represents a foreign
nation that had declared war on the United States and sought to destroy our
country, rather than protect it. That
flag supports slavery and oppression.
That flag is a symbol of hate, rebellion, insurrection, and
violence. Under the banner of that flag
1.5 million casualties were amassed, including 360,000 Union soldiers dead, and
260,000 Confederate soldiers dead. It
has no place in The United States.
c.
Patriots do not break the law, but these goons
did.
d.
Patriots do not seek to assassinate their
elected officials, but these goons did.
e.
Patriots do not destroy Federal property, but
these goons did.
f.
Patriots do not kill law enforcement officers,
but these goons did.
g.
Patriots do not willingly, intentionally,
arrogantly violate the Constitution of the United States, but guess what? These goons did.
h.
There was nothing patriotic about what that
angry mob did on January 6.
3.
The Endless Lies.
The abundance of lies and conspiracy theories relentlessly promoted by Donald
Trump and his allies clearly was the foundation of the attack. Without these false claims that have no basis
in reality January 6, 2021 would just have been another ho-hum, boring
day. These lies include:
a.
The election was rigged;
b.
The election was stolen;
c.
Some states illegally destroyed ballots cast for
Trump;
d.
Some states illegally accepted invalid ballots;
e.
There was widespread evidence of voter fraud;
f.
Many people cast ballots for dead relatives or
for pets;
g.
Many Democrats voted more than once;
h.
Poll observers were turned away and not
permitted to do their job to ensure integrity;
i.
In some states electronic voting machines
deliberately took votes for Trump and turned them into votes for Biden – I
never understood why the voting machines, made by the same company, only
malfunctioned in a few select states.
Hmm;
j.
And the list goes on and on! Not a one of these outlandish claims is true.
It is a sad and disturbing phenomenon.
These lies and others like them fueled the attack on January 6. Consider this: were ballots cast in the name of dead
people? Yes, in one instance, at
least. That occurred in Pennsylvania,
where a man did in fact cast a ballot in the name of his deceased mother. Ironically, that ballot was cast FOR
DONALD TRUMP! Clearly such instances
had no effect on the outcome of the election.
k.
That morning, in preparation for the attack,
numerous Republican leaders stoked the emotions and the insanity of the crowd
by propagating these same lies over and over again. Speakers promoting these lies and the
heightened atmosphere included Roger Stone, Julio Gonzalez, Rudy Giuliani, Rep.
Madison Cawthorn (R-NC), Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), John Eastman, Amy Kremer,
Donald Trump, Jr., Eric Trump, and, of course, President Donald Trump.
It is important to stress that all these speakers told excessive lies and each
bears responsibility for the violence and the chaos that followed. Go back and read the transcripts of what
these people said. They can easily be
found online.
l.
Add to that what was said in the days leading up
to January 6. Trump personally invited –
actually, ordered – his followers to come to Washington D.C. on January 6.
i.
Dec. 18: We won the Presidential Election, by a lot. FIGHT FOR IT.
Don’t
let them take it away!"
ii.
December 12: “We have just begun to fight!”
iii.
December 18: “Big protest in D.C. January 6; be there; be wild!”
iv.
January 4: "If the liberal Democrats take the
Senate and the White House — and they’re not taking this White House — we’re
going to fight like hell, I’ll tell you right now."
4.
Racism is Still At the Heart of This Tension.
a.
The voting
districts in which Trump was seeking to overturn results included Detroit,
Michigan; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Atlanta,
Georgia; and Savanah, Georgia. Every one
of these districts is overwhelming Black.
Simply stated, Trump and his allies wanted to reject the Black vote.
b.
Regarding the
thousands of people who attacked the Capitol, I have studied numerous
photographs but failed to find anyone who was clearly Black. There may have been one or possibly two
persons who could have been Latino – it was hard to tell with the winter coats
and mittens – but it is certain that 99% of the rioters were white. This was obviously a white supremacist
movement. The Confederate flags are a
dead giveaway.
5.
The Depth of The Insurrection
Clearly this involves more than Donald Trump.
It falls on Trump because he held the highest office in the
country. He is ultimately
responsible. But he certainly is not
alone. The list of co-conspirators is
long.
a.
Rudy Giuliani. Rudy, a complete disgrace, ordered the
mob of insurrectionists to “have a trial by combat”. But that is only the culmination of his
guilt. He competed with his buddy Trump
in telling the most lies about the election process and results. Time and again, Rudy promoted debunked
conspiracy theories and outright lies.
He repeatedly went to court to overturn the election and/or unseat
electors. He failed every time. In my opinion, he should not only be
disbarred, he should also be sent to jail.
b.
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX). His lies and efforts to overturn the election
results are well documented. His attempt
to interfere with the election process in Pennsylvania was clearly
unconstitutional. And even after the
coup attempt, he still voted to reject the duly elected electors from
Pennsylvania. On the floor of the Senate
on January 6, Cruz highlighted the Compromise of 1877 which effectively ended
Reconstruction and solidified institutional racism in the former Confederate
States. For more on this, visit Ted
Cruz tried to defend Trump's coup. He then praised the white supremacist
Compromise of 1877 | Salon.com
c.
Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO). Hawley inspired the rebels with his
inflammatory rhetoric, his raised fist in solidarity, and his constant lies. Another promoter of false conspiracy
theories, Hawley is a proven insurrectionist.
d.
Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI). Like Hawley, Johnson unashamedly identifies
himself as a co-conspirator. The editors
of Wisconsin’s newspaper the Capital Times says of Wisconsin’s senior Senator “Johnson was, and is, the steadiest
proponent of the lies and conspiracy theories that animated the fascist mob
that attacked the Capitol. Unlike Hawley and Cruz, Johnson went so far as to
use the committee he chaired in the last Senate to amplify the unfounded
charges of election fraud that were at the center of Trump’s call for
overturning the election results.”
e.
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL). Brooks consistently stoked the flames of
insurrection, including his fiery speech to the mob of rebels just hours before
the coup.
There are others that could be included in this list, to be sure, but these are
the leading figures. They should all be
charged and held accountable.
6.
Beyond the Comments and Actions Leading
up to the Attack, There Remains Trump’s Behavior During the
Attack.
a.
Rather than sending the National Guard or
other law enforcement to support the Capitol Police and protect the members of
Congress, Trump was paralyzed. He did
nothing. He refused to send help. In fact, he praised the traitors as
“patriots”.
b.
Reports indicate that Trump, with his family,
was watching the coup as it unfolded and was pleased with the destructive
behavior.
c.
As the coup was ending, Trump released this
statement: “These are the
things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so
unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been
badly & unfairly treated for so long.”
Even at that critical point he continued to
push the lie that he had won the election, in a “sacred landslide”, no less! He went on to say “We love you!”, even
after the vast destruction they caused.
d.
Republican
Governor Larry Hogan of Maryland tried to send his State’s National Guard to
D.C. in support of the Capitol Police, but the Trump Administration blocked his
efforts by denying authorization. Again,
it would have only taken a single phone call from the President to make this
possible. As I understood it, he never
did issue authorization. It fell on Vice
President Mike Pence to get the job done.
e.
During
the coup, Donald Trump never once contacted his Vice President or any person
whose life was in danger to see if they were safe. This is yet another example of how Trump
violated his oath of office and abandoned his responsibility.
Even if you feel that Trump’s words were not directly
responsible for the violence , deaths and destruction that followed on the
afternoon of January 6, 2021, Number 6 above is undeniable. His inability to act during the attack
is clearly the greatest dereliction of duty in American history. This, in and of itself, is more than
sufficient to convict him of Impeachment.
The Republican Party did summersaults over Benghazi, Hillary
Clinton’s emails, and the Steele dossier.
They manifested every conceivable political contortion in a failed
attempt to discredit Mrs. Clinton. In
the light of the events on January 6 of this year, it is outrageous to think
how the Republicans responded now. 139
Representatives and eight Senators still voted to reject the election
results. 197 GOP Members of the House
voted against Trump’s second impeachment.
45 out of 50 GOP Senators voted in favor of declaring Trump’s second
impeachment unconstitutional. It boggles
the mind.
All I can say is this:
In the past four years – and especially in the past four weeks – The
Republican Party has embodied everything that is wrong with American politics. I do not know where this country is headed,
but one thing is certain. We have a most
challenging uphill climb ahead of us.
G. D. Gehr
January 29, 2021
respectful comments welcome
