Thoughts on Trump's Failed Insurrection
As I'm sure just about all are aware, yesterday January 6, 2021, A group of Trump supporters stormed and broke into the US Capitol Building. I followed what was going on and it left me angry, upset, and utterly speechless.
Seeing everything happen and stewing on it 24 hours later, I'm still angry. In fact I'm beyond angry. This is probably going to be a little rambly and might not be as coherent as I would prefer, but the emotions are just so raw.
I'm angry that we currently have a Commander-in-Chief who has spent the last 4+ years sowing division in this country. I'm angry that he continually spouts his lies and attacks without any real pushback from the GOP. Make no mistake...the entire GOP is complicit in this. The evidence of how awful a man Trump is has been out there in the open for well beyond his Presidency. The vicious attacks he's made from the campaign trail, and then the White House were plain as day. He's been egging on his supporters and inciting violence since he began his campaign. Remember how he was offering to pay the legal fees of anyone who wanted to assault protestors at his rallies? Violence against his "enemies" is his thing. Anyone who is shocked or surprised by this has not been paying attention.
That any members of the Republican Party only now are coming out with any kind of force against him is what I would call "too little, too late". Hell, less than 24 hours after the attack, you still had well over 100 GOP Senators and Representatives pushing to overturn an election that Joe Biden won freely and fairly. An election where the GOP actually did pretty well down ballot mind you. I wish I could understand their logic, especially those who were elected using the same ballots as Biden, the same voting technology as Biden, counted by the same election officials as Biden, and yet consider their election victory legitimate but Biden's not. I mean I know WHY they're doing it. They know there's no voter fraud, that Joe Biden won fairly. They just have to bow down and lick the boots of their wannabe dictator-god. That Ted Cruz would use the thought that people believe the election was stolen as any kind of reasoning to object to the result is maddening. Reject the lies and disinformation being spread. Tell people the truth. Losing sucks and no one would blame anyone for being upset their side lost. It was disheartening for me in 2016 when Trump won. That didn't mean that I raged and attacked D.C. That Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley would come out and criticize the protestors makes things even worse as both of them were primary causes of the violence.
I'm angry at every single person who voted for Trump. They're partly responsible as well. I'm sorry, I generally don't like to group everyone into this, but all the signs were there in 2016 and again in 2020 at how awful of a person Trump is and how completely unfit he is to hold such a position of power. They should take a long, hard look at themselves and think how they can support a President and a political party that has no problem throwing out an election or attacking its representatives if the result isn't to their liking. Really think about it...the GOP is saying that if the result of an election doesn't end with a GOP candidate winning, the election is rigged and illegitimate, and no amount of evidence to the contrary will change their mind.
I'm angry at the complete difference in reaction to this attack compared to the Black Lives Matter protests earlier in the year. The National Guard shot fucking rubber bullets and tear gas at peaceful protestors for a fucking photo op. This time, mostly white protestors break into the US Capitol Building, threaten the lives of our representatives and others, and what do the police do? They open the gates and take selfies with the insurrectionists. The difference? One group is Black, the other is white. I have no idea how anyone can look at this and NOT see the systemic racism that is going on. If this were the Black Lives Matter protest, there undoubtedly, and sadly would've been far more blood shed. At the end of the day 5 people so far, including 1 Capitol Police Officer lost their lives because Donald Trump is a sore loser and decided the best way to go forward was to incite his followers. He filled DC with gasoline and gunpowder, and handed them matches and lighters.
I think the thing that saddens me the most is that I really thought our institutions would hold up better. That the institutions we've fought for and built up over the last almost 250 years would dull the worst of Trump. Instead they just caved. The Attorney General had no problem acting as Trump's "personal" lawyer despite his responsibility to be the country's lawyer. I thought the systems of checks and balances would help. Instead, they were just rolled over.
Trump used his office to move forward one thing. Himself. Nothing else has ever mattered to him. If there's nothing in it for him, he's not interested. And sadly, that won't go away even when he leaves the White House on January 20. Trumpism is here to stay. Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and the rest of the GOP will make sure of that.
All we can do is keep fighting to make the ideals of America win again. The country has never been perfect, there has always been ways for it to improve. We must keep fighting.