A Dark Day in American History

I had a different post scheduled for today, one about the small silver linings of 2020. But I couldn’t bring myself to let it post. I unscheduled it, and will put it up another day. I tend to shy away from politics, from divisive posts, but I just can’t bring myself to stay silent today. Yesterday’s actions must be universally condemned in the harshest manner possible.

I thought, at this point, with everything that has happened in the last four years, and especially last year, that I was somewhat inured to bad news. We’re already living in times that will go down in history as overwhelmingly bad. But then this.

The world watched with America as we gawked in horror at our phones, computers, and TV screens. We watched a sitting president attempt to stage a coup and overthrow a democratic election by using people who are too stupid, or too stubborn, to accept that they’re being used. We watched elected leaders attempt to help the president with his mission, although most of them hastily changed their mind as a result of the idiot-mob. We watched police that — less than a year ago — reacted with force to mostly peaceful protests, virtually stand aside and welcome rioters into the Capitol building.

It was disgusting. And even more disgusting and depressing is the likelihood that not one of the leaders who directly defied our constitution — with full awareness of what they were doing, I might add — will face more than social backlash.

Despite how my post likely sounds, I don’t hate the idiot-mob. I pity them. I pity people too blinded by hate, prejudice, fear, or stupidity to realize that they are being used, that they are fighting for something that doesn’t exist, and has never existed. Trump doesn’t care about them, he cares about power and money, and is throwing a tantrum now that his ill-gotten gains are being taken away. MAGA supporters can’t even agree when America was “great.” They’re small, scared little people who feel that America only deserves to be “great” for them.

As people are saying across the world, yesterday would have looked far different if that crowd had been anything other than white. The comparisons between yesterday and the Black Lives Matter protests prove that beyond a shadow of a doubt.

If ever there is a time to use deadly force, it is when an insurrection is in progress, even more so when a nation’s leaders are put at risk. Make no mistake, yesterday was an insurrection. An unsuccessful one, perhaps, but one nonetheless.

What I Would Like to See Happen

At this point, what’s done is done. But Congress can still impeach and remove Trump, who is clearly unfit for office. They can bar him from ever holding any form of office again. Pence and the cabinet can remove him from office using the 25th Amendment. Either, or both, should happen. It’s clear that leaving Trump in office is dangerous to our nation, and our nation’s people.

I firmly believe that yesterday has cemented Trump’s reputation for the history books. He will be known as the worst president — I really hate writing that — the United States has ever known.

I fervently hope that someday the name Donald Trump will be viewed with more disdain than Benedict Arnold. He deserves to be forgotten to time. An unnamed blemish on American history studied only as a reminder of how bad things can go. An abberation of the democratic process that was appointed to office when he lost the popular vote by millions. But, since that’s virtually impossible at the very least, he ought to be remembered with the contempt he and his actions inspire.

NOTE: To anyone who is new here, ALL comments are held for review. That is not unique to this post. And I WILL NOT approve any hateful comments.