Will the storming of the Capitol Building finally open more eyes to the danger of Trumpism?

 

The day of judgment of Donald Trump has arrived, literally. What little self-respect and human decency he and his supporters possessed had already been ripped to shreds by their words and deeds of the past two months, with Trump's refusal to accept his defeat, instead embracing the wildest evidence-free conspiracy theories—many promoted by so called "lawyers" who should be investigated for ethical violations and disbarred from practice—and by partisan fanatics in Congress, the “Trump media,” and as we see now, on the streets. 

It was predictable, of course. Just hours before the House and Senate was supposed to go through the motions of “debating” Trump’s fraudulent election claims, he told a mob that he would never concede, and urged that they make their “anger” heard about an election “stolen” from him. Yet while 150 Republican House members and senators were poised to contest Joe Biden's electors, Trump’s mob was not satisfied to allow the charade to play-out. The alleged moral "superiority" of right-wing protesters was washed away like a twig in the face of a burst dam, as the mob stormed the Capitol Building and forced both Republican and Democratic lawmakers to run for cover.

CNN reported that “The stunning display of insurrection was the first time the US Capitol had been overrun since the British attacked and burned the building in August of 1814, during the War of 1812.” It was noted that Capitol police had in no way prepared itself for the onslaught, in contrast to the brutish behavior of police in Lafayette Square, when police assaulted peaceful protesters just so that Trump could get his  hypocritical photo-op with a bible in hand. It was as inexcusable as it was inevitable. 

Like fascist dictators such as Hitler and Mussolini, Trump called upon his personal "army" of thugs to threaten and intimidate the opposition, fully expecting his party supporters in Congress and in the states to bend to his will. It is insane to believe that in a country with a nearly quarter of a millennium history of democracy, and survived a bloody civil war to maintain it, that a sane man would be allowed to overthrow it simply because he "hates" losing. But we are not talking about a sane man—that should be clear now.

While one suspects that this mob was motivated in part by the adrenaline rush of being a part of a “historical” event orchestrated by those who have no sense of, and take no responsibility for, the damaging escalation of what even Trump supporters in Congress know deep down are lies, it is still more appalling that the actions of the mob are still being despicably “excused” by some as merely the “understandable” reaction of put-upon working class people fearful of the future of the country.

What does that mean? We know what that means, don’t we? It is the same kind of “fear” that the Nazis stoked against Jews, “Bolsheviks” and any other political party or ideology that opposed them. These people hate “liberals” and “socialists” because they dislike having to be forced to “share” the country with blacks, Hispanics and immigrants. This is “their” country, and they are entitled to everything first, because they are the “real” Americans. They don’t understand economics except on the most elemental level, and yet as they complain about not having jobs or making enough money, they nevertheless oppose income “redistribution” in the face of growing wealth disparities between the top one percent and everyone else. They blame the wrong people for their problems, because they accept the lies being told to them,  because when people are consumed by hate, paranoia and ignorance, all they have is lies that they must convince themselves are the truth.

However, it appears that the scenes of chaos that Trump inspired was apparently too much for some, even if—as we have a right to suspect—it only further bloated Trump's megalomania. No doubt a few of his Congressional supporters urged him to call off the mob that was taking everyone associated with Trump into the drink. He finally was persuaded to release a brief video asking the mob to "go home" already well into the nearly five-hour occupation, but he obviously didn’t mean it, because he spent most of his minute providing more incentive to riot, with more election fraud claims, telling them he “knew” their “pain,” claiming even those 81 million who voted against him knew that he had “won” in a “landslide,” and telling his thugs that "We love you. You are very special."

Not everyone was as sanguine about the proceedings. Sen. Mitt Romney was the most direct in his condemnation:

We gather today due to a selfish man’s injured pride and the outrage of his supporters whom he has deliberately misinformed for the past two months and stirred to action this very morning. What happened here today was an insurrection, incited by the President of the United States, Those who choose to continue to support his dangerous gambit by objecting to the results of a legitimate, democratic election will forever be seen as being complicit in an unprecedented attack against our democracy. They will be remembered for their role in this shameful episode in American history. That will be their legacy.

Trump’s incentivizing the mob also caught the attention of the world; UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted "Disgraceful scenes in U.S. Congress. The United States stands for democracy around the world and it is now vital that there should be a peaceful and orderly transfer of power."

I’m sure that there are Republicans who, though they will not admit it, feel that while the defeats orchestrated by Trump’s outrageous, self-serving behavior which aided in the loss of both Georgia Senate seats to Democrats in the runoff elections are a short-term set-back, they were a needed correction for the long-term survival of the party that threatens to  be taken over by a fascist element that could lead to only one of two things: the end of constitutional democracy, or reduce the party that still bears the Republican name to a powerless fringe group.

The loss of control of the Senate and the actions of Trump’s mob should open the eyes of many to the truly dangerous nature of Trumpism; but whether the greater part of Republicans  have the “courage” to face this reality is another question, given the many partisan fanatics inspired by Trump who seem still to wish to follow in his footsteps. With the usual suspects on Fox News poised to warn their viewers of a “dangerous” new world of “socialism” that will “destroy this country,” we may still not have seen the end of what Trump has wrought. 

Tucker Carlson wasted no time in soft-pedalling the actions of the mob he and his cohorts also helped to inflame, instead lighting another fire by making the wildly inflammatory claim that the incident will be used to "strip us of our basic freedom."