Sunday, January 17, 2021

Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow Creeps (Take III): Then Came January 6th


<"...It Was Nothing"/Take I
The Reckoner>

"The bats are streaming out of the abyss, 
the dark legions are clicking their heels,
and fresh smoke still billows over the wreckage...pick whatever expression 
of purple prose that you prefer 
to describe the debacle. 

"For Democrats, Election Day 2016 
bore an unsettling resemblance to a multi-car pileup 
of the kind that generates reams of shrieking headlines."

"Mandate, Shmandate (President, Shmesident): 
Why Hillary Clinton Lost" (11/23/16)

<i.>
Here's how I define the bookends of Donald Trump's rise and fall as President. The morning after his election in 2016, I endured an emergency tooth extraction at my local community clinic. 

Last Wednesday, January 5, I went to bed elated at watching Georgians send the first African-American (Reverend Raphael Warnock) and first Jew (David Ossoff) to the U.S. Senate, instead of Trump's eager, ever-profiteering enablers, David Perdue, and Kelly Loeffler ("the dynamic duo of doing wrong," as former President Barack Obama called them, during a campaign stop).

Hey, we finally broke out of the penalty box! Looks like we may get those $2K stimulus checks after all...

Then came the next day. I woke up wearily at my usual two p.m. starting time, after another all-nighter of working online.

The Squawker came into the bedroom, with a look of total alarm. Well, I woozily figured, either the nuclear plant's melting down, or the shoreline we can see from our apartment complex is heaving into full tsunami mode.

But it was neither of those things. 

"Guess what?" Squawker said, in a voice ringing with pure undertones of panic. "We're living under Gilead rule now."

"Huh? What are you talking about?" I asked, as I stumbled to the bathroom.

"Come look at what's happening on CNN."

For the next several hours, I watched, transfixed, like so many other millions across the nation. Armed mobs swarming the Capitol building, tearing up TV camera tables to form nooses, preparing to impose maximum carnage with assault rifles, chemical sprays, handcuffs and zip ties, all at the behest of their Dear Leader, a certain D. Trump, as he crowed, "We will never concede."

Suddenly, the bleak, dystopian theocracy of Hulu's hit TV series, The Handmaid's Tale, no longer seemed like some clever piece of alternate history, but a real life menace, bearing down on the doorstep of our democracy, once Trump sent them off with these parting thoughts: "And after this, we're going to walk down, and I'll be there with you."

He did nothing of the sort. As usual, Trump, his family and stable of sycophantic advisers, discreetly peeled away from the mob they'd worked so hard to arouse, and hurried to the safety of their waiting motorcade.

We all watched the rest. For a few terrifying hours, our nation teetered on the brink of some demented abyss, as Trump's self-styled Crusaders rampaged through the Capitol building, ready to deliver the reckoning that their hero had promised them for oh, so long. 

But how we'd get here, exactly? A few reminders seem in order.


<"Trump Decay,
Take I"/The Reckoner>

 “I’m looking behind us now, across the count of time, 
down the long haul, into history back.”

<ii.>
I remember hearing the laughter a decade or so ago, in the Before Times, as you've heard from Star Trek (see link below, for the nitty-gritty behind the phrase). You heard all the crap about Obama's birth certificate? Ha, ha, ha, some right wingers claim it's a fake. Heh, heh, heh. They claim it proves he's not an American. Ho, ho, ho. How far you think they'll get, peddling that one? Ha, ha, ha. Those maroons, they've really got nerve, right?

I knew we'd crossed some strange Rubicon in the popular consciousness when a newly-minted member of our social justice group earnestly repeated the "birther" theory, as we eventually called it, word for word. I was trying to be welcoming, as he'd just been booted out of a conservative activist group, but I felt puzzled by the intensity of the "proofs"  that he presented. Where did this come from, I wondered, and why did it matter to much?

The other group members set me straight after our meeting, once the gent in question had gone home. All roads led back to Trump, and were already morphing into racist variations that multiplied online, like so many rabbit litters. He's really from Kenya. He was never born in Hawaii. You kidding me? He lost his US citizenship in 1981. He's really Indonesian.

Predictably, the Obama administration earnestly tried to squelch the phantom firestorm by posting his birth certificate online in June 2008, as his re-election campaign kicked into gear. Just as predictably, the rhetorical goalposts shifted: Why isn't there a state seal on it? Nope, they faked it, with Photoshop. Case closed, folks. it reminds of the classic Joe Walsh album title: You Can't Argue With A Sick Mind.

The laughs continued to rack up, as Trump announced his candidacy in June 2015. Ha, ha, ha. He's just a reality TV star. His businesses go belly up. Heh, heh, heh. He doesn't pay his own bills, let alone most of his contractors, or his own workers. Yuk, yuk, yuk. He can't be serious, can he? Gimme a break! Then came Trump's election, and the laughter abruptly stopped, replaced by a half dozen, more brutally relevant words: What...The....F#ck...Just...Happened...Here?

The laughter soon rang duller and hollower, as we gingerly poked our way through the annum horribilis of 2020, and we all watched the American social fabric seemingly unravel before our eyes, as the death toll of COVID-19 barreled up, up and out of control, amid the Minneapolis police's murder of George Floyd, and the long hot summer that played out to a soundtrack of rubber bullets, the crackle of nightsticks and firearms, and rattle 'n' hum of tear gas guns.

The economy also continued to unravel, as Trump bullied his red state allies into reopening their businesses against any (and all) medical advice, when he wasn't threatening the (perceived) blue state enemies who refused to buckle. The Grifter In Chief soon discovered that viruses don't care about political agendas, nor the ignorance that drives them. 

As CNN incredulously noted recently, Florida now ranks fourth, in our nation's COVID body count, where its Trumplike Governor, Ron DeSantis, has not imposed a statewide mask mandate, let alone mustered a coherent response to the pandemic. Then again, given that a fair chunk of Trump's assets are located in the Sunshine State -- including his Koresh-style compound, the notorious Mar-A-Lego -- maybe it's time CNN stopped wondering so incredulously aloud. 

Either way, the Republican Party, and the toxic individualism it's come to represent, has reached its final, unhappy, yet all too logical conclusion. The GOP bears less resemblance to Darth Vader's celebrated Death Star, than a Death Cult that fears any kind of centralized authority, even as it bullies and rages against anyone who dares to question its self-presumed right to wield power indefinitely, no matter the cost to the country it claims to celebrate. The end result is a sickened and scared skeleton of nation that's down on its luck, and down on its knees.

Then came January 6th.


<"Trump Decay,
Take II"/The Reckoner>

<iii.>
And so, what do we make of January 6th, America's latest day "that will live in infamy," to borrow FDR's famous description of the 1941 Japanese air attack on Pearl Harbor? Well, one of the more obvious takeaways is not to laugh off any clowns, no matter how empty the suit, no matter how silly they look. As Pennywise will remind you, the silliest-looking clowns pack the sharpest claws, and the sharpest teeth, and they're never shy about using them.

What strikes me, though, is how so many of the so-called Adults In The Room, as I called them, ignored the menace lying behind the buffoonery. The relatively muted press response to Trump's revival of his "birther" scam against Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is a classic example. Most of the mainstream press's energy went into laboriously debunking the claim, as if reason and logic equaled the only price of admission to Trump's MAGA-ville Paradise.

Yet the sinister aspect is impossible to overlook unless you're not looking for it, or simply don't want to accept the reality it represents, which is the characterization of Harris, Obama -- any prominent nonwhite leader, for that matter, will do -- as the demonic Other, the deviant non-citizen who's inferior from the get-go.

Hence, any response to prevent these "Others" from gaining power is fair game, whether it's gerrymandering, redlining and voter suppression, or simple intimidation, verbal and physical assault, or outright murder. Both responses are forms of violence, whether it's committed with paperwork and procedures, or explosives and firearms. 

It's a reality we've seemed unwilling to face since the 1990s, when the nation's political class scurried to shake off the fallout from the disastrous immolation of Branch Davidians in Waco, TX, the ghastly carnage of the Oklahoma City bombing, and the botched 11-day siege at Ruby Ridge, ID, to name three events that became fixtures of far right recruiting fodder.

The toxic cocktail of aggrieved white nationalism and racism -- coupled with the embrace of command and control-style Christianity, as the default religion of the United States -- seemed hard to miss, yet wound up submerged under a different narrative that painted its participants as mere buck-teethed and bug-eyed extremists, social misfits lacking in social graces, who'd seemingly missed the greater memo for good. 

Ha, ha, ha, the narrators guffawed. Such maroons. See how fast we squashed them? Heh, heh, heh. They don't know how it works around here, do they? Ho, ho, ho. Guess they got what they deserved. Those who heard that laughter ringing in their ears had other priorities, however, as they searched for the right face -- and voice -- who could unite the far right's ever-squabbling factions, and mold them into an activist army, one capable of delivering a political earthquake, that even the political class couldn't ignore. 

The unhinged, unscripted rantings of a David Koresh wouldn't pass this test, of course. Nor would anyone have mistaken the camouflage-clad drabness of a Timothy McVeigh, nor the stolid, grandfatherly blandness of the late William Pierce, author of The Turner Diaries (1978), for any kind of American-style Fuehrer. 

Then came January 6th.


<iv.>
The more we learn about the Capitol melee, the more disturbing its reality gets, starting with the cast of characters involved. Few seem to fit the profile of self-styled "QAnon Shaman," Jacob Angeli Chansley, whom news reports have identified as a failed actor living with his mother -- if that's not a classic stereotype, what is? 

What's striking is how well-heeled and well-off many of the participants seem. An associate general counsel here (Westlake, TX), an occupational therapist there (Cleveland, OH). In this corner, a former state representative, Rick Saccone, who threw in the towel and stepped down from his adjunct professor's gig, once his involvement became known. In that corner, a Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge's son, and a Chicago marketing company CEO who claimed he only entered the Capitol "to see what was taking place inside."

Even more disturbing, however, are the reports of collusion by Capitol Police officers, and willingness by "people who should know better" to join the mob. That they didn't has prompted agencies like the Seattle Police Department to investigate two of its own officers for their alleged participation. But it's hardly just a matter of cops grabbing an ill-considered selfie or two with their new insurgent buds, as one Capitol cop did. 

Reports of collusion at higher levels are rife, such as one fingering Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who runs an entity called the Rule Of Law Defense Fund, a dark money group that allegedly blasted out robocalls to insurrectionists in waiting (see link below). Of course, Marshall has no clue; for all he knows, those robocalls were just offering MAGA cookie recipes. if you believe that one, I have some swampland you can help me drain.

Trump supporter Ali Alexander has also claimed that three Republican Congressmen, Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar, of Arizona, and the now-infamous Mo Brooks, of Alabama -- who, like Trump, spoke to the crowd, to whip up the resulting mayhem -- actively assisted in planning the so-called protest rally. New Jersey Democrat Mikie Sherrill has caused a sensation by claiming that on January 5, she saw several colleagues allegedly taking people on "reconnaissance tours" of the building.

Biggs has already loudly, repeatedly denied any involvement, which rings hollow, once we consider one key fact. As House Majority Whip James Clyburn has pointed out on CNN, the rioters bypassed his public office (the one with his nameplate on the door), and headed right to where he spends most of his time (the unmarked second office, with no nameplate). Those maneuvers require some type of inside knowledge. How did they get it, and who gave it to them?

How did such a wild-eyed mob, if that's all it was, get inside the building so quickly, as they coordinated their movements with bullhorns and radios? A good percentage must also be ex-military, judging by how many remembered to wear helmets, and body armor, while bringing along plenty of chemical sprays, tasers and zip ties. How deeply have certain police agencies or service branches been infiltrated or compromised, a goal where many far right fringe leaders claim major successes?

The timing, coming so soon after the Democratic runoff victories, is also impossible to miss. Yet how did our top federal law enforcement agencies miss weeks of open chatter, like this nugget from the 8kun fringe message board: "You can go to Washington on January 6 and help storm the Capitol. As many Patriots as can be. We will storm the government buildings, kill cops, kill security guards, kill federal employees and agents, and demand a recount."

How ambiguous does that message sound, exactly? It's one of many questions, I suspect, where we're not going to like the answers.


<v.>
Now comes the morning after, January 7th, starting with the million dollar question. How do we deal with those found responsible for unleashing this orgy of death and destruction? How should we, exactly?

Start with Trump, the Inciter In Chief, and the second impeachment trial he faces in the US Senate. We'll see if his Republican enablers finally muster some semblance of courage to tell him, "This far, and no farther." In many ways, Trump's meteoric rise from merely annoying rich jerk to unrepentant far right messiah represents the final failure of a system that automatically defers to people like him, because they deem it too inconvenient or time-consuming to do anything else. 

That's the argument advanced by the likes of former National Security Adviser John Bolton, whom I saw recently popping up on CNN to make that case. Let it go, we hear the Boltons urge. What's the point of impeaching a man whose time is up? What more harm can we do?

A fairer question might well be: should justice follow a calendar? Fugitives like Leonard Moses, convicted after 50 years on the run, have learned this question the hard way. So did ex-Nazis like Klaus Barbie, who ended up swapping his swank South American hideaway for the unforgiving confines of a prison cell in Lyon, the same city he'd terrorized as a willing Gestapo torturer and killer during World War II.

That a monster like Barbie spent far less time in prison (eight years, from 1983, till his death in 1991) than he ever did on the run (nearly 40 years, mostly in Bolivia) is beside the point. When the system creaked into gear and finally, caught up with him, he could not escape its judgment, nor the larger verdict it represented. Neither should Trump, even if he occupies a different moral plane of darkness than the man deemed responsible for the deaths of 14,000 people. 

Barring Trump from ever holding office again -- as the Senate can do, if it actually does the unthinkable, and votes to convict him of inciting insurrection -- would do more than merely spare his party the unappealing dirty work of ploting a future without him. If nothing else, disqualifying Trump would prevent him from inflicting further harm, procedural or otherwise, on the democratic system that he's tried so hard to destroy. 

Next, we turn to those who seemed ready to enable Trump's dictatorial aspirations, like Alabama Congressman Mo Brooks, who urged the crowd to "start taking down names, and kicking ass"; Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz, who poured gasoline on the fire, by continuing their objections to certifying Biden's victory; and their 147 House colleagues who voted to do likewise, in spite of the stake it would have driven through the heart of our democracy, had any of their ill-intentioned challenges ever succeeded.

Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) has already outlined a suitable remedy, namely, expulsion under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution which clearly states that no officeholder "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." 

Again, whether or not the Democrats can muster the required two-thirds majorities to expel the likes of Brooks, Cruz and Hawley is beside the point. So is the suggestion that the fates of these morally bankrupt men are best left to their voters. As noble as that idea sounds, it falls woefully short of the reckoning that's required. Participating in a democracy means accepting your role as a member of the "loyal opposition," including the institutions that sustain it. 

Does this standard describe reptilian politicians like Cruz and Hawley, who fist-bumped the assembled mob, and didn't forget to send out fundraising emails on their behalf, even as the chaos unfolded? I think not. The same goes for those 147 Republican Congressmen and women. Whether it is practical to expel all of them, I'll let the House leadership decide, but their desertion of democratic norms should not go unnoticed, nor unchallenged. 

Nor should any of these political performance artists be coddled for acting out, as some are choosing to do, by not wearing masks on the House floor, or skipping around its newly-installed metal detectors. Fining them is appropriate and overdue, but if the toddler behavior persists, they shouldn't be seated until it stops, simple as that. 

Finally, the same standard should apply those who actually tried to take the names, and kick the ass, as Brooks urged them to do. Federal courts and prosecutors will have to decide who thought they were participating in actual "battles," or simply participating in far right cosplay, while reserving stiffer punishment for the worst of them, like those who injured Capitol police officer Daniel Hodges by crushing him into a doorway. They should not expect to walk away from their crimes unscathed, anymore than those who enabled them.

Going after the authoritarian core that undoubtedly represents Trump's base is a much bigger job, which is why I consider all the pleas for "unity" sorely misplaced. The hard, cold fact is that a solid majority of Republicans polled by ABC News are either ready to live in an authoritarian state, or impose one on those who disagree with them (see link below). 

For example, 56 percent of Republicans feel Trump bears no responsibility at all for the Capitol siege, while an additional 22 percent are only to willing to say he bears "some." Fifty-two percent feel their leadership went too far in supporting Trump's efforts to overturn the election, yet another 51 percent say they didn't go far enough, and 27 percent feel they got it right.

Dispiriting and discouraging as these findings undoubtedly are, we should not let them distract us from the greater task that still awaits us: ensuring that our democracy lives to fight beyond the short term dictates of today, tomorrow, and next week, not necessarily in that order. Holding those who sought to destroy it accountable is the first step in that process, followed by the need to ask the uncomfortable questions that invariably go with it. 

Unity without either of these qualities is mere "both sides"-ism of the sort that Trump invoked in 2017, after the madness and ugliness of Charlottesville, when he suggested that there were "good people on both sides." So long as this type of rhetoric circulates, I am willing to put any dreams of national unity on hold, until we finally arrive at some measure of justice. For those who oppose that ideal, I say, "Shame on them"; but if we succumb to some of collective amnesia, and forgo it, then shame on us. The choice is ours. So is the responsibility. --The Reckoner


Links To Go (Hurry, Hurry,
Before The Fourth Reich Springs To Life)

CNN
People At The US Capitol Riot
Are Being Identified And Losing Their Jobs:

Hawkeye Report

MEDIAite:
Trump Organizer Ali Alexander Says...

Los Angeles Times
The Turner Diaries Didn't
Just Inspire The Capitol Attack:

MSN.com

Wall Street Journal
'The Before Time': A Sci-Fi Idea
That Has Made Its Way To Real Life:

Yahoo News
Capitol Protests Organized By Alabama AG's Nonprofit Group:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/capitol-protests-organized-alabama-ag-221426092.html

Yahoo News
Errol Morris On The Specter
Of Steve Bannon In The Capitol Assault:

Yahoo News
FBI, NYPD Told Capitol Police
About Possibility Of Violence...

Yahoo News
Here Are Some Of The Noteworthy People
Identified And Arrested For Storming The Capitol:

Yahoo News
Several Congressional Democrats Claim
The January 6 Capitol Insurrection 
Was Aided By "Insiders":
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