Yesterday, Trump supporters did exactly what we were afraid they would do: defend their lord and master with violence.
Among the thousands of pro-Trump activists were QAnon conspiracy theorists, white supremacists and violent extremist groups including the Proud Boys, waving confederate flags.
So only the best people, right?
Earlier that morning, Trump addressed the assembled throng to reiterate his oft repeated (and always repudiated) conspiracy theories and whine about his loss.
“Does anybody believe that Joe had 80 million votes? Does anyone believe it?"
Li'l Donnie cannot understand that 80 million people hate his fucking guts.
“If Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election. All Vice President Pence has to do is send it back to the states to re-certify, then I become president and you are the happiest people.”
The role of the Vice President in the Congressional certification of votes is largely ceremonial. The Veep has no real power to accept or decline the results. Pence can only bang the gavel when the process is done and declare it's over.
Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, clashing with police, breaching security perimeters into the building itself, committing vandalism, overrunning the floor of the House and the Senate.
The hallowed halls of American democracy descended into the riotous anarchy of mob rule.
Donald Trump said nothing, probably taking enormous glee that his devoted suckers supporters were taking such dramatic action in his name. That should get good ratings on the news! Why say anything when his supporters were doing what he wanted them do?
Joe Biden had something to say about it.
“At this hour, our democracy is under unprecedented assault, unlike anything we’ve seen in modern times. An assault on the citadel of liberty, the Capitol itself. An assault on people’s representatives and Capitol Hill police sworn to protect them.”
“This is not dissent, it’s disorder. It’s chaos. Borders on sedition. And it must end now. I call on this mob to pull back and allow the work of democracy to go forward.”
Biden called on Trump to go on television and “fulfill his oath and defend the Constitution and demand an end to this siege.”
Which Trump finally did.
Kind of. Sort of.
“You have to go home now. We have to have peace. We love you. You’re very special. I know how you feel, but go home and go home in peace. This was a fraudulent election, but we can't play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace."
Even in a statement to get the rioters to stand down, Trump still can't help to urge them on, still whining falsely about a a "fraudulent election" and marginalizing those who do not agree with him as "these people".
"These people" that Trump would cast as the enemy are American citizens. Trump is driving a cudgel into the fissures of American society to break it apart, pitting Americans against Americans.
The thing is these rioters are expending so much time and energy, risking their safety, their lives even, in a false cause promoted by a false leader who does not give one fucking goddamn about them.
Donald Trump has always had a constituency of one, himself. Any action he's ever taken, any words he's ever spoken is in service to his own needs, he own desires, his own fractured view of the world. Those supporters amassed in Washington, waving flags and signs, angrily screaming into the air, they have no agency with Trump. They are nothing more than cannon fodder to him.
Trump supporters pledge their loyalty to a man who has no concern for their actual well being, to a man who has no loyalty in return for them. They serve on to bolster his ego and his delusions.
There is no stolen election except that Trump says there is. There is not one iota of evidence to support any claim of widespread voter fraud or a rigged election. Each state has counted the votes, some more than once. Each state has certified the votes. There is no doubt to the integrity of the election process other than on Trump's say so.
And Li'l Donnie's basis for his grievance is that he can't believe over 80 million people voted against him. In deference to Donald Trump's hurt ego, Trump supporters stormed the Capitol and laid siege to the basic foundations of our democracy.
God knows what another day will bring.
I am worried that America is on the brink of collapse against a challenge fueled by hate, fear and ignorance.
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