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| Cast of George Washington's face made by Jean-Antoine Houdon in 1785 (Smithsonian) |
The mob was summoned.
It came, and was dispatched to the Capitol.
None of that was secret.
But first they were harangued.
"These people are not going to take it any longer," President Donald Trump said. "They're not going to take it any longer."
The crowd chanted: "Fight for Trump!"
"We will stop the steal," the president said. "Today."
"We are not going to let it happen," the president said. "I am not going to let it happen."
The crowd chanted "We love Trump!"
"You're stronger, you're smarter," the president said. "You're the real people, the people that built this nation."
"Now it's up to Congress to confront this egregious assault on our democracy," the president said. "And after this, we're going to walk down, and I'll be there with you, we're going to walk down. We're going to walk down. Anyone you want, but I think right here.we're going to walk down to the Capitol, and we're going to cheer our brave senators and congressmen and women and we're going to probably not be cheering much for some of them."
Within hours, there was to be much not cheering.
"Because you'll never take our country back with weakness," the president said. "You have to show strength and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated, lawfully slated."
"I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard," said the president.
Don't let that "peacefully" throw you. Donald Trump also talked about the importance of election integrity, the kind of gas-lighting he perfected, the political version of a bully grabbing your hand and ramming it into your face while sneering, "Why are you hitting yourself? Stop hitting yourself!"
Words do have meaning, even in Trump's world, but only certain words, at certain times. The rest is code that must be deciphered or, alas, not. One year has passed, and still understanding is slow in dawning. Democrats lack the vigor and singularity of purpose in saving our democracy that Republicans show in tearing it down. Which is unsurprising, if unforgivable, because it's hard to believe. The whole thing is hard to believe. That's the trick. It's real, and we — patriotic Americans who want to live in a free, small-d democratic country, have to believe it. We must make ourselves believe it. That's the trick. See that it isn't a joke. But real. It happened, is happening. The insurrection of Jan. 6 not only occurred it never stopped, and never will, until somebody stops it.
"The most corrupt election in the history, maybe, of the world," the president said.
"We fight. We fight like hell," the president said. "And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore."
"And we're going to the Capitol," the president said. "So let's walk down Pennsylvania Avenue."
"We are not going to let it happen," the president said. "I am not going to let it happen."
The crowd chanted "We love Trump!"
"You're stronger, you're smarter," the president said. "You're the real people, the people that built this nation."
"Now it's up to Congress to confront this egregious assault on our democracy," the president said. "And after this, we're going to walk down, and I'll be there with you, we're going to walk down. We're going to walk down. Anyone you want, but I think right here.we're going to walk down to the Capitol, and we're going to cheer our brave senators and congressmen and women and we're going to probably not be cheering much for some of them."
Within hours, there was to be much not cheering.
"Because you'll never take our country back with weakness," the president said. "You have to show strength and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated, lawfully slated."
"I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard," said the president.
Don't let that "peacefully" throw you. Donald Trump also talked about the importance of election integrity, the kind of gas-lighting he perfected, the political version of a bully grabbing your hand and ramming it into your face while sneering, "Why are you hitting yourself? Stop hitting yourself!"
Words do have meaning, even in Trump's world, but only certain words, at certain times. The rest is code that must be deciphered or, alas, not. One year has passed, and still understanding is slow in dawning. Democrats lack the vigor and singularity of purpose in saving our democracy that Republicans show in tearing it down. Which is unsurprising, if unforgivable, because it's hard to believe. The whole thing is hard to believe. That's the trick. It's real, and we — patriotic Americans who want to live in a free, small-d democratic country, have to believe it. We must make ourselves believe it. That's the trick. See that it isn't a joke. But real. It happened, is happening. The insurrection of Jan. 6 not only occurred it never stopped, and never will, until somebody stops it.
"The most corrupt election in the history, maybe, of the world," the president said.
"We fight. We fight like hell," the president said. "And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore."
"And we're going to the Capitol," the president said. "So let's walk down Pennsylvania Avenue."
And so they did. The mob, that is. The president stayed put and watched. For hours. Delighted.
Delighted? You can read minds? The "insurrection is still happening? Until somebody stops it? Certainly not with your words.
ReplyDeleteFar more damaging were the BLM and Antifa riots, encouraged and egged on by Democrats. Oh and all those times Democrat mobs invaded and occupied government buildings obstructing the work of government? How about the times Democrats objected to certifying electoral votes?
I usually don't post mindless garbage. But I thought I would share this, as an example of the idiotic "whataboutism" that keeps the reality of Trump's treason from sinking into his deluded followers. As if some activists sitting in a lobby of a building for an hour in protest were equivalent to trying to undo a presidential election. They will never understand, never mind stop trying to subvert our country. The only option is to defeat them, using ballots and laws, while we still have them. The clock is ticking.
DeleteI will wager $50 cash (to be held in escrow by Neil Steinberg, if we can figure out a way of going about it - PayPal maybe?) that you can't cite an Antifa or BLM riot "...encouraged and egged on by Democrats" (your exact words) or any "...times Democrat [sic] mobs invaded and occupied government buildings obstructing the work of government" (again, your exact words) that are verifiably sourced.
DeleteRemember, your exact words. Cite reliable sources, and the elements you assert must be part of that - encouragement by Democratic politicians and Democrats refusing to certify electoral votes.
Somehow I don't think you have either the courage or the smarts to win that simple wager.
My mom was Antifa. She was a WAC during WWII & served in London, during the V-1 & V-2 Blitz.
DeleteIn fact, 16 million Americans were Antifa then, plus of course all those that made the weapons, ships, airplanes, clothing & the food for them.
Alan, many people who have PBs point of view site this incident :
Deletehttps://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/509055-protesters-breach-fence-of-federal-courthouse-in-portland-as-authorities
And this incident:
Deletehttps://nypost.com/2020/08/24/blm-protesters-set-portland-police-station-on-fire/
This is what many trump supporters fear:
Deletehttps://theconversation.com/the-united-states-is-at-risk-of-an-armed-anti-police-insurgency-159003
And those incidents were encouraged and egged on by Democratic officeholders?
DeleteDon't carry water for that coward.
Where’s the “encouraged and egged on” part that Alan specified?
DeleteMy immigrant grandparents (from Poland, Russia, and Lithuania) were antifa. My father and my uncles (one of whom died at the Bulge) were antifa, in Europe and the Pacific. And this lifelong Democrat has been militantly antifa for a long, long time. Where do I collect my back pay--for 55 years of marching?
DeleteI believe the article states the mayor of Portland joined in the protests.
DeletePlease don't get me wrong , I don't support PBs views, not trumps or those of the Republicans. Just pointing out how extremist views can sprout from an amalgam of events. Actual events.
Thank you to our generous host for allowing me to mention this.
And then there's this :
Deletehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/democratic-convention-embraces-black-lives-matter/2020/08/18/f1de2ce8-e0f7-11ea-b69b-64f7b0477ed4_story.html
You're either being too generous toward the vile, or making a category error, assuming these events influenced GOPers to hate and fear Black people. When it is the other way around: they hate and fear Black people, and seized on these events, which you are helpfully waving over your head, unasked, as is your nature, to underscore how they feel anyway. I thought about not posting them, but given that you're dryly sharing them, without the usual patina of obnoxiousness that you spread over many of your messages, I thought it best to reward your efforts.
DeleteThe mayor participated in an earlier demonstration the week before the one that article is about, to protest violence by federal agencies. No indication he egged on anyone or encouraged violence. Unless you saw something I missed?
DeleteAs for your later link, is your position that Democrats should not take the position that Black Lives Matter, because there are others who agree who have used violence? That would be like stating that belonging to the NRA automatically means you’re in favor of school shootings. Or that being a police officer means you are in favor of shooting unarmed people of color. Supporting the goals of a group doesn’t mean you support the tactics of everyone affiliated with the group.
I don't think any of the citations I've made equate with the heinous activities of January 6th so there's certainly a false equivalency at play here, but I'm not the one who is suggesting that these things are equal. PB is the one doing that.
DeleteAt the same time Alan is mistaken to assert that PBs views are fantastical. They aren't. They shouldnt be used as a basis to diminish the events of January 6.
With a little searching I also found instances where Democrats challenged electoral votes during the certification process. Though no armed mobs shitting on the floors of Congress. Now that's obnoxious
Coey, I agree completely with your last points. I don't believe I am making that case.
DeleteI only wish to point out that Alan's mistaken about PBs whataboutisms being unsubstantiated and completely false. PBs argument is simply not a sensible rebuttal to our kind hosts observations.
At the risk of aggravating Mr.S further I offer one more link from the article I sited and will sit down and shut up.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/07/23/ted-wheeler-portland-tear-gas/
I’m not sure what point you want us to take from your final link?
DeleteFME: that's cited, not sited
DeleteIf you can't see the difference between breaking into a store and stealing a pair of shoes and overthrowing an election there's really not too much in the person's IQ Department. At least that's the way I see it.
ReplyDeleteIt's not a matter of intelligence, it's a question of character. The best way to understand Trump supporters is to view them as ego addicts. Trump provides some kind of missing part of their personalities, and, like heroin addicts, they completely discount the damage done. They simply don't care. As with addiction, simply pointing out the truth won't do it. Hence PB's comment. Not measured reasoning, but desperate rationalization.
DeleteGood point. I see. Trump, the King of the big ego, they can look up to him and live through him to satisfy their hunger for what they're missing. A little escape from reality.
DeleteThe millions of orange Kool-Aid drinkers are Trump loyalists because he provides them with something lacking in their sorry humdrum lives. He also supplies them with the hope of restoring something they perceive as being lost. Making America "great" will also make them, as individuals, great. Either "again"...or for the first time ever. Trump makes them feel better about themselves, and stronger, and more powerful. The Kool-Aid is their orange energy drink.
DeleteThe economic, cultural, and social changes of recent decades have rendered many of the Trump diehards superfluous, or even redundant. The factories are shuttered. People of color and new arrivals have weakened the white male Christian power structure. Family ties have weakened. So they turn to Orange Julius to restore a "Lost America" that really never existed, and to help THEM restore what they feel has been "stolen" from them, and from their sad lives.
They fervently believe that their Orange Messiah will somehow magically deliver them, from Loserville to the Winner's Circle. Truth is, too many have mostly themselves to blame for their loserhood. They pulled their own tails. They made foolish personal, educational, and vocational choices. Yes, automation and the global economy took away the livelihoods of some, but many of them would still be losers anyhow, no matter what.
The old razzle-dazzle of "Vote for me and I'll see you free!" has worked for Donaldo Trumpolini, just as it did...at least for a while...for previous demagogues--Huey Long, George Wallace, Adolf Hitler. If Il Douche wins, his followers feel like winners, too...rather like sports fans do. But when the assembly lines still don't come back, the immigrants and minorities make even more progress, rapid cultural and social change continue, the clock is not turned back, and their lives continue to suck...what happens to them then?
Mr. S is right--they simply don't care, because another sip from Dr.Feelgood does the trick. That orange Kool-Aid is some powerful stuff. And if Trump goes to prison (yeah, right) or drops dead (one can only hope), who do the cult of feel-good junkies turn to for their next fix?
You nailed it, Mr. S--yesterday's image of the dead-end tunnel was perfect. It's what awaits us in the darkness, at the bottom of that steep, gray-green, flourescently-lit stairway to hell.
"missing part of their personalities"
DeleteAn interesting analysis, but it still leaves one wondering as to which part of their personalities. The part that admires incompetent, lying losers? Trump is and always has been somebody the phrase "all hat and no cattle" describes aptly. He was born on third base, had money and an uncanny ability to bamboozle people. But he was not a great businessman: see failed casinos, bankruptcies, etc. He is not a great politician: see the only two elections he ran in, which he lost by a combined 10 million votes, approximately, and two warranted impeachments. He is not an admirable person in general: see "bone spurs," wives cheated on, porn stars bribed, charities defrauded, soldiers demeaned, etc. I'm just always left wondering how the people who support him, still, manage their daily lives. Is bluster the main qualification they look for in a plumber, a mechanic, a dentist? Sadly, it might be, I suppose.
It would all be easier to understand -- nothing P. T. Barnum didn't exemplify a long time ago -- if his support were not so closely aligned with supposed Christian values and patriotism. Tax cuts for the rich and walls to keep immigrants out are not Christian policies. Only counting the votes you like is not a patriotic enterprise.
Thanks Grizz, that's s masterpiece.
DeleteMy pleasure. Literally. It's what I do. But don't thank me. Thank Mr. S, for allowing me to do it here. I only wish I had been able to arrange my life in a way that allowed me to be paid to do it. I could have been somebody. Instead of a ne'er-do-well. Which is what I was. Mucho apreciado.
DeleteDamn, but you opened the gates to stupid.
ReplyDeleteSorry you had to field these reactions but the display of ignorance is sobering.
One important distinction between so-called Antifa “riots” and Trump “protests” is that left wing violence, such as it is, has not been cited as “patriotic” by Democratic politicians in contrast to the almost universal support by Republicans of the actions of Trump partisans on January 6, 2021.
ReplyDeleteJohn
Rick Perlstein was supposed to give a speech on January 7th of last year. January 6th happened. This is he speech he gave. https://newrepublic.com/article/160975/trump-era-always-going-end-violence?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=EB_TNR&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1641485438 He is always worth reading.
ReplyDelete