January 6, 2021 like December 7, 1941 is a day that will live in infamy. On that day, seditious forces from within the American government sought to undermine democracy by agreeing to interfere with a constitutionally-mandated process while Donald Trump did his part, whipping up a mob into a frenzy and instructing them to march to the capitol and interrupt a joint session of Congress certifying the counting of votes from the electoral college.
It is a horrific commentary on the state of our government that two senators, each with impressive academic credentials and a lot of experience, to wit Yale law school graduate Josh Hawley and Harvard magna cum laude graduate Ted Cruz, would have so coveted the power of the reality TV actor *president* that they agreed to sedition in order to become the actor’s successor to the throne. They put raw political ambition above democracy and a mob rioted, resulting in the death of four people, numerous injuries and 52 arrests.
Trump didn’t do this on his own. Trump has never done anything on his own. His GOP enablers did this. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz put this ball in motion and they, and the GOP House members and other senators supporting this attempted coup d’etat own the responsibility. George Will, Washington Post:
Hawley announced his intention to object to the certification of some states’ electoral votes, for no better reason than that there has been an avalanche of “allegations” of election irregularities, allegations fomented by the loser of the election. By doing so, Hawley turned what should have been a perfunctory episode in our civic liturgy of post-election civility into a synthetic drama. He turned this moment into the focus of the hitherto unfocused fury that Trump had been stoking for many weeks.
And Cruz, by organizing support for Hawley among other Republican senators and senators-elect gave Hawley’s grotesque self-promotion an ersatz cloak of larger purpose. Shortly before the mob breached the Senate chamber, Cruz stood on the Senate floor. With his characteristic unctuousness, he regretted the existence of what he and kindred spirits have not only done nothing to refute but have themselves nurtured — a pandemic of suspicions that the election was “rigged.”
“I want to take a moment to speak to my Democratic colleagues,” said Cruz. “I understand your guy is winning right now.” Read those weasely words again. He was not speaking to his “colleagues.” He was speaking to the kind people who were at that instant assaulting the Capitol. He was nurturing the very delusions that soon would cause louts to be roaming the Senate chamber — the fantasy that Joe Biden has not won the election but is only winning “right now.”
This is exactly the problem. Cruz was nurturing the fantasy, and he knew it. He was doing it for his own political gain, in order to inherit the mantle of Trump and run the cult. As George W. Bush said, in denouncing yesterday’s debacle, these actions were taken by people “whose passions were inflamed by falsehoods and false hopes.” That’s nailing it, too. Trump has claimed to his followers that he will really be president, just any moment now. They’re all simply in the process, “they” being lawyers, judges, elected officials, give ’em a minute now, of making the bad dream of Trump’s loss fade and aaaaahhhhh. Now we awaken to the new reality we want — Trump really did win the election. Good. Now we’re happy. And certain members of Congress co-signed on this delusion, believing not only that it was their first class ticket to success in Republican politics, but rather that it was the price of admission. Eugene Robinson, Washington Post:
I mean you, Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri. And you, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. And you, Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana. And all the rest who thought that the way to succeed in GOP politics was to pretend to believe Trump’s lies rather than tell the nation the truth.
Trump told his MAGA legions that he didn’t really lose the election, that in fact he could not possibly have lost, and that somehow he would manage to remain their president for a second term. First various recounts would save him — until they all confirmed Joe Biden’s victory. Then it was going to be the certifications of the vote totals — but all the states certified their results. Then it was going to be the courts that rode to the rescue — but courts at every level, including the U.S. Supreme Court, tossed out his frivolous lawsuits like so much scrap paper. […]
They were like a doomsday cult when the appointed day arrives and the foretold asteroid does not strike. Trump had convinced them he could not possibly lose, yet inside the Capitol he was losing. They decided to prevent the transfer of power by force. Shots were fired, and one person was struck and killed. Tear gas was deployed. The scenes were like those I saw in places like Paraguay and Peru as a foreign correspondent — and nothing like we’ve ever seen in the United States.
Eugene Robinson points out that the wounds inflicted from “electing this bitter, twisted man” run deep and won’t heal overnight. Point taken. But beyond Trump, his enablers need to go. Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, Steve Scalise, is it even worth mentioning the likes of Louie Gohmert or Mo Brooks? These people need to go, too. They did more than allow it to happen, they made it happen. And we cannot forget. We need to remember who did just what on January 6 and the leadup to that date and hold them accountable. Here’s George Will’s parting shot.
The Trump-Hawley-Cruz insurrection against constitutional government will be an indelible stain on the nation. They, however, will not be so permanent. In 14 days, one of them will be removed from office by the constitutional processes he neither fathoms nor favors. It will take longer to scrub the other two from public life. Until that hygienic outcome is accomplished, from this day forward, everything they say or do or advocate should be disregarded as patent attempts to distract attention from the lurid fact of what they have become. Each will wear a scarlet “S” as a seditionist.
These *lawmakers* need to be held accountable for their part in what happened yesterday. Because the bottom line is, if anarchy is encouraged to continue, in the service of some Republican politician’s raw political power, some day soon the guardrails of democracy might not hold and we will be left with a coup d’etat that succeeds. And America will be lost.
Yes, They need to be held accountable.
We can’t forget about this. This is not the normal rough and tumble of partisan politics. Cruz and Hawley are after power for power’s sake. They don’t care if they destroy America getting it. They’re just exactly like Trump in that respect. A lot of GOPers are exactly like Trump and that’s why we got to where we got to.
We have to find a way to deprogram the members of the trump cult! And we must find ways to make sure that everyone involved in any way in yesterday’s debacle is held accountable, and punished to the fullest extent of the law! And we must make sure that nothing like today’s republican party can ever exist in this country in the future!!
I’ve said this before…you do not want to hear what I think they need.
Well, it took some time… but Fury with Brad Pitt… showed what troops did to SS… not pretty. But watched PBS show once… German prisoners held in US during WW2. And how the secretive SS would kill fellow Germans that didn’t toe the line. Yeah, … not going to be easy with some folk.
Need to separate the loons from the wackos. Prosecute the ones that break the law. And consequences and laws for social media. And still will not be enough… for now?
What is committed and what sees the inside of a courtroom has always been two very different things in the US of A. I certainly wouldn’t hold my breath waiting to see justice served in equal measure to the deeds perpetrated. What lawyers, prosecutors and/or judges are going to touch any of this with a ten foot pole if they can avoid it? There is no justice in it, no patriotism, no fame, no money, it’s a career killer and the only thanks anyone is gonna get are death threats en masse.
Where does freedom of speech end? 45 caused this but also his enablers, for the last four years, caused this. Accountability?
They want freedom without responsibility. https://eand.co/why-freedom-became-free-dumb-in-america-4947e39663f2
They exemplify conservatism.
Frank Wilhoit once said: “Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition … There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not
protect.” They are demonstrating that nothing binds them and that they expect to have whatever they want. Entitlement is too demure a word for this.
Hopefully they are about to find out what being bound by the law in an out-group is like.
This article (the link dana shared) is quite condemning of American society but there is much truth in it. Democracy is a participatory government, but many of our citizens just want to remain uninvolved and complain when things don’t go their way. That makes it easier for lies and conspiracy theories to further “dumb down” the citizens.
Far as I’m concerned, these asswipes declared war on the United States. Well, madre-effers, to quote the inimitable Christopher Lloyd in Star Trek II, I hope pain is something you enjoy.
This is indeed political opportunism at its absolute worst. Hawley, Cruz and others who are trying to capitalize on Trump’s downfall must be made to wear a large rotting bird around their necks. Fortunately, Trump has served one up.
Roger, what an image! tRump As Rotting Albatross! ?????
They (Cruz and Manscaped Cruz) do need to be held accountable, but what are the remedies?
Impeachment – unnecessary because they can be ejected by their chamber. However, members of Congress can still be impeached, which adds a prohibition of serving in elected office ever again.
Ejection – needs a 2/3 Senate vote, which feels extraordinarily unlikely.
Censure – I think we could get this through, and hopefully with a lot of GOP votes. They would then need to read the censure personally in the chamber. I think the country needs to see that.
Reprimand – less severe than censure, but not really since either are just ceremonial in nature.
I would love to see ejection, based on the argument that either would be replaced by a Republican. But I think censure is our best case option.
I would be shocked if any of them suffer any more than a slap on the wrist from the feckless Dems. I would love to be proven wrong, but counting on elected officials to grow a spine is setting yourself up for disappointment.
I’m not sure that cynicism is warranted or helpful. In most any case I can think of where Democrats don’t take actions the peanut gallery might want to see, they don’t have the votes.
If Schumer reaches out to Senate Republicans and determines there aren’t the votes for, say, expulsion, then his options would be to either pass on the idea or to start the process knowing OT doesn’t go anywhere.
A value that the Democratic Party has stood by is that we don’t undertake disruptive measures when there isn’t a definable benefit. We don’t shut down government just to make a point, we don’t launch investigations we don’t think are valid, and we don’t attack the opposition procedurally if that won’t do any good.
I stand by that value. If we can get support, then I’m behind ejecting the instigators. But if we don’t have the votes, I don’t see it as ethically to stage ceremonial protest disruption of the people’s government.
Oh you dreamer…yearning for justice. Even Jesus cursed the beautiful fig tree with no figs. Let’s pray for fruit.
B4 he became the poster boy for evil, hitler served time for trying to overthrow his government.
Hitler also was four decades younger than Trump and in much better health, despite a mustard gas attack.
The corporal … served… and in combat. Thus the mustard gas.
Sometimes I forget … that Trump is a true and wretched coward, a comes from a family of cowards. A coward, but a dangerous one.
Cowards always make the biggest bullies. They know how to use fear.
“Lawmaker” i.e., contradictio in terminis.
Cruz’ actions were bad enough, but for Hawley to pull the stunt AFTER the Magats took over the building is inexcusable
Be that as it may but what I fail to understand is the legal justification for any of them to reise an objection regarding another state when the sitting senators for that state didn’t. I would have assumed that they could only raise an objection to their own states votes being confirmed
Hawley and Cruz by word and deed fueled the flames of sedition and treason on January 6, 2021. They are therefore seditionist and traitors and must either resign from office or be removed from office by any means necessary.