What Should Have Been

January 6th

It was in the harrowing days following January 6th, 2021.  The riot at the Capitol was over, the glass and paper and feces cleared from the floors and walls.  Congress showed more determination that many thought possible, a bipartisan focus on getting the electoral votes certified and the election over.  And Vice President Mike Pence, after four years of total fealty to every whim of President Trump; for the first time stood up and said “no” to rigging the electoral certification.  Perhaps being left in the basement of the Capitol for hours, hiding from the mob, without anyone in the White House even checking-in, sent a clear message.  The gallows erected on the lawn was specifically meant for him.

But we really didn’t know what was going to happen next.  Donald Trump remained in the White House, and there were still days before Joe Biden would take over.  The fences and barriers surrounded the Capitol, the “barn door” firmly closed after the horses were gone.  The National Guard patrolled the streets, twenty thousand of them.  There were more troops guarding Washington than any time since the Civil War.  

Complicit

Democrats were pressing for impeachment and removal of the President.  It was publicly known that he already considered declaring a national emergency and seizing near-dictatorial powers. Disgraced General Mike Flynn wanted troops to seize voting machines and stop the transition of power.  America held its collective breath for two weeks, waiting for the “other shoe” to drop.

But there was so much more going on than we knew at the time.  We didn’t know that there were many Republican Congressmen and Senators complicit in the attempt to subvert the electoral certification.  It wasn’t just the “crazies”: Gomer and Gosar, Brooks, Biggs and Boebert, Green and Gaetz.  There were “serious”  Congressmen and Senators involved:  Jim Jordan in the House, Cruz and Lee in the Senate, and many others who doing more than just “going along” with the mob besides fist waving Josh Hawley.  They were taking their Ivy League law degrees to the extreme, creating “legal” rationales for overthrowing the election results, a real coup d’état.

The Moment

But for some of them, things went too far.  They didn’t expect the rioters to “take” the building.  What was an “academic exercise” on how to subvert the Constitution, was all of a sudden, a personal physical threat.  They were running away down the halls from a mob who might do – anything.  So most “bailed”, backing away from Eastman and Navarro’s “Green Bay Sweep” and voting to accept certification of Biden’s election.

Speaker Pelosi and then-Minority Leader Schumer wanted to “solve” the problem by ending the Trump Presidency.  They first thought the quickest way was to remove him from the remainder of his term by the 25th Amendment.  But Pence wouldn’t initiate the process, and besides, so many of the Cabinet secretaries were temporary appointments, undyingly loyal to Trump.  It was unlikely they could muster the majority votes needed.

Pelosi knew her only other option to protect the Constitution was to impeach Trump, again.  If nothing else, it would keep his, and America’s, attention focused on the process.  While Trump broke the Founding Fathers’ precedent of peaceful transition, he could hardly proceed to declare a national emergency while impeachment was in process.  Even if it took longer than Trump would be in office, it could serve to prevent him from running for office again.

Acting Together

But that would require some Republican support.  Democrats controlled the House, but the causal action of this impeachment appealed beyond partisan allegiance.  Many Republicans in the House agreed that Trump should be removed.  They looked to their leadership, particularly Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, for political cover.  If McCarthy and the other Republican leaders acknowledged the need to remove Trump, then they could follow suit without great political risks.

And if Mitch McConnell in the Senate supported impeachment, he would bring the needed Republican votes to remove the President, and more importantly, bar him from office for life.

We already know that for the first week after the Insurrection, McCarthy recognized Trump’s culpability.  He gave a speech on the floor of the House demanding that the President take responsibility for the Insurrection.  And, we now know, that he privately discussed asking the President to resign. McCarthy even considered supporting impeachment.  We know this, because last week  we all heard McCarthy’s own words,  taped in a conversation with Liz Cheney, about what they could do.

And, maybe, McConnell spoke the truth, once, on the floor of the Senate, immediately after the impeachment resolution failed.  He acknowledged that Trump was culpable for the Insurrection.  McConnell just didn’t have the courage to do anything about it.

Failing America

Sometime in the week after the Insurrection, McCarthy and McConnell and the other Republican Congressional leaders, made a purely political calculation.  They determined to step back from their duties to the Constitution and the United States, and preserve their personal political power.  McCarthy needed the “crazies” to vote for him for Speaker.  McConnell knew he risked his “leader” position, and perhaps would spend the rest of his career in the minority, if he stood against Trump.  

All of that was more important than what would become of the country, should the bipartisan front they presented on the night of January 6th, divide into partisan bickering.  So they sat back, and let the Democratic leadership take the “heat” for holding Trump responsible.  And by doing that, they doomed our Nation to years of more division.  They left Trump unaccountable, and eligible for re-election.

Alternative Facts

Kelly Ann Conway’s “alternative facts” said “out loud” what was going on behind the scenes.  There was no reason to accept “facts”, when a different, more palatable reason was available.  “Alternative facts” begat the “Big Lie”, that the election was stolen.  The “Big Lie” begat the Insurrection.  And when the Republican leadership failed to act after January 6th, they certified the “Big Lie” for millions of their party members.  And if the “Big Lie” is true, then all of the lies about the Covid vaccines could be true as well.  Hundreds of thousands of Americans died needlessly, because “alternative facts” became “the truth” for so many.

It’s still happening.  Ron DeSantis tells us that primary teachers are “grooming” children to be gay, or trans, or for kiddy porn.  Greg Abbott says that “Critical Race Theory” is subverting American education.  Josh Mandel says that illegal immigrants are taking “American” jobs. None of that is true, but so many Americans are “primed” to accept “alternative facts” that they believe.

The Republican leadership still in Congress, McConnell and McCarthy, had their opportunity to change the direction of America.  They could have supported the Trump impeachment, taking him off of the political “chess board” forever.  They could have acknowledged the truth.  And we now know that they knew all about it at the time; knew removing Trump was the right thing to do.  It was that absolute failure of political courage, their unwillingness to risk their own careers for the good of the Nation, that left us where we are today.

McConnell and McCarthy, and the others could have led us to do what was needed, and what was right. They knew it at the time.  

Instead, what should have been, wasn’t.