Yesterday, a combined committee of the United States Senate issued a report on the Insurrection. They outlined the failures in security that allowed a mob to breech the Capitol Building, vandalizing and searching for leaders. The report shows critical failures in the leadership of the Capitol Police and other law enforcement agencies. Those failures were so egregious, ignoring clear warnings for months about the upcoming \u201cwild time\u201d, that it\u2019s hard to imagine them to be unintentional. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the Senate committees intentionally did not examine the cause of the crisis in the first place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We hear a lot about \u201cbipartisan cooperation\u201d these days. There is a group in the Senate, Democrats and Republicans, who are trying to find \u201ccommon ground\u2019 where they can work together. Senator Joe Manchin is willingly the \u201cposter boy\u201d for this bipartisanship, but he\u2019s not the only one, and not even the only Democrat who longs for the time when the Senate worked \u201cacross the aisle\u201d for the good of the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And this committee report is an example of where bipartisanship stands today. They can blame the Capitol Police. They can blame the FBI, and Homeland Security, and the other intelligence gathering agencies that failed to prepare for January 6th. But blaming all of those folks for what are clear mistakes, fails to reach the most important conclusions: who caused those events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When a bomb goes off in a downtown building, we can discuss failures in the metal detectors. We can blame the folks who examine the internet for hints and clues and bombings. But in the end, there\u2019s the person who built the bomb, the person who planted the bomb, and the person who triggered the bomb. They are ultimately to blame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who built the Insurrection?\u00a0\u00a0Clearly it was the 45th President of the United States.\u00a0\u00a0He convinced his supporters that the election was stolen, a theme he repeated since before the 2016 election, and heightened after his failure in 2020.\u00a0\u00a0He invited those supporters to Washington on the day of the Electoral Vote certification.\u00a0\u00a0And he did it for the exact purpose of disrupting that certification process.\u00a0\u00a0The 45th President was the bomb maker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He and his minions gathered those supporters on the Mall, and harangued them about the unfairness of the electoral process. He tried to convince them that they were acting as patriots, saving \u201ctheir America\u201d from \u201cthose others\u201d who were \u201cstealing the election\u201d. It was the 45th President who planted to bomb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And he literally sent them to the Capitol, promising to join them (of course, he didn\u2019t show up). He told them to \u201cconvince\u201d Vice President Mike Pence to disregard the Constitution and try to overthrow the election results, he sent them WITH PURPOSE to stop the United States Congress. And they did exactly that. The President triggered the bomb, he lit the fuse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And while \u201cthe bomb\u201d was going off, he refused to do anything to stop the struggle. Even when he finally sent a message telling the Insurrectionists to go home, he continued to express his \u201clove\u201d for them. He loved the bomb he created, he loved the disruption it caused. Like every crazed bomber, he didn\u2019t mind that there were casualties along the way \u2013 they were \u201csacrifices\u201d for his cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United States, even the leaders of my own Party, have hoped that somehow, we would \u201cget over\u201d the Insurrection and Trumpism, and \u201cgo back\u201d to the bygone days of bipartisan cooperation. But the Insurrectionists haven\u2019t gone away. We all thought that those \u201cStop the Steal\u201d supporters would dwindle, become a marginal fifteen percent that could be ignored and would ultimately disappear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But like any infection, putting a Band-aid over it doesn\u2019t solve the problem. The infection is festering and spreading, and we may be sure that it will poison our body politic for years to come. Infection requires clear acknowledgement of the disease, treatment, medication, and even surgery to cure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And until we excise the infection, it will continue to poison every other aspect of our political discourse. President Biden\u2019s and Senator Manchin\u2019s longing for the \u201cgood old days\u201d of collegiality can\u2019t happen as long as our Democracy remains contaminated. It\u2019s not their fault for wanting things to be better. But it\u2019s their duty to recognize the symptoms, diagnose the problem, and cure the disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And it\u2019s their duty to give up their dream of bipartisanship, and deal with our reality. It\u2019s the only way to save the nation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"