This Saturday, a now-prepared Capitol Police and over-protected Congressional buildings are ready.\u00a0\u00a0They are ready for the \u201cJ-6\u201d rally, organized by former Trump staffers at the foot of Capitol Hill. For those not fully aware of DC geography, that\u2019s \u201cthe Capitol end\u201d of the National Mall, around a reflecting pool that looks up at the majestic front of the Capitol building.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(If you went on a \u201csenior trip\u201d to Washington, at least in my day, it\u2019s where your class lined up for a panoramic camera picture with the Capitol in the background. If you got at the very end of one side of the class, you could outrun the panoramic to the other side \u2013 and appear twice in your school picture!! Joel and Doug did it, Craig is a little blurry on one side.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Those were simpler times at the end of the Vietnam War.\u00a0\u00a0While protests were still around, Nixon had withdrawn most of the US personnel.\u00a0\u00a0It would be another year before the fall of Saigon.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n There were extremists in the Vietnam War era. But there also was a clear distinction between those \u201cmainstream\u201d politicians who were against the War, and those groups who were burning down ROTC buildings on campuses and threatening other Federal buildings.\u00a0\u00a0The anti-war \u201cmainstream\u201d and the far-left \u201cWeather Underground\u201d, considered a domestic terrorist group, were far apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was listening to Nicolle Wallace, a former Republican staffer for George W Bush, discuss how Republican Party politicians are \u201cplaying footsie\u201d with today\u2019s version of domestic terrorism. Those terrorists are the same folks who stormed in the Capitol Building on January 6th. They threatened to hang Vice President Pence and Congressional leaders. And they attempted to stop the Constitutionally mandated process of certifying the Presidential election. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There is a bright line connecting the terrorists of January 6th and the Republican Party today.\u00a0\u00a0And that line, like all current Republican political trends, runs right through the Presidency of Donald Trump.\u00a0\u00a0Trump\u2019s refusal to recognize the legitimacy of the 2020 outcome with his loss, and his constant encouragement of the \u201cstop the steal\u201d fantasy, damn near brought our Republic down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And it hasn\u2019t ended. Trump is still on the \u201ctrail\u201d, and still claiming that the election was a \u201cfraud\u201d. And his supporters, millions of them, still believe. He continues to give a \u201cwink and a nod\u201d to those organizations that are using his rhetoric to mobilize for their own reasons, the Proud Boys and the other far-right crazies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0Most Republican politicians have reached a conclusion:\u00a0\u00a0they cannot win a Republican primary without the support of the \u201cTrump\u201d voter.\u00a0\u00a0From Harvard educated Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, and Ron DeSantis to formerly more \u201cmoderate\u201d Republicans like Marco Rubio and even an Ohio Senatorial candidate, former Trump critic and\u00a0Hillbilly Elegy\u00a0<\/em>author J.D. Vance (Yale): all are \u201conboard the Trump train\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0So they cannot stand for the truth of the insurrection of January 6th, they have to accept the \u201cnew version\u201d: it was a \u201cFirst Amendment protest\u201d with a few \u201cbad actors\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n We watched on our televisions on January 6th and saw the battles on the steps and in the hallways.\u00a0\u00a0We watched as the House and Senate floors were desecrated, and the flag of Rebellion was marched into the building.\u00a0\u00a0It was much, much more than a few \u201cbad actors\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the modern Republican Party needs us to stop believing our \u201clying eyes\u201d. Now, we are told that the video where a mob attempts to break through to the House chamber as members are evacuating the other end, was just an exercise in \u201cfree speech\u201d. They demand that a woman was simply exercising her \u201cprivilege\u201d as a citizen, jumping though a broken window into the face of an officer with a gun. “She did not deserve to be shot\u201d. And finally, those hundreds held by the government on charges are the\u201cvictims\u201d, not the \u201cperpetrators\u201d of an insurrection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ask Governor Mike DeWine from Ohio. There seems to be little room in the Republican Party for more moderate views.\u00a0\u00a0Drink the \u201cKool Aid\u201d and accept the revisionist view of the Insurrection, or risk losing a Trump leaning primary vote.\u00a0\u00a0DeWine can\u2019t even get the endorsement of his own Party in the primary.\u00a0\u00a0This Saturday\u2019s rally is just one more step in the \u201credemption\u201d of the insurrectionists, and one more brick on the road to the perdition of Trumpism.\u00a0\u00a0They are changing history, in a way more blatant than that of the removal of the old Daughters of the Confederacy statuary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They are ready: Capitol Police, National Guard, FBI, Homeland Security, National Park Police; everyone. The risk to the United States Capitol is low. Experts worry more about the corollary rallies at State Houses throughout the nation, \u201csofter\u201d targets less prepared for \u201cbad actors\u201d. Let\u2019s hope the scenes of long-guns in the Michigan State Capitol balcony, or Idaho, or Oregon, won\u2019t be repeated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There is one bit of good news. The vote turnout in the California Gubernatorial Recall was high, keeping Gavin Newsom, the current Democratic Governor, in office. It demonstrates what we knew in 2020: if everyone shows up, Democrats win. As the Republican Party continues to whittle itself to a small Trumpophile base, it gives up the moderate former Republicans who can\u2019t stomach the lies. In an America where elections are won in the middle, it\u2019s incredibly complicated for a Republican to win anywhere but the \u201cReddest\u201d areas. It even puts Ohio, with the Governor position and a Senate seat up, in play for 2022. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Who would have \u201cthunk\u201d that?\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Footsie<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Lying Eyes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Good News<\/h3>\n\n\n\n