“We witnessed today the damage that can result when men in power and responsibility refuse to acknowledge the truth.” “We saw bloodshed because a demagogue chose to spread falsehoods, and sew distrust of his own fellow Americans. Let’s not abet such deception.”
Senator Pat Toomey
Following the failed Trump coup, the great Republican “lavabo” has begun. It is quite frankly embarrassing to watch the same men and women who allowed perpetuation of a lie, outdo Pontius Pilate in an attempt to escape censure for enabling the magical thinking of a president determined, at any cost, to bully his way into a second term in office. Unfortunately, there is not a soap strong enough to clean hands that allowed
a dangerous, obviously disturbed, bully threaten the Constitution they swore to defend when they took their oath of office. They should be called out.
When the mob of President Trump’s supporters invaded the Capitol building, they forced an emergency recess of proceedings that were underway to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election. Republicans had begun the first of a series of objections based on unproved allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 election. It is important to note that even before mayhem ensued, some Republican members of both the Senate and House of Representative, via these objections, backed and gave voice to President Trump’s lie regarding voter fraud. This was political game playing and were you to give even a superficial scan of the objections they put forward, you would probably concur that there was not a statesman in the bunch. They were lackeys one and all and that would become apparent when they reconvened and advanced some of the challenges to a vote. Despite the harrowing experiences of earlier in the day, 8 Republican senators and 139 Republican representatives sustained one or both of the objections, proving, once and for all, that Joseph Goebbels was right. “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” I have included a link to the names of the Trump enablers at the end of this post.
We are now 1,448 days into the Trump presidency. That so many Republicans are now hypocritically speaking up is better than nothing. The trauma of this moment may even force some Republicans into a searching reexamination of what went wrong and a desire for reconciliation. Let’s hope so, but based on the reactions following the insurrection, I’d suggest you not hold your breath.
Reconciliation can’t happen without truth, and the truth is that the blame for the American carnage we saw unfold in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021, can be laid at the feet of the president and his many Republican enablers. Republicans with a remaining shred of integrity will eventually admit, first to themselves and then to the wider world, their complicity in the deceitful, morally bankrupt and disgraceful presidency of Donald Trump. I salute those who changed their party affiliation early on, but I would like to remind you that Mitt Romney was the only sitting Republican to address the mendacity coming from the oval office. So, when I hear accolades for those now taking a stance against the president and his lies I can’t join in the applause. These are death bed confessions of politicians covering their own backsides. They certainly are not the statesmen or devoted public servants we deserve.
Link to names of Republicans challenging state electoral votes:
Ruminations: From The Inside Looking Out 
Thank goodness I do not live in the USA – enough said!
I hope all improves soon. Keep well and stay safe. Cheers Diane
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Well said, Mary — as usual! I heartily agree with most of what you say. But I do disagree on one major point:
I don’t think what happened Wednesday was a coup attempt or an insurrection. I think it was an angry mob, obeying the dictates of mob psychology, stirred up by a President who is indeed, as you say, dangerous and obviously disurbed. I think the mob was led by the same nihilists who ravaged the streets of Portland night after night, men and (to our shame) women who care for nothing but destruction and seize on any opportunity to tear down and trample whatever is good. I don’t think that the great majority of those in the mob truly believed that they could take over the government; I think they were simply driven by hate and frustration. I think their behavior was not only a reaction to Trump’s loss, but was also a pent-up accumulation of the fear and frustration of nearly a year of covid-19, of lost jobs and economic stress and not knowing who to believe or where it will all end.
I think calling this an “insurrection” gives more power and dignity to the event than it deserves. It was an angry mob that — like most angry mobs — was having a childish tantrum. To be sure, there were some who truly believed they could keep Trump in power for 4 more years — but I think they were decidedly in the minority. I saw pictures of people strolling (yes, *strolling**)* through the Capitol, taking selfies, looking around like awestruck tourists. This was not the behavior of an organized attempt to overthrow the government; it was the behavior of ill-informed, frustrated, ordinary people caught up in the lies of self-serving politicians and the emotion of the mob.
And the bottom line, the good news, is that the good guys won. In spite of ill-prepared police, in spite of Trump’s ravings, in spite of the professional agitators, the mob was dispersed with little loss of life (how very much worse it could have been!), business as usual was resumed, and our democracy-at-work continued.
Commentators made much of how our country had been “embarrassed” and “humiliated” by Wednesday’s events. On the contrary, I think we can be proud of how the mob was handled, and how our system withstood yet one more attack from those who would destroy it.
There — speech over! How the heck are you, how are you doing?
On Sat, Jan 9, 2021 at 7:31 PM Ruminations: From The Inside Looking Out wrote:
> Mary Bergfeld posted: ” “We witnessed today the damage that can result > when men in power and responsibility refuse to acknowledge the truth.” “We > saw bloodshed because a demagogue chose to spread falsehoods, and sew > distrust of his own fellow Americans. Let’s not abet such dec” >
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Love your “speech”. You would make a great president. Hope your nation has woken up to the antics of the one who only thought of himself.
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