Well, I have been watching the gruesome circus on the Mall, and I’m horrified, but more at why the usual security forces were not able to hold the fort. They’re awfully good at telling tourists to buzz off; I guess they’re not quite as efficient with a mob.
I’m more fascinated to see the death spiral (not that he’s going to die) of Trump, firstly, and secondly, how awkwardly Trump enablers, like Mitch McConnell and Lindsay Graham, are distancing themselves from Trump! They seem unable to say that they knew he was a bozo all along, though some of them have been known to be extremely uncomplimentary about Trump.
Here’s my thinking.
The GOP has been watching the Democrats modernizing society, the economy, working at the environment, addressing problems with energy, etc, with horror. The Alt-Right, too, saw the potential for gun legislation, and immigration legislation, with great anxiety. When they saw the great support Trump had among the lunatic fringe, they must have seen Trump as the last, best hope for pushing back on progressive legislation.
What I don’t understand is this desperate loyalty that the Capitol-storming Proud Chickens have for our former Fearful Leader. It is so horribly, horribly embarrassing to see the kind of people who rushed off to the Capitol at the behest of Trump (who was, of course, rushed to safety). We know that in any army, the cannon-fodder is by no means the elite of the force; the elite horse-soldiers come at the back, riding over the dead. There are Conservative intellectuals watching the action, thinking out their next move. But it puzzles me why so many rats have stayed with the sinking ship for so long. Elaine Chao, bless her, Betsy De Vos, and Melania’s social secretary (probably an important figure within the Trump family) have all resigned. They obviously have their limits.
Someone said that Trump has threatened to create his own alternative to Twitter, since Twitter has blocked him on that platform. Now that alarms me, because at least all of us use Twitter, and the ideas of each side of this crazy polarized mess we call the Twittersphere leaks over to the other side. If Trump establishes his own alternative to Twitter (what’s he going to call it? Chitter?) it will polarize the former Twittersphere almost completely. Actually, there is a Facebook-like platform, called Parler, that is inhabited almost completely by violent conservatives; Trump doesn’t have to go to the trouble.
Anyway, at least the Presidency will pass to Joe Biden, which we were a little anxious about.
Well, I discovered that I had not seen all that had happened inside the Capitol (though what I saw outside was pretty violent enough). All this is at least a show of force, to intimidate certain people, and everyone who supports those certain people. All of us assume that we know who those certain people are, but the truth is different, and simpler, more frightening, and sadder; I'll blog on it in another post.
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