As I watched the events of the past week unfold, there are just too many things for me to rant about. So I am going to write a few things down and talk about them quickly. If any of these things you want to discuss further or something else you want to rant about, feel free to do so.
1. The first thing to come to mind as I watched the insurrection was that it was predictable. If a bunch of men carrying automatic weapons can storm into the capitol of Michigan to protest restrictions due to COVID, you can be sure that a march into D.C. on voting conspiracy is bound to turn dangerous. If there is a plot against the governor of Michigan, what are the chances that lawmakers in D.C. not be threatened?
2. The lack of preparation of this protest was shocking. As noted above, it is predictable what may happen. During the Black Lives Matter march, there were tremendous police presence with riot gears. They were deployed all over, including the steps of the Lincoln Memorial where no lawmakers were in danger. The BLM protests were peaceful and yet 300 arrests were made. So far only 80 or so are arrested this time even though many of the perpetrators were seen on camera.
3. Not only were preparations poor, some cops were seen letting protesters go where they want by removing barriers for them. At least one cop took a selfie with them. You have to wonder how much our law enforcement has been infiltrated by white supremacy groups. I am sure that if these people were black or wore a turban instead of MAGA hats, the response from law enforcement would be quite different.
4. In interviews, some of the Trump supporters said that they were there because they had no choice as local government and the courts are against them. This is laughable. In Georgia, for example, the governor and secretary of state are both Republicans. The SCOTUS has 6 of 9 conservative justices, 3 of which were appointed by Trump. The idea that these people got cheated is absurd.
5. The Trump supporters still think Trump is their savior. Don't they realize he just want to use them. He has no loyalty to them. He told them to march to the capitol and he will march with them. Where was he? He abandoned them and after it was over, condemned them for the violence. He abandoned all those around him, including Pence, Sessions, Barr etc.
6. Yet his supporters still think all those abandoning Trump are traitors. They threatened to hang Pence. They harassed Graham at the airport.
7. There is no doubt that Trump incited the violence. But what about people like Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley and Rudy Giuliani? They also got blood in their hands.
I will stop for now but may rant more later. One last thing, I don't think impeachment will do much good. As with last time, it will just make Trump a victim. Although more people, including Republicans, want to kick him out now, there are no two third majority willing to do so in the Senate. We have too many things to do right now to invest time on this. With the Biden administration needing to hit the ground running, we need to get his cabinet confirmed as soon as possible. So we cannot waste time having a trial in the Senate now.
The House impeached Trump for the second time. This time 10 Republicans joined the Democrats. If only 5% changed their mind after what happened a week ago, maybe Trump is right that he won't face consequences even if he shot someone on Fifth Avenue. Good luck with getting 17 votes from Republicans in the Senate to convict.
ReplyDeleteThere appears to be police officers and military veterans involved in the riot. If law enforcement and the military reflect the overall population, that means a third of them maybe Trump extremists. Are we heading to civil war?
There are 20,000 National Guards in D.C. already. The security will be tight. But there are intelligence that all 50 state capitols will be under attack. I don't know how legitimate the threat is to each state but I would think that the battle ground states that turned for Biden: Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Georgia maybe in more danger than D.C. next Wednesday.
I came across this article today and thought it had a lot of information on what looks like a planned attack now.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.yahoo.com/news/stun-guns-stinger-whips-crossbow-203646198.html
I am a little nervous that there will be temptation by some National Guard to not do their duties because they sympathize with the Trump supporters. How does command know which of these guys are bad apples?
By the way, the National Guard has been alerted in Michigan and is supposed to be there at the capitol in Lansing on Sunday. I'm hoping that someone is keeping tabs on the terrorists in case they decide to go on another day.
Did you see that Trump supposedly is withholding payment to Rudy? I wonder if Rudy will do anything. He's rich enough where it won't hurt him but will he get mad or just be silent?
I read something last week that I am not sure is true. I read that if Trump gets impeached that he will lose secret service use and an allowance for travel as a retired president. The only thing I heard on TV is that he would not be able to run for office again. Of course, that won't stop his kids.
-LBOAYM
Well, if a third of the law enforcement people are Trump diehards as is in the general population, how do we know if they pledge allegiance to the flag or to MAGA hat? That is why I am worried about state capitols as the attention is focused on D.C. These people may seem crazy but I think they maybe very organized and have help from inside law enforcement or political higher ups.
ReplyDeleteRudy, like everybody who is loyal to Trump, eventually will find that Trump is only loyal to himself. He never accepts responsibilities and will use his most loyal people as scapegoats. And Rudy is one of those now since he could not overturn the election for Trump and did not prevent him from getting impeached.
I don't know if any of those things we hear about Trump losing if he is convicted during impeachment are true. Since there is no precedent of someone trying to run for office after getting impeached, it will probably go to SCOTUS if Trump tries to run after conviction. I do think that Trump is more worried about his brand than running for office again. If nothing else, his brand is tarnished and he may not raise enough money to cover legal costs and debts after leaving office. That maybe why he is continuing to claim election fraud to raise money from those following him blindly now.