While Donald Trump continued to promote left-wing protesters as the major threats to American democracy, the FBI and most other organizations, faced with the responsibility of protecting the United States from enemies foreign and domestic, continued to warn of one overriding threat: white supremacist terrorist groups.
Now, more than three weeks past the January 6 Trump-led assault on the Capitol, and more than three weeks into the various investigations, the disparity between the two theories becomes more and more understandable; and the conspiracy theories sprouting from the right (voter fraud, stolen ballots, dead people voting) are proving to have been a diversion from the real conspiracy—that Donald Trump was planning a regime change: from Trump to Trump—from president to monarch. Wretched and angry since the new Coronavirus appeared to his plans for a second term, he had concocted a plan which—if all else failed—would rescue his presidency. This had little to do with voting machines and forged signatures, but everything to do with employing white supremacist organizations in a desperate putsch.
The plan was always on the table as a last resort, not to be executed until all else had failed, i.e.,
—until all Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell's spurious and laughable court challenges had been exhausted and the two of them were shown for the charlatans they are;
—until the Electoral College formally voted on Monday, December 14, and confirmed Trump's presidential election defeat, and
—until Mike Pence made it clear that he would do his Constitutional duty on January 6, 2021, and certify Joe Biden's victory.
Only then did Trump use his own nuclear option—order the attack on the Capitol, which would prevent the certification of the new president and remove from the political landscape any legislator from either party who was deemed a roadblock: Pence, Pelosi, Schumer, Cheney. The four of them—and many more—could just as easily be dead today, by order of the President of the United States and the approval of his surrogates: traitors like the slithering Josh Hawley, the universally detested Ted Cruz, the terminally addled Lindsey Graham, the mystifyingly misundereducated Ron Johnson, (yes, that's the exact word I want) and the detestable inner circle of Trump children.
They were all in on it, all willing to promote their agendas to forgo our democracy and, if necessary, sacrifice the lives of their enemies—just like in a war. Of course, none of them would have to fight it—they would watch from a safe distance while unfettered militias roamed the streets and buildings and did the dirty work.
In the end a few Capitol Police saved the city and the government. Saved America. One of them died. Terrorists died too. Five total. It was a war. Considering the mayhem of the rampage, the number is small, but we shouldn't let the number fool us. We were close to hundreds dead and a country in tatters.
In another week Donald J. Trump, the person responsible for the coup attempt, responsible for an attack on a co-equal branch of government, and responsible for months—even years—of subtly grooming white supremacist groups for just that kind of event, will go on trial. That's another week for more damning evidence to surface, for more white supremacists to betray their colleagues in hopes of a reduced jail sentence, and for more members of his own party to illustrate clearly their cravenness. Some of them might very well have died or been injured that day, but 45 of them have decided to let Trump slide. Their treason is Hawley's, but also Don Jr.'s and the rest. There is no difference. They all row the same boat. And though history may be unkind to them, we don't have time to wait for that. Censure, dismissal, removal from committees—everything should be on the table to weaken, blunt, and eventually invalidate these collaborators. They've already violated their oath of office and chosen to follow the former president. Let them go. Let them all sink together.
And Trump—let him go too, and make sure that he never takes another oath of office in the country he betrayed.
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