The bleating and mewling of hypocritical Republicans calling for unity must be ignored, if not treated with the outright derision that it deserves. The leader of their party, who is currently being described by aides as a "violent toddler" who needs to be "babysat", incited a mob of amped-up crazies to attack the Capitol and prevent the counting of the Electoral College votes, which formally certified the win of President-Elect Joe Biden. As with so many, many of his other ventures, trump FAILED. But this failure resulted in the deaths of five people, including a Capitol police officer, and apparently the suicide of another officer. And the GOP wants “Unity”? They want to “move on”? NO. ABSOLUTELY NOT.
The time for “unity” was when Biden passed 270 Electoral College votes to become the President-Elect. But the GOP chose, instead, to promote the “Big Lie” that trump “won,” and that “the election was stolen from him.” They chose to “coddle” and “humor” him as he relentlessly lied, and lied, and lied, and incited. They let him whine about his “74 million voters.” while pretending to ignore Biden’s 81 million voters. They egged on and supported 61 failed lawsuits. They pretended that his call to Georgia SoS Raffensberger was just fine and dandy. Come on, he was just “trying to find” 11,780 votes. What’s the problem?
HERE’S the problem. Encouraging the fantasies of a malignant narcissist is DANGEROUS. (NB—during my long absence from Daily Kos, I obtained an MS in Psychology, with a concentration in Forensics), 45 does not like being told, “No.” He doesn’t like being told anything that he doesn’t want to hear. He has, throughout his adult life, surrounded himself with bootlicking toadies and sycophants. He forces people to lie for him (Sean Spicer, etc.) And if any of his own constant, easily-disproven lies are challenged, he lashes out and doubles down. EVERY TIME. Narcissists rule through constant chaos (to wear people down, to the point where they just give up and give in) and threats. Why are so many members of the GOP so COWED by trump? Why do they literally run away when asked to comment on his behavior? Fear. Not just of mean tweets, but because trump is a vicious, spiteful, extremely petty, and vindictive creature. And they KNOW this.
So he has been allowed to wreck the country, to divide it with rhetoric, and to finally incite a mob of angry white supremacists to charge the Capitol with the intent of seizing power by bloody force. The Senate GOP had the chance to remove him last January, but in an absolute farce of a ludicrous and embarassing “trial,” did not. This emboldened him to even greater heights of cementing his power. He had been given a pass from accountability AGAIN. Unfettered, he ignored COVID-19, and, suspecting that he would lose due to unpopularity, began to lay the framework for an eventual seizure of power. And that gave us the horrific events of January 6th, 2021, and brought us to where we are today. 45 lied again, today, shamelessly claiming that his riot-inciting speech was “appropriate,” and also that he “takes no responsibility.” Additionaally, he also said, threateningly, that “people are very angry” over his possible impeachment. What a piece of GARBAGE we have squatting in OUR White House. FFS.
And so...Dems MUST act swiftly, decisively, and without hesitation. The domestic terrorists who stormed the Capitol must be punished to the fullest extent of the law, preferably (where applicable) with felony charges that will prohibit gun ownership. Chuck Schumer wants them placed on the TSA No-Fly lust indefinitely. This must be done. The penalties for participating in this insurrection must be severe enough to be a deterrent to future participation in domestic terrorism. No slaps on the wrist. Naming and shaming. Tough noogies if they lose jobs or customers. They CHOSE to storm the Capitol. Attempting to overthrow the results of a free and fair election, which was was REPEATEDLY proved to be devoid of fraud, is not patriotic. It is sedition and should be labeled as such. And punished as such. There cannot be “unity” unless the miscreants are punished. This includes trump, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Mo Brooks, Donald Trump Jr., Rudy Colludy, and ALL the members of the House and Senate who were foolish enough to object to the certification of the votes for Joe Biden.
While several corporations have stepped up to declare that they will no longer offer financial support to these traitors in our Congress, it’s not enough. These trumpists, too, must learn that in choosing trump over their Oath and their country, they made a VERY bad choice. Expulsion is the only answer. Censuring is a slap on the wrist. Until such time as they are expelled, under Article III of the 14th Amendment, they should be stripped of all committee assignments. They chose to ignore the indisputable result of the election, and, contrary to the “unity” that they’re now whining about, instead supported and amplified the whopping lies of the loser. How can they POSSIBLY be expected to govern fairly and with honesty? They showed us that they cannot, and will not, uphold their oaths to the Constitution. Like the insurrectionistic terrorists who overran the Capitol, they need to be named, shamed, and punished. This is NOT the time to “play nice.” This is the time for accountability, and the removal of people who aided and abetted not just trump in his delusional madness, but also communicated with the terrorists. Our Congress must be purged in order to function again. We cannot have a pro-trump faction working against the People, and Biden, for four years.
