1/17/21: Having had several days to ponder the sad state of the Republican
Party, Sen. Ben Sasse offers harsh assessment of what went wrong on January 6.
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“It is the blossoming of a rotten seed that took root in the Republican Party.”
Sen. Ben Sasse
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The violence that Americans
witnessed – and that might recur in the coming days – is not a protest gone
awry or the work of “a few bad apples.” It is the blossoming of a rotten seed
that took root in the Republican Party some time ago and has been nourished by
treachery, poor political judgment, and cowardice.
When Trump leaves office, my
party faces a choice: We can dedicate ourselves to defending the Constitution
and perpetuating our best American institutions and traditions, or we can be a
party of conspiracy theories, cable-news fantasies, and the ruin that comes
with them. We can be the party of Eisenhower, or the party of the conspiracist
Alex Jones. We can applaud officer [Eugene] Goodman or side with the
mob he outwitted. We cannot do both.
The conservative swaths of this
media landscape were primed for Trump’s “Stop the steal” lie, which lit the
fuse for the January 6 riot. For nine weeks, the president consistently lied
that he had “won in a landslide.” Despite the fact that his lawyers and allies
were laughed out of court more than 60 times, he spread one
conspiracy theory after another across television, radio, and the web. For anyone
who wanted to hear that Trump won, a machine of grifters was turning clicks
into cash by telling their audiences what they wanted to hear. The liars got
rich, their marks got angry, and things got out of control.
And that, dear America, is a nearly pitch-perfect assessment
of what went wrong on Capitol Hill, and whom we should blame.
*
“Any reasonable person could see the potential for violence.”
GOOD REPUBLICANS, and we should remember there are many, continue to come to grips with what has happened under Trump’s rule. Former GOP Congressman Evan McMullin tweets:
Rand Paul warns that if
Senate Republicans convict Trump, a third of the party will break off. So be
it. The GOP faces an inescapable choice between a future of extremism,
treachery and losses, or of truth, principle and leadership. Both paths are
difficult, but only one is good.
Rep. Tom Rice, one of ten House Republicans to vote to impeach the president releases a statement explaining his vote.
Under
the strict definition of the law, I don’t know if the President’s speech last
Wednesday morning amounted to incitement of a riot, but any reasonable person
could see the potential for violence.
Once
the violence began, when the Capitol was under siege, when the Capitol Police
were being beaten and killed, and when the Vice President and the Congress were
being locked down, the President was watching and tweeted about the Vice
President’s lack of courage.
For
hours while the riot continued, the President communicated only on Twitter and
offered only weak requests for restraint.
…It
is only by the grace of God and the blood of the Capitol Police that the death
toll was not much, much higher.
It
has been a week since so many were injured, the United States Capitol was
ransacked, and six people were killed, including two police officers. Yet, the
President has not addressed the nation to ask for calm. He has not visited the
injured and grieving. He has not offered condolences. Yesterday in a press
briefing at the border, he said his comments were “perfectly appropriate.”
I
have backed this President through thick and thin for four years. I campaigned
for him and voted for him twice. But, this utter failure is inexcusable.
Sen. Sasse later adds to his criticism of those who have been playing with matches and flamethrowers. Writing in The Atlantic, he warns: “Until last week, many party leaders and consultants thought they could preach the Constitution while winking at QAnon. They can’t. The GOP must reject conspiracy theories or be consumed by them. Now is the time to decide what this party is about.”
In case anyone missed the point, he singled
out newly-elected GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, poster child for QAnon folly,
and offered succinct assessment. Greene, he warned, is “cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.”
“If the GOP is to have a
future outside the fever dreams of internet trolls,” the senator adds, “we have
to call out falsehoods and conspiracy theories unequivocally. We have to
repudiate people who peddle those lies.”
Doug Leone, a billionaire backer of President Trump renounces his support in the wake of the Jan. 6 riot. “After last week’s horrific events, President Trump lost many of his supporters, including me,” he explains. “The actions of the President and other rally speakers were responsible for inciting the rioters. We need to find the best way to move forward as a country, get behind our newly-elected President, and start working on the many difficult issues facing America.”
He and
his wife Patti had donated $700,000 to the president’s reelection. Money they’d
clearly like back.
*
WE REALIZE THAT PRESIDENT TRUMP is about to leave office the same way he came in: as the most ill-informed dope ever to take up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. While he was busy howling about a stolen election that there was no proof was stolen, NASA used plenty of evidence to report that 2020 was, by the slimmest of margins, the hottest year, globally, ever.
That’s NASA laying out the facts.
