What do some citizens want to forget? They want to forget what happened on January 6, 2021. January 6 is the day the House and Senate meet to certify the results of the presidential election. Trump, in a rally speech minutes before the attack, shouted to the rally crowd to take back our country.
Here is a visual of January 6, 2021. It’s what you see in this video that some citizens want to forget. In fact, some of them actually claim that it was simply a group of Americans peacefully visiting the Capitol. Yes. Peacefully.
January 6, 2021. Capitol Insurrection
Figure 1. Video of January 6, 2021 Attack on the Capitol.
Here is what I wrote on that day that will live in infamy. These sections are published in my book, The Trump Files, which is a complete record of Trump’s first term.
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 6, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt spoke at a joint session of Congress. He gave his famous “infamy” speech. On that date, President Roosevelt appealed to Americans’ patriotism. Roosevelt knew that most Americans did not want to be drawn into the war in Europe. Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor changed everything. He acted quickly and briefly told Americans about the attack. He said this will be “a date which will live in infamy.”
Today, January 6, the US Capitol was attacked. Hundreds of American terrorists and right-wing hate groups participated. Many individuals thought they were patriotic while attacking the very center of the government of the United States. On this date, which will also live in infamy, the United States faced an attack. Violent right-wing men and women led this attack. They were acting on orders from the president of the United States. They were not patriots. They were violent criminals.
January 6 is one of the most important days in American history. This is the day when Congress meets every four years. They formally read the results of the Electoral College. This process leads to the inauguration of the next president. In future years, this day will be remembered as the only day in United States history. On that day, a violent insurrection and mob rule overtook the US Capitol. Members of Congress have come out of hiding. They must resume the Electoral College session.
Beyond this night, Congress must investigate the president’s actions. They need to decide if Trump should be charged with inciting mob rule and a riot. Several laws should be considered in bringing Trump to trial. Trump can face charges of rebellion and insurrection. This applies if he assisted in actions against the authority of the United States. If found guilty, he would face a fine. Alternatively, he could be imprisoned for up to ten years. He would also be incapable of holding any office under the United States.
A second crime that Trump might have committed is seditious (subversive) conspiracy. The law states that two or more persons in the United States who conspire to overthrow the government by force shall be fined. They may also face additional penalties. Additionally, they could face imprisonment for not more than twenty years. The same penalty applies if they conspire by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States.
This was one of the most frightening days I have witnessed during Donald Trump’s presidency. The president of the United States caused a violent insurrection on the grounds of the Capitol. It is a stunning scene. Insurrectionists broke into Nancy Pelosi’s office and were photographed sitting at the speaker’s chair. One insurgent left a note on a manilla folder with the words, “We will not back down.” Trump has refused to step in and put out a message telling the rioters to cease and go home. Instead, he’s asked them to be peaceful.
Trump held a rally on Capitol grounds and encouraged mobs of right-wing hate groups, which were in the large crowd, to make sure that they take back the country. For weeks I read on social media that groups such as the Proud Boys and other hate groups would be in DC for the protest. They were coming to cause trouble and to stir others up. Other groups include Stop the Steal/Wild Protest, Women for America First, Eighty Percent Coalition, and Operation Occupy the Capitol. The chatter on the social media of these right-wing groups has come to fruition today. Members of these groups are only interested in inciting and participating in violence. Donald Trump’s words have stoked the flames of this violence, destructiveness, disorder, and turbulence.
Figure 2. Five years ago violent and well prepared U.S. citizens swarmed the Capitol Building resulting the deaths of police officers who were overrun by them.
What I am observing on live TV and social media is the nightmare of an authoritarian. I’ve described in this blog that Trump has been a dictator wannabe. It’s not surprising that his term in office is ending with his hate-group followers storming the Capitol. I believe that Mike Pence could assemble on Zoom a quorum of cabinet secretaries and enact the Twenty-Fifth Amendment. The amendment states that if the president becomes unable to do his job, the vice president becomes the president. The amendment makes it clear that if the president is unable to discharge his powers and duties, the vice president takes over. But his behavior right now is outrageous and dangerous. In a video clip, he told the rioters just to go home. But he also repeated the unsubstantiated claim that he won the election. This is the fuel that he pours on to these hate groups.
14 February 2021: Trump’s Second Impeachment Trial
The US Senate voted today on the impeachment trial of former president Donald Trump. Fifty-seven senators voted guilty when asked for their vote. This was a historic rebuke. Fifty-seven percent of the elected senators found Trump guilty. Keep in mind that the article of impeachment was a bipartisan effort in the House of Representatives. This was the most bipartisan support for impeachment in the history of the Senate. Trump was only acquitted because the Senate requires 67 percent of Senators to vote guilty, which would have meant ten more Republicans were needed to find him guilty. But those Republicans hid behind a false wall. A wall that was invisible. It is constitutional to impeach a government official who is out of office. Donald Trump is a former government official. The Senate voted in the affirmative that the impeachment was constitutional. The trial could go forward. The Republicans hung their hat on this question, but they have risked their professional integrity by not voting on the evidence. The evidence was overwhelming. The videos, text messages, timelines proven by time-stamped videos, and phone records formed a solid case proving Trump’s guilt in inciting a riot on the US Capitol. Well, Kevin… Just as Trump’s phone call to the president of Ukraine in 2019 led to his first impeachment, his phone calls to senators while the attack was going on shows that Trump’s state of mind was clear. He was supportive of the Capitol rioters. Kevin McCarthy, leader of the Republican minority in the House, called Trump to beg the president to call off the mob, knowing the rioters were Trump’s supporters. Trump said to McCarthy, “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.” The phone call was reduced to a shouting match. This, mind you, was just at the beginning of the assault on the nation’s Capitol. Another Republican confirmed the exchange between Trump and McCarthy, Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler, (R-WA). Beutler said in an interview with CNN that Trump’s mind was clear, that he either didn’t care what was going on at the Capitol or he really wanted it to happen. This and other testimony by a Republican representative and a Democratic senator proved that Trump had no intention of protecting any of the elected representatives of government. This was a dereliction of duty, which also meant that Trump supported the insurrection. The forty-three Republicans who voted to clear Trump must wonder now what they did. Why did they vote to acquit when some had spoken publicly that Trump handled the Capitol insurrection? Others were in shock when listening to and watching the House Managers present their case, including harrowing video of the despicable assault on the Capitol. Yet these Republican senators refused to cast their vote on the basis on the evidence presented in the trial. They made a partisan decision to vote no. They were fearful of being attacked by Donald Trump. Some of them, I think, will simply run. Guilty by the Millions Senator Mitch McConnell is the head of the Republican conference in the Senate. However, I believe he shed any form of leadership based on the speech he made to explain away his vote for acquittal. If you listen to the first half of McConnell’s speech, you must scratch your head and wonder why this senator did not vote to find Trump guilty. He’s using a legal argument to claim that the Constitution does not say ex-officials can be impeached. However, he is the one interpreting the Second Amendment. Many legal scholars would disagree with McConnell. They would claim that an ex-president is subject to impeachment and trial. An ex-president can be found guilty.452
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