Articles of Impeachment have already been drawn up by Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and endorsed by Ayanna Pressley and Kai Kahele. John Podhoretz, a right-wing propagandist, wrote for Commentary that today's rally "happened because Trump called for it. The crowds gathered because Trump called for them. They moved to the Capitol down the Mall because Trump said they should. The breach of the Capitol is Trump’s fault. Some in the crowd have stormed the Congress. Donald Trump unleashed a mob on Capitol Hill. What he has done is without precedent in American history. Even if he had seven minutes left in his presidency, he should not be permitted to spend another second as the President. Nancy Pelosi should call an emergency session of the House tonight and impeach the president, and Mitch McConnell should convene the Senate tomorrow and call a vote to remove Trump from the presidency." Let's start on May 3, 2016 with a tweet from Lindsey Graham before he took up full-time resident up Trump's ass: "If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed…….and we will deserve it."
Earlier, at Informed Consent, Dan Dinello had written, prophetically "Like a political remake of Night of the Living Dead, the Republican Party-- put to death by the Lame Duck’s poisonous presidency-- has reanimated as the Zombie Party. This hollowed out duplicate looks the same, but has been implanted with the traitorous delusions of the demented ex-President. Denying the basic assumption of electoral democracy that the minority accepts the legitimacy of the majority winner, most Republicans supported or cowered quietly as the loser president engaged in a buffoonish but criminal attempt to overthrow the will of the people and sabotage the transfer of power. This is the culmination of the past four years during which the Zombie Party mutely enabled a contaminated presidency infected with personal corruption, contempt for the Constitution, and malicious neglect of the pandemic that has now killed over 350,000 Americans. Even now, the brain-dead Party has nothing to say about the Lame Duck’s pardon of the Blackwater child-killers, his dereliction of duty in the face of a massive Russian hack that invaded over 250 federal agencies, and his indifference to the stagnation of 'Operation Warp Speed.'"
Q-Anon decided that Pence turned out to be one of the lizard people-- "blood-drinking, flesh-eating, shape-shifting extraterrestrial reptilian humanoids with only one objective in their cold-blooded little heads: to enslave the human race."
Giuliani, Nazi Madison Cawthorn and Mo Brooks and Trumpanzee, Jr riled up the terrorists who stormed the Capitol. Giuliani: "Over the next 10 days, we get to see the machines that are crooked, the ballots that are fraudulent. And if we’re wrong, we will be made fools of. But if we’re right, and lot of them will go to jail. So-- let’s have trial by combat."
Trumpanzee, Jr.: "To those Republicans, many of which may be voting on things in the coming hours: You have an opportunity today. You can be a hero, or you can be a zero. And the choice is yours. But we are all watching. The whole world is watching, folks. Choose wisely... These guys better fight for Trump. Because if they’re not, guess what? I’m going to be in your backyard in a couple of months!"
And then CNN reported that Trump supporters broke through fences and are fighting the police on the steps of the Capitol as Congress counts the Electoral College ballots inside.
David Graham described what was happening for Atlantic readers. "Armed assailants," he wrote, "are attacking the seat of American government in an attempted coup, urged on by the president of the United States. Saying that feels melodramatic, ridiculous, and overwrought, but there’s no plainer way to describe what is currently unfolding. Tens of thousands of supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump gathered in Washington, D.C., where he encouraged them to attend a rally as Congress began to ceremonially certify the Electoral College victory of President-elect Joe Biden. After a speech by the president, protesters overran security at the Capitol building, which seemed unprepared for the onslaught. They knocked over barricades, pushed past cordons of officers, and broke windows. Some carried Confederate battle flags as they got much closer to the heart of the U.S. government than any Confederate troops ever did. Certification was halted. The Senate and House chambers were locked down, Vice President Mike Pence was whisked away, and demonstrators roamed the halls of Congress. Tear gas was reportedly released inside the Capitol Rotunda, and members were told to don gas masks under their seats. This attempted coup is Trump’s fault."
Then Ivanka tweeted-- and quickly deleted-- that the fascist mob are "American patriots." Meanwhile, Liz Cheney (R-WY) tore into Trump. "What he has done and what he has caused here is something that we’ve never seen before in our history. It’s been 245 years, and no president has ever failed to concede or agree to leave office after the Electoral College has voted, and I think what we are seeing today is the result of that, the result of convincing people that somehow Congress was going to overturn the results of this election, the results of suggesting that he wouldn’t leave office... Those are very, very dangerous things, and he will be remembered, this will be part of his legacy, and it is a dangerous moment for the country."
Pence-- not Trump-- mobilized the National Guard as people, forced to lie face down on the floor, were being threatened with guns inside the Capitol. Mitt Romney issued this statement> (in part): "We gather today due to a selfish man’s injured pride and the outrage of his supporters whom he has deliberately misinformed for the past two months and stirred to action this very morning. What happened here today was an insurrection, incited by the President of the United States. Those who choose to continue to support his dangerous gambit by objecting to the results of a legitimate, democratic election will forever be seen as being complicit in an unprecedented attack against our democracy. They will be remembered for their role in this shameful episode in American history. That will be their legacy... I urge my colleagues to move forward with completing the electoral count, to refrain from further objections, and to unanimously affirm the legitimacy of the presidential election."
Even more seriously, the National Association of Manufacturers wants the Cabinet to dump Trump by invoking the 25th Amendment. Their statement: "Armed violent protestors who support the baseless claim by outgoing president Trump that he somehow won an election that he overwhelmingly lost have stormed the U.S. Capitol today, attacking police officers and first responders, because Trump refused to accept defeat in a free and fair election. Throughout this whole disgusting episode, Trump has been cheered on by members of his own party, adding fuel to the distrust that has enflamed violent anger. This is not law and order. This is chaos. It is mob rule. It is dangerous. This is sedition and should be treated as such. The outgoing president incited violence in an attempt to retain power, and any elected leader defending him is violating their oath to the Constitution and rejecting democracy in favor of anarchy. Anyone indulging conspiracy theories to raise campaign dollars is complicit. Vice President Pence, who was evacuated from the Capitol, should seriously consider working with the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to preserve democracy. This is not the vision of America that manufacturers believe in and work so hard to defend. Across America today, millions of manufacturing workers are helping our nation fight the deadly pandemic that has already taken hundreds of thousands of lives. We are trying to rebuild an economy and save and rebuild lives. But none of that will matter if our leaders refuse to fend off this attack on America and our democracy-- because our very system of government, which underpins our very way of life, will crumble."
Pathetic Trumpist puppet Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) ran immediately to Fox "News" to assert that "There’s nothing wrong with protesting an election... there’s nothing wrong…" Right around that time, Twitter took down an incendiary Trump tweet and suspended his account for 12 hours, threatening to kick him off the platform permanently if he keeps inciting violence.
By the end of the day, I asked the congressional candidates already endorsed by Blue America. First to get back to me was Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, running for the open New Mexico seat: "I am appalled that the Republican party has not understood the ramifications of their firehose of lies. The current occupant of the White House must call off his gang of thugs immediately. This mob is destroying our Capitol. There are now lives in danger due to the GOP's lack of civility. Please, realize that dishonesty and violence is never the answer. I pray for our first responders, our elected officials, Capitol Hill staff, and our country."
Liam O'Mara, taking on Crooked Ken Calvert again, told me that "The GOP is the direct cause of these actions at the Capitol. I cannot underline that statement enough. For decades they have winked and nodded at violent conspiracy theories among their voting base, and members have frequently embraced those conspiracies publicly. Even Trump's FBI and DHS have pointed to the danger of QAnon and white nationalist terror. The outgoing president is only the most high-profile example of a deep, systemic rot which has been undermining the party of Lincoln and Eisenhower since the 1960s. In the name of short-term partisan electoral advantage, the GOP has accepted all manner of vicious nonsense, from avowed white supremacists to violent homophobes to knee-jerk authoritarians slavering at the idea of turning the US into the next neofascist dictatorship. Not all of them take the views of their base seriously, but each has been willing to court that base with all the ardour of a desperate incel. It is not enough just to defeat the enablers of this seditious terrorism, like our incumbent Ken Calvert, who has flirted with white supremacist militias for ages. No, we have to go way beyond that, and defeat the ideology itself. And that means we need to take seriously the social and economic challenges before us and stand to face them. If we pretend that status-quo neoliberal bullshit can save us from fascism, we are every bit as responsible for its rise in America as the GOP. This country deserves better-- let's give it to them.
