The climax of Trump’s attempted coup d’état – The Georgia runoff elections – Evening statistics
Where does one begin? Today was the first time that the Capitol building was invaded since the War of 1812. Only this time the invaders were not citizens of an enemy nation. At 1:30 today a group of Trump supporters numbering in the hundreds, having already breached the Capitol grounds, pushed past the police guards, and entered the building where members of both Houses and the Vice President were assembled. Despite the chambers where the legislators were preparing to conduct the certification being heavily guarded, several protesters managed to reach the floor of the Senate. The election certification process had to be brought to a halt, while the legislators were escorted to safety. Mike Pence was evacuated to an undisclosed location. The National Guard was called in and order was eventually restored, not without casualties. At least one protester was fatally shot and at least 13 others have been arrested. Mayor Bowser placed Washington DC under curfew from 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM tomorrow. The lawmakers have reconvened once the Capitol was declared to be restored so that they could continue with the certification, and that is where the matter stands as of now.
That is a barebones summary of the events; if I were to record the various reactions from across the nation I probably could double the length of the entire journal to date. (It is already well over 250,000 words.) A few tangential details may be mentioned, if only to show how even some of Trump’s most familiar props are starting to fall under him. Twitter has taken the unprecedented step of removing three of Trump’s tweets and has placed a lockdown on his account, evidently believing that he is incapable of abstaining from misrepresentation. The Fraternal Order of Police has issued a formal rebuke to him for encouraging the mob, the first time that the FOP has done so to any President. Stephanie Grisham, Melania Trump’s press secretary, immediately resigned in the wake of the violence in an attempt to distance herself from it. Others in the Trump staff are rumored to be following her example, although none of them as yet have been confirmed.
“Trump must be insane!” more than one friend or relative has said to me tonight. But I do not agree. He knows very well what he is doing. He wishes to remain in the Oval Office at any cost, even if it means reducing the U.S. to the level of a third-world nation where elections invariably lead to rioting and slaughter. He is in debt to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, and once he emerges from the White House his creditors will have no mercy on him – at least, I earnestly hope they won’t.
Many Congress members are naturally resentful at being subjected to such a horrifying experience. My fear is that they will not be sufficiently vindictive. For example, there are calls from various quarters to impeach Trump for this debacle. The Lincoln Project is among these. It is true that there are only two weeks remaining for the legislators to do so, but they could expedite the process if they wished. Some Democrats have also urged Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment (removal of the President from his office for disability). Some of the Representatives have started the mechanism to do this. One of them, Jennifer Wexton of Virginia, has dared to say what no else was willing to say: that the rioters are domestic terrorists. But much depends on Pence’s cooperation for such an effort, and in all probability he will never risk antagonizing the electors in Trump’s camp. Although it is true that he may be feeling less willing to placate them after the experiences of today. He has already issued a statement vowing to prosecute the rioters.
Again, the legislators could vote on a condemnation of Louie Gohmert, who openly incited the violence. One national (and bi-partisan) association of lawyers, the Lawyers Defending American Democracy, has already called for disciplinary action against him for his lawsuit.
It is doubtful, however, that anything will emerge from such outcries. There will be a lot of hand-wringing over the next few days, and that will be the end of the matter.
There is one positive aspect that has come about from this episode. Most of the Republican Congressmen who declared their intentions to challenge the votes of the Electoral College have changed their minds, being naturally unwilling to be labeled as tools of the rioters. So it is just possible that the certification of the votes will go through without future interruptions.
Mitch McConnell, Mike Pence, et al. are paying a heavy price for four years of sycophancy. McConnell issued a rebuke to the Trump supporters just an hour or so before the invasion occurred, but it was much too late to have any effect. He has lost control of the Senate on account of this dithering (see more details below). Their party has suffered greatly as a result of Trump’s influence and after today it will have a very difficult time restoring its credibility. It is also wracked by schism, as exemplified in Eric Trump’s declaration that the Trump faction will combat against every Republican up for re-election who did not support their claims that the national election was stolen.
Even before the events of today it was apparent that the damage inflicted by Trump on the Republican Party was substantial. Both Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff have won the runoff elections in Georgia, and as a result the Senate is now no longer in control of the Republicans. Neither Kelly Loeffler nor David Perdue was able to overcome the crippling handicap of being associated with Trump. This state election is notable in other ways. Raphael Warnock is the first African-American Senator and Jon Ossoff the first Jewish Senator representing Georgia. Ossoff will also be the youngest member of the Senate in the 117th United States Congress.
And in the meantime the coronavirus has of course not been taking a holiday:
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 87,617,389; # of deaths worldwide: 1,889,516; # of cases U.S.: 21,855,500; # of deaths; U.S.: 369,950. Over 4,000 succumbed to the virus today, the highest daily death toll to date. California now has over 2½ million cases and Texas has nearly 2 million.