In the books to be written about President Donald Trump, the first chapters will almost surely begin with the climax, his last days in office, his refusal to concede electoral defeat and a rally that led to a riot, a Washington, D.C., horror show. It was an attack on the Capitol in which five people died, including a supporter shot by police. To watch the confusion on TV was to be emotionally pulverized.
The event reached beyond itself, as if it were a dramatization of America’s collapse. Rule of law? No. Attempted rule of anger? Yes. Institutions doing their job without interruption? No. Wild-eyed miscreants interfering? Yes. Breaking into the Capitol the way they did, fighting with police, ransacking offices of representatives and senators, is felonious and can lead to 20 years in prison. So be it. Something more than 52 were arrested and, if convicted, let them pay.
Trump called for the rioters to calm down and go home, but, at a preceding rally, he said the presidential election was stolen, that he would never concede, that these people had been cheated, that they should go to the Capitol and be strong. Some Republicans there were engaged in a futile effort to debate the confirmation of electoral votes making Joe Biden president even as Vice President Mike Pence, in charge of proceedings, thought this was out of place. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell condemned the obstruction.
All of this comes on top of Trump’s frequently inane tweets, his multitudes of false statements, his absurd actions, his narcissistic vengefulness, pettiness and obvious ignorance, but the story hardly ends with him. Our republic’s essential principles have been viciously under attack by ultra-progressives wanting a world so different from what we have that Democrats in the House recently voted to outlaw use of such words as “mother,” “father,” “sister” and “brother” in House rules so as to be gender neutral, or maybe to signal insanity.
