It is amazing what can happen quickly in this country. Following a year filled with death and dismay as our lives were upended by the pandemic and the turmoil in the wake of the election that seemed to go on forever, we started a new year with hope for a better future for ourselves in an America none of us recognize.
Then, the unthinkable happened.
A mob descended on the Capitol building where lawmakers were certifying the election results and threatened lawmakers, occupied their offices and committed acts of murder guided by a tyrannical leader with a thirst for power. Something I never imagined would happen in my lifetime. Not since 9/11 have we witnessed such a blatant attack on our country, but this time, they were homegrown terrorists.
Wednesday’s riot at the Capitol was unconscionable, unpatriotic and despicable. Its participants acted in the misguided belief that our most cherished political accomplishment - the peaceful transfer of power according to the outcome of free and fair elections - was at risk. That does not excuse storming the symbol of our democracy, the wanton destruction of public and private property, and the utter disregard they showed for the law and for law enforcement.
President Trump’s role in instigating this crisis is clear. For weeks, he has lied to his supporters, telling them falsehoods about a “stolen election” that are unsupported by serious evidence. He and his minions have spread rumors, calumny and fanciful inventions in an effort to overturn the people’s will. At best they were reckless, ignoring substantial and unjustified risk that their baseless accusations could ruin popular faith in democracy and result in violence. The seeds they planted grew into the tree whose fruits we now see.
Our democracy’s strength is equally clear. No national political leader joined the riot; none sought to use the tumult to seize power. It appears our nation’s military leaders consulted with the vice president’s cool head rather than the president’s fevered one when deciding to deploy National Guard. There was never a risk that what some have called a “coup attempt” would ever turn into anything other than a paroxysm of anger, more akin to a toddler’s tantrum than a serious effort to overthrow the government. That is worth celebrating as we ponder our next steps.
Trump stands exposed for all as an egotist who cannot restrain himself for the national good. Even Richard M. Nixon had the sense of shame and obligation to resign rather than cling to office once it became clear he had no chance of avoiding impeachment and removal. Some will still follow this charlatan down the road to ignominy and forced retirement. Many other conservatives - a clear majority, I hope - will depart from his orbit and seek to rebuild without him.
The bad news about America is all around us. This is surely one of the darkest weeks in the country’s history. But there is good news hidden within it - or at least the chance for a renewal of America’s promise.
I do not want to sugarcoat the reality. We have lived through the most serious threat to American democracy in 150 years - and it is not over yet. For all those who doubted that President Trump was a danger to democracy, this week has finally provided the smoking gun. In fact, the evidence was long in plain view.
After the pandemic began, many conservatives pointed out that Trump did not use the crisis to expand executive power, which proved that he has no authoritarian tendencies whatsoever. But this is a profound misunderstanding of authoritarianism. Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt both used souped-up authority to save the nation from dire emergencies. That did not make them tyrants. An autocrat seeks power for himself, to strengthen his own hold on the office and destroy his enemies. Vladimir Putin accumulated power not so he could provide social security to Russians but to ensure that no one could ever challenge him.
Let the photograph of officers with weapons drawn, defending the chamber of House of Representatives against a window-smashing mob, be seared into the memory of every American, today and for generations to come. That is the legacy of Donald Trump.
That is the note on which he chose to leave us. Some presidents give a farewell address, and a few of those have been quite good. Trump chose a farewell riot. He summoned an angry crowd to Washington using his Twitter account. He stoked them to believe that his loyal vice president had the power and the will to reverse the election results. And when Vice President Pence at last found the frontier of his conscience - the line beyond which even his ambition and his debasement would not let him go - there stood America’s self-proclaimed law-and-order president, inciting the crowd to march on the Capitol to stop Pence from doing his constitutionally mandated duty.
All that ensued Wednesday - the deaths, the injuries, the tear gas, the property damage, the fear, the outrage of elected officials forced to cover their heads and flee to safety - was triggered then and there. It was Trump’s Riot, and characteristically, having stirred things up, Trump retired to the safety of his self-centered bubble to let others deal with the consequences.
The idea that the presidency could be an inside joke, an extended troll has been founded on a presumption that the infrastructure of American liberty and law is so solid it can withstand anything. It does not matter what elected leaders do or say. The Trump Riot is strong medicine for such disordered thinking. No cloak of invulnerability protects the American republic. Things can get worse here, just like everywhere else on Earth. The thin line between liberty and anarchy is the frontier of conscience.
The practical effects of the fascist occupation of United States Capitol building were quickly undone. The symbols it left behind are indelible.
A Confederate flag waved in triumph in the halls of a building never taken by Jefferson Davis. Guns drawn to protect the floor of House of Representatives from violent attack. A cloddish barbarian in the presiding officer’s chair. The desecration of democracy under the banner “Jesus Saves.”
This post-apocalyptic vision of chaos and national humiliation was the direct and intended consequence of a president’s incitement.
Wednesday’s events show us how fragile free nations can be. Let us now rededicate ourselves to achieving the American promise - that all people are created equal and capable of self-government in private and through our government. Our oft-forgotten fellow Americans deserve no less.
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