Adrift on the River of Madness

 “More of the same means more disaster.” Chris Hedges

Why is Rudy Giuliani still walking around free? Why hasn’t Donald Trump Jr. been arrested? Why haven’t there been news conferences with federal officials so that journalists can ask questions about the complete security failure at the U.S. capitol on January 6, and the apparent help provided to the insurrectionists by some members of law enforcement? 

In regards to the latter, what we discover when we pull the covers off may be frightening. 

The House of Representatives has introduced an article of impeachment against Donald J. Trump. After what happened on January 6, you would think that most Republicans would agree that Trump’s immediate removal is necessary for the good of the nation. Of course, you would be wrong. A majority of Republicans support appeasing Trump and his violent MAGA followers. I guess they haven’t seen enough, even though it was their place of work that was stormed and ransacked, with the mob clamoring for Vice President Mike Pence to hang.  

The GOP ideology of power-at-any-cost renders all who believe in it blind. Some of the same Republicans who amplified Trump’s election fraud nonsense now caution that another impeachment will “inflame” the country. Never has the complete hypocrisy of the Republican Party been so obvious and despicable. After nearly five years of coddling Trump, shrugging off his boorish behavior, racist pronouncements, staggering stupidity, and apologizing for his authoritarian proclivities, the GOP has forfeited any claim to moral authority. Kevin McCarthy, Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, Ron Johnson -- all of them -- are traitors and need to shut their mouths; they’ve done enough damage. 

Pundits keep asking, are we at an end or a beginning? 

It doesn’t feel to me like an end, so it must be a beginning. No society as unequal as ours can long remain stable and peaceful. For the Americans who ransacked the capitol I have nothing but contempt; for those who believe Trump’s fantasies I feel little except pity; and for those who compare what happened on January 6 to the mass protests for justice that erupted after the murder of George Floyd, I feel a slow burning hatred. 

White supremacy implies white immunity. We saw it in action on January 6. 

The GOP ideology of power-at-any-cost renders all who believe in it blind.

The Proud Boys and others of the same ilk should be designated as domestic terror organizations and given no leniency. What is more likely to happen is a rash of new anti-terrorism statutes that will ultimately make it harder for non-violent groups -- like BLM, anti-war, and environmental activists -- to stage mass demonstrations. 

The river of madness in 21st century America stretches from 9/11 and the hysteria that birthed the Patriot Act and the War on Terror, to the illegal invasion of Iraq, the torture at Abu Ghraib and the indefinite detention of suspects at Guantanamo, to the bailout of criminal financial institutions in 2008, and the incompetent response of the Trump regime to the Covid pandemic. Both political parties have lurched right, and both have promoted the welfare of the wealthy few to the detriment of the struggling many. Both parties have happily coddled corporate interests, including Big Tech firms like Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon, all of which have too much power and far too much personal information about all of us. (Twitter gets no brownie points for finally banning Donald J. Trump.)

Did you notice that stock market indexes rose the day after the January 6 insurrection? After the seat of the legislative branch was attacked and five people died, stocks rose! If that’s not market perversity, I don’t know what is. 

The Senate Sedition Caucus:

Ted Cruz (TX)

Josh Hawley (MO)

Cindy Hyde-Smith (MS)

John Kennedy (LA)

Roger Marshall (KS)

Tommy Tuberville (AL)

Thanks to the Lincoln Project for the above. Let’s not forget these collaborators or the 147 Republican House members who voted to contest the legitimate results of the election to mollify Donald J. Trump. Let’s also remember Mitch McConnell, Mike Pence and Lindsey Graham, whose support for Trump has been steadfast. 

End or beginning? I fear we will see more violence in the days and weeks ahead. The genie is out of the bottle and loose in the land. America is having a psychotic episode.