Processing the news is becoming increasingly difficult. Things are getting so strange you can never be sure it actually happened and wasn’t just a dream. Trump winning the republican nomination had to be a dream, Trump winning the presidency was a nightmare. Finally, when Trump lost the election in 2020, one of the strangest years of my life, it became a phantasm wrapped in a disaster tucked into a Three Stooges movie plot.
It was like an army of mercenaries that carried Trump flags into the seat of government. Though, in an odd twist, it was an army of mercenaries that actually gave money to el generalissimo. And continue to donate cash for the privilege of buying MAGA hats, and the right to blame immigrants and liberals for everything.
They stormed the seat of government, looking to pin the blame on Vice President Pence, Mitch McConnell and, mostly, on the bane of all conservatives, Nancy Pelosi. The scenes were horrific. Mad Max Goes to Washington.
The response from the right was swift and almost unanimous. Trump was at fault, he should be held accountable for the outrage.
Republicans mellowed in the coming weeks.
It wasn’t really an insurrection, they were just tourists. Maybe just a couple of buses from the heartland, coming to watch the government at work. It wouldn’t have surprised me if Jim Jordan would have claimed it was actually Grub Hub bringing Buffalo Burgers and Steak Fries from a local pub.
Video evidence, played out on television day after day, proved it wasn’t just another day, it was an invasion of angry, determined Trump fans who believed, despite the complete lack of evidence, the election had been stolen. They were determined to steal it back. If they had to destroy a few things and threaten to kill a few people, well, you can’t overturn an election without breaking a few eggs, right?
At this point Republicans were angry, again. At Nancy Pelosi. She should have done something. Why didn’t she have more police, the National Guard, the Marines? What was she thinking?
It’s the three stages of political grief, anger, acceptance and blame. It was a fascinating look into the process of what passes for reasoning and deduction in Washington. If character is destiny, as Heraclitus felt, we’re screwed.
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This post is republished on Medium.
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