Just when you thought you didn’t have to hear about polls anymore, there’s a new poll:
57% of Americans want Trump removed from office immediately,
according to Reuters/Ipsos (read story here). But there’s a catch:
“Most of them were Democrats, however, with Republicans apparently much more supportive of Trump serving out the final days of his term, which ends on Jan. 20.”
And there’s also this:
“The national public opinion survey, conducted Thursday and Friday, also showed that seven out of 10 of those who voted for Trump in November opposed the action of the hardcore supporters who broke into the Capitol while lawmakers were meeting to certify the election victory of Democrat Joe Biden,”
which means 30% of the 74 million people who voted for Trump in November — more than 21 million people — support the violent invasion of the U.S. Capitol, assaults on police officers (and murder of one), and thugs with zipties roaming the marble halls looking for congressmen to hang on the gallows they built outside.
What the hell is wrong with these people? Well, I’ll tell you, America isn’t exactly the good, beneficent, shining city on the hill we thought it was.
We saw this from the violent reaction to peaceful protests by black people who want white cops to stop murdering them. America is still a racist country with a fascist streak.
What happened Wednesday didn’t surprise me. I expected something to happen. I figured all along a coup attempt was in the works. There were signs all over the place. Trump’s been using president-for-life language for years; and in last fall’s debates, he told the violent Proud Boys to “stand by,” signaling he would call on them and other rightwing militia groups when the time came. On Wednesday, it came.
Absolutely no one in a position of responsibility believes the assault on the Capitol happened spontaneously, or that it’s a coincidence that it happened just minutes after Trump spoke to that crowd in language that essential said, “go get ’em.” When articles of impeachment drop in the House of Representatives on Monday, one of them will recite “inciting insurrection.”
Many of America’s leaders (yes, we have more than one; ours is a system of diffused power) don’t want to wait that long to get Trump out of office, and certainly don’t want to wait until January 20, even though it’s only 10 days away.
I’m not sure how many readers actually understand Pelosi what is thinking about as she and others push for Trump’s “immediate” (her word) expulsion from the presidency, either by the 25th Amendment (preferred) or impeachment (faced with inaction by Pence,* they’re pushing ahead with it), although she’s dropped hints: The nuclear codes. (Forehead slap.)
(* Pence is an interesting case study. He realizes perfectly well that Trump told the mob to kill him, and they meant to. His reluctance is to invoke the 25th Amendment is complicated.)
She and others have had frank discussions with Pentagon officials about taking the nuclear codes away from Trump. A number of very experienced, very sober, very clear-thinking political veterans in D.C. are scared shirtless this lunatic might start a nuclear war out of spite. The problem is, basically, they can’t do that under our laws.
Most of the Republican Party is in the same place it was before Wednesday. You get a few more nods this time, yes, it’s too bad about what happened, but they’re not going to do anything about it this time, either. Their excuse this time is he has only 10 days left in office, so just wait him out, and/or that isn’t enough time to do something about it. Some argue such a move would be “divisive” (!).
Of course it is. He could be gone tonight if Pence and the cabinet got off their butts. If they won’t, and there’s no reason to believe they will, he could be gone by Wednesday, maybe sooner, if they acted on impeachment by unanimous consent. Don’t hold your breath. Republicans are the same people today they were last week.
Don’t give me that “he has only 10 days left” nonsense. It doesn’t take 10 minutes to burn down the world. An unstable genius can do it in two, unless someone has the presence of mind to knock him cold when he reaches for the “football” that’s never more than a few feet away from him, even when he’s sleeping. The failsafe isn’t quite as foolproof as you think it is, and yes, smart people in think tanks are working on changing the procedures and protocols and attendant legalities to make it harder, if not impossible, for a rogue leader to push the button on his own; but that’s a fascinating discussion to have at another time. This is now.
Another reason to get him out right now is to head off whatever might happen on January 20. If you think the coup attempt is over, you may be right, but there’s lots of chatter on alt-right social media about preventing Biden from being inaugurated. I think we have to assume Wednesday was only Phase 1, and there’s still a Phase 2 to go. No one I will breathe easy until January 20 has come and gone.
There will be better security then, including 6,000 National Guard troops, but why are they having discussions about whether to arm them? I know what I would do. And I would show it to them ahead of time (photo below).
This brings me back to the 30% of Trump voters, more than 21 million people, who feel that what happened on Wednesday is fine, and by implication, would like to see more of it. The Republican Party shouldn’t survive this. It just shouldn’t. Yes, we need two competitive political parties in this country to keep each other honest; a one-party system inevitably becomes power-drunk, corrupt, and dictatorial. We can even debate whether the two-party system has had its day; political scientist Lee Drutman thinks we should go to a multi-party system, and advocates ranked-choice voting with that goal in mind. But I’m not convinced things improve by making America’s politics even more fractured and balkanized than they already are.
This country has achieved great things. For a long time, we were the most prosperous society on earth, with the most innovative and productive economy, and good jobs for millions of people. We’re the safest country to live in; nobody can invade us, although thanks to ICBMs, we don’t have our two-ocean moat anymore. What I’m getting at is, we have a good thing, that nobody can take from us, but we could throw it all away if we’re stupid enough to do that. Some of us, apparently, are that stupid. Generally speaking, these are the people who don’t give a damn about facts or evidence and insist you suck up to their feelings. A deep-dive into their psychology probably would come up with something like “never matured beyond age three.”
For generations, a social contract held it all together. Now, those people want to tear up that agreement. If you believe the poll, at least 21 million of your fellow citizens have zero respect for the political rights of the 81 million Americans who voted for the Biden-Harris ticket. This is really what all the mayhem on Wednesday, and threats of more to come, boils down to: They don’t respect you.
Let’s not mollycoddle around about how to deal with such pure selfishness. Do what every parent has to do when raising toddlers: Make them.
Above: This photo isn’t fake; this is the actual gallows the “protesters” erected outside the U.S. Capitol Building while congressmen inside tallied electoral votes. 
At this time we are still in the heat of the moment. Congress people are frightened. Usually a good thing if they are frightened of voters. the Capital police had a very bad day, and apparently Pelosi called for the resignation of the Sergeant of Arms, Presumable she has gotten that.
There is a separate issue that Pelosi and others have forgotten. The President is not just a man it is also an institution. When any President is threatened by the Speaker of the House and the Senate minority leader. the Presidents response should be to tell them to pound sand. Trump is President until January 20th at noon, Unless he dies or resigns. He has the nuclear football and that is the way it is. Seems the folks who thought he was a stooge for Russia seem to have a very different opinion now. We are in a possible crises with Iran which is the most likely location for Trump to use one of the options out of the football. Of course the Iranians would not attack a carrier group or something like that. Or if you suppose they could over a General getting killed a year ago.
These debates have been out there for decades. The most likely scenario is a submarine to launch an attack on Washington DC with about a ten minute or less flight time. Which means the most likely scenario is the President and most of Washington will perish before the President can initiate a response, depending on the Presidents location. The idea behind command and control is to be able to fulfill Potuses orders. In what could be a far too short time with the command and control infrastructure about to undergo an extreme test. Make it all too complicated and the President and the civilian leaders eliminated then will it come down to some three or four star general at Cheyenne Mountain to give a set of orders with no instructions but the certainty an attack on the United States has started is underway.
When Caesar marched across the Rubicon that upset Senators and got their togas in a bunch. Later when Caesar had armed troops cross the line into Rome upset them. The Senates reaction brought about the end of the Roman Republic. Many shared responsibility and blood on their hands. Something our constitution hopefully makes difficult. As for Guard troops with no arms or with no bullets is not at all unusual for todays Congress, who do not entirely trust the military. In the1930s when the veterans from WWI turned up in Washington Congress dithered until members of Congress felt threatened and then the veterans were harshly dealt with.
Our readers can always count on you to be flippant about serious subjects. I doubt anyone reads your comments anymore.