SACRAMENTO >> After watching Wednesday’s supernatural events – a violent takeover of the United States Capitol by pro-Trump mobs that were incited by the president – I was thinking of a quote from the author of “1984” and “Animal Farm” George Orwell: “To see what’s in front of your nose, you have to fight constantly. That must be the lasting slogan of the Trump era.
We all saw what Donald Trump intended long before he entered politics – and yet, much of the Republican Party and the public have struggled to recognize the evidence that was right in front of their noses. You know – your habit of hardening contractors, bankruptcies, litigation, a myriad of allegations of sexual assault and abuse of eminent domain.
Even the president’s sycophants have publicly declared in the past their demagogy and deformed character. “I think he is crazy. I think he’s crazy. I don’t think he’s fit for the job, ”said US Senator Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, before deciding to look away. I saw the same dramatic change taking place among many of my conservative allies.
I compared this to “The invasion of body thieves”, where extraterrestrials flooded the Earth with pods of plants that cultivated human replicas. The capsule opens and suddenly his wife looks the same, but now he is an alien. Friends would express the same reservations I had about Trump – and then, one day, the capsule would open and everyone was inside.
It was one thing to get on Trump’s train during the 2016 elections before his political approach was entirely clear – and considering his opponent was disagreeable, Hillary Clinton. After four years of incessant lies, cruelty, conspiracy, ad hominem attacks and various authoritarian reflections, this could not be seen by deliberate choice.
However, the vast majority of Republicans remained dedicated to him. Even before the start of the 2020 vote, Trump claimed electoral fraud and refused to accept the results. When I said, “You know, he might not accept the election,” Trump supporters insisted that we shouldn’t take his words literally – or that I was suffering from Trump’s Disturbance Syndrome.
People see what they want to see – and many still cling to his baseless claims (rejected by 59 courts, state election officials and legislatures and now Congress) that he has won an overwhelming victory. The following seems obvious, even if we have to struggle to understand it: Trump is trying to overturn a democratic election to stay in power and has instigated crowds in the process.
Perhaps the building is finally collapsing. After the Capitol coup, the top Senate Republicans – including Graham – got tired. They voted overwhelmingly to certify the election. Unfortunately, many Republicans were silent when the Republican Secretary of State of Georgia released that terrible tape from President Tony Soprano forcing him to get 11,780 votes.
Even oilseed Vice President Mike Pence refused to reject voters on his own, as Trump had pestered him to do. Virtually everyone denounced the violence. Jesus accepted workers in the vineyard in the first hour and hour 11 – and paid everyone equally. So who am I to criticize these politicians for waiting until the last possible moment to do the right thing?
“I think the president’s conduct today was just incredible,” said Trump’s former ally, Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey. “As someone who has known him for 20 years, today he violated something that none of us should have to tolerate by someone who has been honored to be an elected leader in this country.”
Those are refreshing words. However, many people are still struggling to see what is going on. Supporters of Trump’s bitter end say the president is not to blame for the violence that occurred on Capitol Hill – ignoring the old conservative maxim that ideas and words have consequences.
For days, the president asked his supporters to go to Washington, DC, on certification day. He spoke to the public – and angered them with incendiary rhetoric. Even after the hordes invaded the Capitol, he released a video that repeated his baseless allegations of theft of elections and ended with these words: “We love you. You are very special. Go home. “What a warning. Your late Thursday video doesn’t fix things.
After the attack, 138 Republican members of the House of Representatives still supported the president’s challenge to Pennsylvania voters. The newest Trumpian point of discussion is to blame the left agitators for the attack. “There is growing evidence that the fascist ANTIFA orchestrated the attack on the Capitol with smart crowd control tactics,” tweeted United States representative Mo Brooks of Alabama.
Brooks is not the only lawmaker to make this outrageous claim. It doesn’t matter the video evidence of the pro-Trump crowds, with their Confederate insignia, MAGA hats and Trump flags contaminating the building, or the president urging the DC crowd to fight for election results with “force”.
It can be difficult to see what’s in front of you – especially when you’re struggling not to see it.
Steven Greenhut is director of the western region of the R Street Institute and a member of the editorial board of the Southern California News Group. Write to him at [email protected].