I couldn’t sleep Wednesday night. I’m sure many people in the world didn’t sleep either after the events that transpired in America’s Capitol, the perceived “heart” of Democracy. My mind was racing, trying to comprehend where we are and how we got here, what words I could choose to express the thoughts and feelings flooding my mind and heart.

On January 6, 2021, Donald Trump finally crossed a line that even some of his Republican conspirators and colluders had to object to, respond to, and couldn’t justify or distract from. I’ve no doubt that with a little time, they will recover their ‘loyalty’ but for one day at least even they objected to what transpired.

What line did he cross?

Was it when white policeman shot an unarmed black man in the back seven times while he tried to care for his children, leaving him permanently paralyzed while the cop was not even charged? Was it when at 2 am in the morning when four policemen broke into Breonna Taylor’s apartment and murdered her in her sleep? Was it when we all watched as George Floyd was suffocated to death dispassionately, perhaps gleefully, by a white cop kneeling on his neck? Was when Trump put children in cages? Or when he sent in federal, unmarked troops to tear gas Portlanders and protestors in DC so he could have his picture taken with a Bible? Was it when he supported voter suppression, or the impeachable offense of trying to get a foreign leader to influence an election? Or, in these last two weeks when he refused to accept the reality that he lost the election, insisting instead that it was stolen from him?

These lines, and so many others (Did I mention his pardoning of convicted felons and murderers?) did not bother the Republicans in the House and the Senate. Black and Brown People and their children have no standing in the minds and ‘hearts’ of these men and a few complicit women (shame on them).

No, the line crossed was that Trump incited a violent mob to storm the Capitol Building to support his insane claim that the elections were fraudulent and that he should remain President of the United States.

Yes, Trump, a Mafioso mutant of Peter Pan, incited his delinquent, adolescent band of lost boys to arm up and storm the Capital on his behalf! Yes, lost boys, who actually identify themselves as boys, proud boys even, who have little hope of ever growing up. What’s the verse?

“I’ll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up… Not me. Not I. Not me… so there. Never gunna be a man (I won’t). Like to see somebody try (and make me).”

Mind you, I am not minimising this violent attack on our Houses of Government. Trump has always been an insane narcissist who belongs in a mental institution where he can pretend and believe he will be President of the United States for the rest of his life. He was diagnosed insane by twenty-seven psychiatrists in a book written by Dr. Brandi Lee called The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, published right after he won the Presidency in 2016.

What he has done surprises no one. His criminal activities have been supported by Republican legislators since the beginning, increasing after every acquittal, every time they looked the other way or supported him outright. His lost boys must be tried for treason and locked up, preventing continued violence.

But let’s go deeper here because events don’t occur in a vacuum. The sickness that this symptom reveals hides deep in the body of America, the same disease that gave rise to the very Trumpian declaration of making America great again, the same disease that gives rise to our misplaced belief of America as the leader of the world, the same disease that gives these politicians the mistaken belief that they are leaders, and that the capitol building is the heart of democracy.

The Heart of Democracy

The Heart of Democracy (purposely capitalized here and not above), are the People of the Land. The elected legislators and the President and the Justices are the servants of the People of the Land. Public servants, chosen to care for the People’s needs, to manage and dispense the resources paid by the People in the service of the People. Many of our elected officials, and seemingly most all of the Republicans, have it backwards, thus they can’t see the lines that have been crossed by their despicable ‘leader’ and themselves.

Thus yesterday, when this latest line was crossed, we had to endure Kevin McCarthy’s hypocritical, self-righteous drivel decrying the attack on democracy by thugs, the very thugs he has supported for at least the last four years. He can count himself among these thugs in his support of Trump. We had to endure Mitch McConnell’s hypocritical indignation at what happened while he knows full well he is responsible for it in his quest to maintain his ‘power.’ Then we heard George W. Bush’s attempt to sound like a statesman, who likely loves Trump’s Presidency as it makes his look better than it was.

Trump, by his callous handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, is responsible for hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths. Meanwhile Mr. Bush needlessly killed tens of thousands of Americans and Iraqis with his misdirected, revengeful war. And of course, Vice-President Pence also self-righteously condemned these acts of sedition despite the fact that he has enabled Trump.

Finally, it has been said that what happened yesterday is a stain on our Land. A confederate flag was flown, and a Trump flag was flown in the hallowed halls of the Capitol Building. This is an awful symbol of our disease, yet just another symptom. This land is permanently stained, no, drenched with the blood of the Original Peoples, the blood of slaves and the blood of immigrants exploited, killed and caged from “shithole” countries.

The only thing Trump and his thugs and political colluders have done that may benefit our country is that they have exposed how deep this disease of narcissism, greed and racism is — giving us, if we accept responsibility for our country’s health and lack of it, another chance to make America great by becoming an equal partner with the countries in the rest of the world.

Photo Source: Artwork done by DiEM25 members in Anwerp, Sarah Buniowski and Robbe Dedrie. 

The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect DiEM25’s official policies or positions.

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