President Donald Trump chose the way he would leave office, and his choice, and his remarkable achievement, it now appears, is to surpass the disgraceful behavior that was the hallmark of his four years in office.
It would be one thing if he were simply unfit for office, which he was and is, but it is entirely another that he, as President, undertakes to undermine the democracy that is the historic and treasured foundation of our government.
Before his unexpected election as President in 2016 Trump made it clear that he would claim electoral fraud if his opponent won.
In the 2020 election he lost, by a decisive margin, in his attempt to win a second term, so to no one’s surprise he claims the election was stolen from him.
He is unable to provide any proof of his allegations, but with the communication resources at his command – the bully pulpit of the presidency, the megahorn of electronic mass media, and the rabble-raising “rallies” he staged throughout the country – he stoked the outrage of followers who believe his conspiracy theories, unfounded innuendo and outright lies.
In recent days the President encouraged these followers to hold a mass protest in Washington on the day that Congress would formally accept the electoral college results confirming the election of Joe Biden as President.
The result was today’s mob assault on the U.S. Capitol.
There will be many lessons to be learned from this hitherto unimagined upheaval in the heart of our nation’s government.
A major lesson, we suggest, will be about the dangers posed by those who would enable a popular demagogue calling for overthrow of a democratic election. Trump’s enablers include the sizable segment of elected Republican members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives who chose to violate their oath of office in support of the President’s baseless attempt to overthrow the 2020 election.
Of course they know that the President’s allegations of massive fraud are without foundation, which makes their offense all the more egregious. They played with fire, and the attempted insurrection at the U.S. Capitol is but one result of their faithlessness to their oath to uphold the Constitution.
It is easy to say “Never Again.” We in Sitka, thousands of miles distant from the nation’s capital but as close as residents of any part of the United States to the ideals of the Constitution, do say, “Never Again.”
It is incumbent upon all of us who love our country to speak out, as we have largely failed to do in the face of the seditious actions represented by the President’s challenge to the democratic election of a new president. And also to remember, as long as they remain in office, the names of those members of Congress who signed on in support of what can only be regarded as an attempted coup d’etat.
With the newly-elected administration and the promise represented by a new Democratic majority in the Senate, we look forward to a brighter day in the affairs of our country.
But we must be vigilant to recognize and expose the threats to our democratic institutions if and when they arise in the future.
