Unite to Support American Democracy

Today, January 13, 2021, Donald John Trump became the first president to be impeached twice. Ten members of the GOP voted to defend democracy, with all of the Democrats in the House of Representatives.

I feel a sense of relief from the proceedings today. Donald Trump is held accountable for his actions. Now, the Senate must vote to prevent Trump from ever holding office again. However, as per expectations, Mitch McConnell is again abdicating any responsibility for holding a trial to remove Trump from office. I think he wants to make Chuck Schumer the bad guy, so Mitch stays in Trump's, and his base followers, good graces. McConnell is so transparent in his continued refusal to govern.

Who else abdicated their responsibility? Might we include the FBI who didn't act on the online chatter? How about Homeland Security? Our entire national intelligence apparatus? There was a memo from the Norfolk FBI office sent to FBI headquarters. Why did Christopher Wray ignore the threats? And why has he been so silent in the aftermath? The Norfolk memo said that the people descending on the Capitol were going to act on their threats. The insurrectionists were all about taking action to subvert democracy.

Many Republicans in the impeachment debate today compared the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests with what happened on January 6, 2021. I support BLM and its goals for equality and to end the senseless murder and targeting of people of color by law enforcement. I also oppose all of the violence that occurred during the protests from both law enforcement and rioters. However, when a Black pastor is arrested for merely praying on the Capitol steps, and then the white supremacists left without any arrests, the racial disparity is glaring. I couldn't help but think, "Are they comparing apples and oranges?" I don't have an answer because I haven't done an in-depth analysis of the two events. Perhaps you, dear reader, can respond on the Gwennie Mae Facebook page with your comments and ideas.

We cannot minimize the damage Donald Trump has done to our country. President-elect Joe Biden has a big job ahead of him to heal this country and hold Republicans in Congress responsible. The Democrats have a considerable task in keeping Republicans and the right-wing extremists accountable for the attempted coup and the racial divisions that continue to increase in this country. Steve Schmidt from the Lincoln Project said today that there cannot be unity without accountability. Schmidt said those members who chose to object to the Electoral College ballots, including Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz, need to be expelled. I support the expulsion of all Senators and Representatives who voted to thwart a legal, peaceful transfer of power—the terrorists who stormed the Capitol all need to be arrested and charged with subverting democracy. We are in such a fragile state as a country right now.

I fear it's going to take a lot longer than four years to stabilize America. When I think back to when President Obama assumed office and the economic crisis he inherited, the situation Biden is facing a more profound, more severe crisis. It's going to take a lot of hard work from his administration and Congress for this country to regain its sense of equilibrium. There are still too many right-wing believers who think that Biden did not honestly win the election. We must rise up against the white supremacists, who Trump has encouraged for years, and start holding their organizations accountable. It can be done because it's what the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has been doing that for years. We need to support the SPLC in bankrupting white supremacist groups.

Right now, I wish for two things:

1. That Biden assumes power next week peacefully.

2. That Trump can never, ever hold a government position again.

There are now going to be weeks and months of investigations. I hope that includes House and Senate GOP members' insurrection who objected to the Electoral College and, with luck, removal from their offices. My father used to say be careful with who replaces the outgoing government official. They could be worse than what we had. We need to hope that if Congress expels members, the incoming new members are more moderate and patriotic than the outgoing members.

I expected Trump's presidency to be awful and that he would hurt America deeply. Sadly, he is much worse than I predicted. We are in the biggest crisis our country has experienced in modern history. It hurts to see what is happening now.

Can we unite and heal?