Trumpites and Conservatives are desperate to pin the insurrection (in reality a failed coup) on groups like BLM and Antifa but despite their aggressive propaganda campaign, the argument continues to fall flat. What motives would Antifa have to stop the electoral vote? Would they want four more years of Donald Trump?
The woman who was shot and
killed was not Antifa but a rabid Trumpite and follower of QAnon. The most visible
and aggressive members of the uprising have been identified via social media as
part of Right-wing groups.
A local woman who was at
the rally that day insists that her people weren't part of that. The movement
was mostly older folks she says. It was provocateurs who started the violence.
Given the size of the crowd one can easily believe that some sixty-somethings
hanging back were unable to see what has occurring on the front line. But her
story doesn't hold. These also were Trumpites – not conservatives, but the
other factions within the movement. And it wasn't a surprise. They planned this
and the evidence is there. It's all over social media.
There's a still unfolding
story as to what happened and why there was no preparations and no response.
Was it failed intelligence? If so it's an indictment of the so-called Homeland
Security programmes which have spent billions of dollars on domestic security,
AI systems and the like. They seemingly failed to predict what was going to
happen. That's not only a scandal, the larger story of the post-9/11 security
state – that is in fact part of a conspiracy. Contrary to the mainstream
Establishment media, not all conspiracies are mere theories. But in the
Trumpite-QAnon world, fantasy reigns and their theories aren't (in many cases) even
connected to reality – or even coherent for that matter.
How was the attack on the
Capitol a surprise? The Trumpite movement has already done this. They have
already stormed capitol buildings. It's happened in Michigan and elsewhere.
The desperate attempts by
Conservatives and Evangelicals to divorce themselves from this and blame it on
the Left or 'Soros' are just that – desperate and ridiculous. They must own
this at least to some extent. This is part of the movement they have aligned
themselves with. They may not like this ugly underbelly of Trumpism but one
thing is certain – Trump loves it and would use these people – just as he has
used the ever so duped Evangelical community.
The collapse of the Capitol
Police does not indicate collaboration with Antifa. American police forces
don't collaborate with Antifa or BLM but in many cases have worked with
Right-wing militias against these groups. Many police forces both in the US and
abroad have been exposed as cooperating with Right-wing street movements and
militias. This has been particularly
controversial in Germany. Trumpism is a powerful force within law enforcement
and elements of the military and he has many allies. Clearly the police were
overwhelmed but there seems to be something more. In many cases they simply
backed off, took selfies and the like. They didn't resist. This is why there's
going to be an aggressive investigation. Resignations alone may prove to be
insufficient.
The one official who did resist
the mob is the one who shot the QAnon woman – and she had it coming. She chose
to live by the sword and she died by it. It's hard to feel a great deal of pity
for her. She was forcing her way into the corridor where many legislators were
sheltering. The mob was violent and it's hard to know what they would have done
if they could have got their hands on Pelosi or Schumer.
As a Christian I cannot
sanction that officer's actions and I would not do his job. I am not invested
in the defense of the American state. But from the standpoint of the ethics of
conservatives and even the Trump crowd, that man was simply and rightly doing
his job and was one of the few actually doing it that day. The crowd was
breaking down the door. The woman shoved herself through the opening. She was
stopped by the same force and ethics that she lived by. End of story.
In some respects it would
have been just if the police had simply opened fire on this group – these would-be
warriors who brazenly carry their guns and talk tough. They are resisting the
God-ordained power and thus they should expect the sword to fall. I have a
feeling if Antifa or BLM had stormed the Capitol, the scene would have been
quite different.
I honestly think many of
these people who lionise the rebels of 1776 have rarely understood how ugly war
is, what it is to kill and watch people die. There is no glory in it. It's
brutal, obscene, and it destroys the soul. In many cases these folks are akin
to children playing with toy guns. But it's no game and while I think many
would quail and run if shot at, they're still dangerous and can do a lot of
damage.
I was struck once again by
how lame and ultimately weak Donald Trump is. He wants to be a Sulla or a
Mussolini but he doesn't know how. He actually has the force and popular momentum
to dictatorially seize power but he's a child and he scares easy. He doesn't
have the 'Right Stuff' (as they say) to be a dictator. And so his tepid and
ambiguous (but clear enough) call to arms on 6 January was an attempted coup.
Had his elements seized the Electoral College votes and effectively 'canceled'
Congress, then Trump could have (theoretically) undone the election and seized
power – not on the basis of electoral victory but on the basis of a coup d'état.
However, the movement
fizzled and failed because Trump isn't a serious person and doesn't know how to
lead. We can be thankful for his weakness and that fact that he's only full of
hot air, but nevertheless the genie is out of the bottle and things won't be
the same. And so the coup turned into an insurrection and one that ultimately
failed. And yet people died and their blood is on Trump's hands and those that
approve of him.
We can safely say that especially after 6 January 2021, no
Christian can in any way shape or form support him. Christians supporting him
were already in sin but now there's absolutely no excuse whatsoever. If you're
supporting Trump you've aligned with a murderous rebel. There are no excuses
any more.
What a sad reality.
Watching the events one almost feels sympathy for the scared legislators. That
in itself is something of a coup isn't it? And wonder upon wonders, Trump's
actions have actually granted some moral authority to figures like Pelosi and
Schumer. The truth is in this case, stranger than fiction.
This is why in political
terms if you're going to 'go for it', you do it. You can't fool around and only
go half-way. Trump's failure is going to haunt him, his movement and US
society. Whether he had succeeded or not, things are going to change. It is a
watershed moment but I fear there's going to be more of this sort of thing in
the years to come.
This also explains why
there is a desperate attempt to pin something on him – whether impeachment or
the 25th Amendment. He isn't going away and he's effectively already
started his 2024 campaign. It's going to be endless. The media will try and
turn him off but it's not so easy anymore and after all they helped to create
him.
Biden will not be able to
entertain a second term. And so even now calculations are going to be made.
Harris is the likeliest candidate for 2024 and if paired against Trump – Trump will
almost certainly win. Harris is not liked by large sections of the country –
even among many that voted for Biden, and she hasn't even taken office yet.
As a Trump win in 2024 is
unthinkable, Biden's selection of Merrick Garland as Attorney General is
significant. He will certainly be tasked to go after Trump and destroy his
legal possibilities of a 2024 run. Robert Kennedy famously had his 'Get Hoffa'
taskforce. I look for a 'Get Trump' office to be formed in the Justice
Department – though it may remain an open secret until the history is written.
Previous generations of the US Executive Branch would have balked at this and
Biden as a president won't like establishing such a precedent. And yet there's
a line drawn, before Trump and after, and a sharper line with reference to the
events of 6 January.
Elements within the GOP
have finally been stirred and are coming to realise that their party will not
survive if they don't purge Trumpism from their ranks. But here's the dilemma.
In a parliamentary system the Trumpites would form a separate party. That won't
work in the American system and so the Trumpites either take over the GOP and
purge the non-Trumpites or they themselves have to be purged and forced to form
a third party. Such a split (a party civil war) will mean that the Republicans
will effectively hand over power to the DNC for at least a couple of electoral
cycles until things can re-form.*
The RNC has moved so far to
the Right it has literally broken itself. This has been utterly missed and
ignored by the blind would-be Christian commentary of Albert Mohler, James
White, and others. They have played their part in bringing things to this
moment and allying themselves with this movement. They will backtrack,
obfuscate, and deny it (as they always do) but anyone who has been paying
attention knows the score. They have obsessed about a socialism that isn't
there – even while missing the rise of fascism within their own ranks. We all
know what happens to the blind who are led by the blind.
The 'Get Trump' strategy
could just as well backfire. His movement will likely resist an internal party
purge and a Biden-Garland pursuit of him will look like persecution. He'll certainly
paint it as a witch hunt and consequently (in his own circles) strengthen his
hand – his credibility and standing.
Unlike previous populists
such as Bryan, Goldwater, Perot, and Buchanan, Trump has no shame, and no
restraint. Even the takedown of Joseph McCarthy wouldn't work on someone like
Trump. Like the incredibly stupid, base and failed populist Sarah Palin, Trump
doesn't care about institutions the consequences of his actions. He's like the
evil sorcerers in the stories – if toppled, he's more than happy to bring
everything down with him.
The only figure comparable
to Trump in modern American politics is George Wallace. And it took being shot
to stop him. He lived of course, but he changed his ways and abandoned his
posture and agenda. I'm hardly suggesting as much but it's a lesson that
someone is likely enough to reflect on and even pursue. If Trump keeps going I
wouldn't be surprised if we see something dramatic take place.
As far as the stunning
images of the Capitol storming, I feel no sympathy. It's a case of US hens
coming home to roost. The US has fomented such actions on a massive scale in
other countries and has done so for decades. I think of the dramatic footage of
the 11 September 1973 as fighter jets bomb the Chilean presidential palace. The
United States has fueled and generated similar movements, unrest, and violence
outside its borders. Like the mafia boss gunned down by his own henchmen, so
the US is doomed to fall.
The rhetoric about the
'sacred halls' and the 'citadel of liberty' is just nauseating prattle.
Listening to the millionaire CBS broadcaster Nora O'Donnell, I wasn't thinking
about how 'Left wing' she was. On the contrary she (and the mainstream media
machine she's part of) represents the system – pure and simple.
The Christian angle on this
is also pretty simple. We shouldn't have any part in any of this. But it's not
so easy. As the American Church is dominated by heretics and Balaam's, we're
forced to reckon with and interact with these realities. I cannot even imagine
where things will go in most pulpits this Sunday.
We are to pray for the
peace of the city, whether Assyria, Babylon, Persia, or Rome. An evil bestial
state is better than anarchy. Libertarians don't think so but they're ignorant
fools who have grown fat and drunk on their own propaganda.
For my part I will not weep
if the Trumpite movement is crushed or even if the Capitol building went up in
flames. But I also must admit there are no happy solutions to any of this.
What's worse for the
Church? Crush them and they'll thrive under a phony narrative of persecution
and this will bleed over into church life. It will become a rallying point for
some. It may implode and we can hope that's the case – but I don't think so.
On the other hand we can
rejoice that at last there are some nice clear lines between at least some of
the dominant forms of false Christianity and the true. Trumpism is a heresy. If
it's in church or in your pulpit – it's time to go.
Maybe all of this will
break the system? Some want this to happen. Part of me of does as well. It sounds
good but be careful what you wish for. What will replace it? We may end up with
something much worse.
Either way we're not
singing 'Happy Days are Here Again'.
If the Church had real
Biblically-minded leaders they would rejoice that the false dream, the
hallucination, the delusion, the lie, that was a moral 'Christian America' is
at last exposed as a cancerous myth, even a nightmare. They would couple this
with a call to return to Christian and Kingdom basics.
But that's not how it's going
to go – is it?
And so the lonely struggle
continues.
----
*Many would start the purge
with Ted Cruz and some of his cohorts who certainly bear some of the blame in
creating the context for the January 2021 insurrection – if not a direct role.
Cruz and others have tried
to justify their undermining and negation of democracy and constitutional
procedure by appealing to the 1876 election fiasco. And yet that event
represented a collapse of democracy in the wake of Civil War. Considered a
disgrace by many, it was an election reduced to horse trading over
Reconstruction – the South asserting itself in order to end Federal occupation
of Southern soil. No historian, academic, jurist, or even sincerely devoted
politician would want that event to serve as a precedent for future
constitutional jurisprudence. It was a travesty.
The country was severely
divided until WWI when the propaganda machine was able (by means of near
hysteria and even brutality) to unify the country once more. Culturally
speaking WWI was used to heal many of the wounds of the Civil War era and
Reconstruction.
Constitutionally, the South
more or less ran amok in the 1870's-1890's. Southern Whites (at that time Democrats)
took back control of the South and though slavery could not be reinstated they
introduced segregation, Jim Crow, and measures to suppress voting and the like.
The North had little choice but to look the other way or fight a second civil
war. As such the 1877 Compromise and the 1896 Supreme Court ruling in Plessy v.
Ferguson gave the regime a rubber stamp. It was a mitigated settlement to the
Civil War – but in reality it did little more than kick the can down the road.
It took WWII to bring the issues once more to a boil. And in many respects the
current social conflict is but another chapter in the ongoing American Social War
that the 1861-1865 Civil War was but a part.
Additionally many (if not
most) Northerners supported segregation as was seen clearly enough with the KKK
revival in the North during the 1920's. Blacks were migrating north in great
numbers and the full weight of turn-of-the century Southern and Eastern
European immigration was felt. The Nativist pendulum swing led to violence and
social tension which was tempered only by the Great Depression. After WWII, Blacks
returned to the United States and grew especially bitter when they weighed
their status vis-à-vis the narratives surrounding the war. Some had even been
allowed (in a moment of desperation) to join in combat at the Battle of the
Bulge. They returned to America and resentment grew. They had fought for the
country but were still treated like second class citizens – one Black combat
veteran was particularly bitter in having to sit at the back of the bus – a bus
full of German POW's no less.
The Civil Rights Movement,
a foundational plank of the 1960's activist-protest movements was born – not in
the 1960's but in the late 1940's. Contrary to popular perception it didn't
come from out of nowhere – a product of the Baby Boomer generation. The
movement would dovetail with other realities, with other growing social tensions
and movements. In addition to Vietnam and the larger construct of the Cold War,
there was the crisis of suburbia and growing calls to reject its consumerist
and sometimes segregationist values which were also deemed as hypocritical.
These things when combined would also give rise to a new form of feminism.
This history is poorly understood and ignored. But it would do Americans well to understand how they have arrived at this moment. History's lessons are very pertinent but the Canadian-born Cruz and others in appealing to things like the 1876 election dispute are disingenuous, ignoring the history leading up to that moment and what it produced.