We all know what happened last week. I still find it unbelievable that people are so delusional about who Donald Trump really is. I've seen videos of people, who after overrunning the Capitol, are told they won't be able to get on a plane to go home. Then they lose their job. "They called me a terrorist, and they're ruining my life," one said. Well, yeah. You are a terrorist, and you messed up your own life. It's clear now that people thought they could do whatever they wanted because they are White. I'll just put that out there. I don't see any other explanation.
I'm listening to NPR news, and they said Vice President Pence won't invoke the twenty-fifth amendment. That's not a surprise. He and other Republicans want Trump to go away next week, but with a minimum of drama. That's not how it works. If Congress can get rid of him before January 20, I'm fine with that.
I've never been a fan of the Republican Party, not since Spiro Agnew in 1968 dissed college students at a rally I attended when I was a college student. There are people who have been kind to me and to Joe who are Republicans, and I haven't "unfriended" them because we have a history, but I will keep a distance from them unless they beg me for forgiveness and agree to change. In Judaism, it's called t'shuva, or repentance.
In West Virginia, two of the three congresspeople (not mine, amazingly) voted not to certify all the election results. They need to go. And our Governor, a "great friend" of the President, pooh-poohs the whole thing, and isn't worried about reports that people are going to attack all fifty state capitals. Our Attorney General, Patrick Morrisey, signed on to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's failed lawsuit to overturn the election. He may also have helped pay for robocalls to Republicans to come to Washington. Today, the state NAACP called for Morrisey's impeachment, because he questioned the election only in cities with large Black communities, notably Philadelphia, Atlanta and Milwaukee. I'm all for it.
And then, when the terrorists attacked Congress, everyone was herded into a safe room, several hundred people in a small space. Many of the Republicans were not wearing masks, and refused to put on masks when asked. Now, several Democratic lawmakers have become ill with covid-19. Those Republicans should go to jail.
Maybe I just don't get it. Maybe because I never watched his television show, or because I think macho swagger is phony and unimpressive, I don't understand how anyone can follow this grifter as if he were some kind of god. In Judaism, this is called idolatry, and it's a big sin.
It doesn't help when big corporations say they won't give money to Republican election campaigns. So why were they donating to these campaigns in the first place? Betsy DeVos, the education secretary, has resigned, saying "This is not who we are." Our Republican Senator, Shelley Moore Capito said the same thing. They have both finally spoken out in the last week of the Trump administration. Despite the nice clothes, immaculate hair and good jewelry, this is who they are. They think being polite and well-dressed separates them from the scruffy people at the Capitol, but no, they are not better or different from those people.
I wish I could be here in fifty years, to see how history treats this. I hope we still have a democracy then, but I have my doubts. My hope now is that the Republican Party implodes, and that lots of people go to jail.
