Trump incited a mob to storm the Capitol. We can't let him get away with it.
Trump must be impeached, tried, convicted and removed from office. Now. And then the country must deal with Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley.
Today is a very sad day for our country.
4 pm
For the past few hours, our nation been watching a violent coup attempt on the US government as Trump insurrectionists have stormed and taken over the US Capitol. It is a stunning and terrifying scene.
For the first time in the history of our country, the peaceful transfer of power has been disrupted. President Trump himself incited this insurgency.
Trump has not acted alone. He has had the help of Republican Senators, Congress members, right-wing collaborators, certain elements of the right-wing media, and social media companies that have monetized the spread of conspiracy theories, disinformation, and inflammatory political propaganda through insidious algorithms.
What is happening now was part of Trump’s plan all along. For the past two months, he has whipped his base into a frenzied mob, telling them to gather in DC today to do exactly what they are now doing.
On December 19, Trump urged his followers to converge on Washington on January 6 for a “wild” rally to protest what he claimed was a fraudulent election. He did it in a tweet, of course.
Trump is working from the banal yet terrifying playbook used by demagogues around the world, past and present.
Throughout the morning today, Trump surrogates worked up the crowd in DC. Rudy Guiliani told them the election had been stolen. “Let’s have a trial by combat.”
The attack on the Capitol today—timed precisely to interrupt the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s presidential victory by Congress—was set in motion when Trump addressed his hyped-up MAGA crowd.
“All of us here today do not want to see our election victory stolen by emboldened radical Democrats,” Trump said. “We will never give up. We will never concede. It will never happen. You don’t concede when there’s theft involved. Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore.”
“If you don’t fight like hell,” Trump told the crowd, “you’re not going to have a country anymore.” He then told everyone “to head to the Capitol to give Republican lawmakers the message,” tweeted Jack Nicas of New York Times.
4:23 pm
In a Twilight Zone moment, the Associated Press called the second US Senate special election in Georgia for Jon Ossoff. With the Rev. Raphael Warnock having won the other Georgia seat last night, the Democrats now have control of the Senate. It was good news but hard to absorb and appreciate as the U.S. Capitol is under assault.
While President Trump let the chaos and violence unfold, President-elect Joe Biden addressed the nation. He called for an end to the "assault on the citadel of liberty, the Capitol itself, an assault on the people's representatives."
"This is not dissent. It's disorder. It's chaos. It borders on sedition and it must end now. I call on this mob to pull back and allow the work of democracy to go foward,” Biden said.
He urged Trump to speak up and stop the assault on the Capitol and our democracy.
4:33 pm
MSNBC aired a prepared video from President Trump claiming the election was fraudulent and stolen by evil Democrats while half-heartedly telling the violent mob (that he himself whipped up) to disperse.
His statements were, in essence, an argument for the coup. (I will not share the video here. It is odious. But you can find it online.) Trump told the people who stormed the Capitol, “We love you.”
4:45 pm
A few days ago, I gave some advice to journalists as they covered Trump’s phone call to the Georgia Secretary of State and the lead up to Congress’s certification of the election results. My letter was titled “How to cover a coup.”
“Journalists should use plain language to describe what is happening before our very eyes, out in the open,” I wrote. They should use the words “coup” and “sedition.”
I’ve been watching and reading news coverage and following journalists on Twitter for the past few hours. I am happy to report that mainstream journalists are using the language of coup, insurrection, sedition, and they are holding Trump directly accountable. They have consistently called out his false claims of election fraud.
5:03 pm
Leon Panetta, who signed onto Sunday’s remarkable Washington Post op-ed by all 10 living former secretaries of defense, said on MSNBC that the military should not be called in to quell any further violence and disperse crowds. He is worried about what Trump might do with the military, which suggests the defense secretaries were worried about exactly what has transpired today.
5:38 pm
As darkness descended, a stunning range of law enforcement forces arrayed themselves around the Capitol building and throughout the city to restore order and prevent further disorder.
The District is, of course, used to mass demonstrations and has deep experience controlling crowds. So what happened today should raise alarms.
Why and how could the riotous crowds reach and breach the Capitol building and disrupt the proceedings certifying Biden’s electoral victory?
Everyone knew the Proud Boys, extremist groups, white supremacists, and Qanon conspiracists were descending on DC. Everyone knew Trump and his allies have been egging them on.
How did this happen? Why this massive security failure? In the days ahead, we will learn more.
6:12 pm
The Capitol building is secure. DC is under curfew from 6 pm tonight to 6 am tomorrow. What’s happening on the streets is unclear.
What will Congress do now? Will the Senate and the House move ahead and certify Biden’s victory? Will they make plans to remove Trump office ASAP?
6:35 pm
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said the House will reconvene tonight to continue the certification of Biden’s victory, after consulting with the Pentagon, the Justice Department, and the Vice President.
Turns out Vice President Pence ordered the deployment of National Guard troops. The President is the commander-in-chief. Why is it that Pence was able to make this order? Why is it that Nancy Pelosi consulted with Pence, not Trump?
6:55 pm
Frank Figliuzzi, former FBI Assistant Director for Counterintelligence, said on MSNBC that there was no intelligence failure today. Intelligence agencies have known for some time what might happen. What happened today was a security failure. And it must be investigated.
Figliuzzi said the President must be isolated and removed from office.
7 pm
The police line is moving protestors, slowly but surely. It is now one hour after the curfew has been in place. Mitch McConnell, Speaker of the Senate, has said the Senate will also resume its certification process.
7:10 pm
Twitter announced that Trump’s account has been locked for 12 hours and warned that it could be suspected. This action was taken, the New York Times reported, after Trump tweeted: “These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long.”
MSNBC reports that the Kansas City Star has repudiated Missouri Josh Hawley, who led a group of Republican Senators today in refusing to certify Biden’s victory in the presidential election. The editorial board wrote, “No one other than President Donald Trump himself is more responsible for Wednesday’s coup attempt at the U.S. Capitol.” But Hawley has “blood on his hands.”
And then the board took aim at many of its readers:
“No doubt plenty of Americans will see even this free-for-all in the temple of democracy as defensible. And those of you who have excused all of the brazen lawlessness of this administration can take a little bit of credit for these events, too. They couldn’t have done it without you.”—Kansas City Star, editorial board
And that puts a pin in Letter from a Region tonight.
I’m signing off with a prayer for what a dear friend has called our “sweet beleaguered world.”
Kathy