January 6, 2021


What happened yesterday was emotional. Some people laughed, because security at the U.S. Capitol is so lax that it was taken over for hours by a bunch of sore losers. Some people were sad, to see a sitting president actively try to become king, the very bedrock of American democracy attacked in broad daylight. But me, I am angry. Angry to see my fellow citizens fed lies, year after year, and become so brainwashed that they're convinced the only thing left to do is overthrow the United States government.


terrorism
the unlawful use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims


When I hear that word, terrorism, the first moments to pop into my mind are the one's I've lived through - 9/11, the Boston Marathon Bombing and manhunt, and now, yesterday. Terrorists attacked the U.S. Capitol yesterday. White domestic terrorists. They wore Nazi symbols, and waived confederate flags as they broke down doors, windows, climbed walls, and tear gassed police. They stormed the Senate and House of Representatives, and attempted to stop the winner of the 2020 presidential election from coming to power. To see videos from the United States Capitol of people taking down the American flag and replacing with a Trump flag, was outrageous.


coup
a sudden, violent, and illegal seizure of power from a government


The United States spends $740 billion annually on National Security. So how did a mob of American citizens take over the U.S. Capitol yesterday? How does this happen? Don't get me wrong, I'm the fist one to complain about the astronomical cost of our defense budget, but $780 billion and we get invaded by bare chested guys without masks on? How did these people become so radicalized while the FBI did nothing? The CIA did nothing. Where is our intelligence community? How did so many terrorists walk away last night, with selfies of a day spent trying to overthrow the government? Speaking of selfies, of all days to wear a mask, if not for the raging covid-19 pandemic, then to at least hide their identity while they commit treason against our country. They are so brazen.


I keep going over the events of yesterday in my head. The capitol police were outnumbered. But why? The capitol was covered in police for every BLM protest. Why not for a Trump protest? The protest had been planned for weeks. Publicly. In fact, Trump had been calling his supporters to attack. When asked to denounce white supremacists during a debate, Trump told them to "Stand by". After losing the election, he told them to "Stop" the election certification, and to "March on the Capitol". He told everyone what was going to happen. He told us he wasn't going to concede, and that he wouldn't commit to a peaceful transfer of power. Trump spent years cozying up to dictators, publicly. He used racist terminology and said that white supremacists were "very fine people". Trump was endorsed by the Taliban. By the former leader of the KKK. He spread outlandish lies and all that time the FBI knew that white supremacist groups were America's biggest terror threat. Yesterday the whole world saw what has been escalating for the past 5 years.


What has broken down in our institutions that has America teetering on the brink of democracy and dictatorship? Where are our military tax dollars going, if not to defending the United States Constitution on its own soil? State by state elected officials on both sides of the aisle have confirmed without any evidence to the contrary that Trump lost the election. He lost state elections. The state board of elections certifies these processes. There is no proof. None. No shred of evidence. He lost 61 lawsuits because he can't prove any fraud. He has not one thing to convince judges to reject the election results. He lost. To the congressmen who continued to object the electoral college election results, I would fully support your legislation to abolish the electoral college. Please do. The outdated electoral college system, rooted in slavery, got Trump elected in the first place. Trump lost by 7 million votes in 2020, and by 3 million in 2016.


The number of conspiracy theories just keeps climbing. Why haven't we taught people to think critically? To understand how things work and why they work that way. Whether we are talking about free and fair elections, or that the earth is a sphere. How can a nation so divided by fact vs fiction be healed? Enough of the 'alternative facts'. Enough of the lies and propaganda. The insistence that it was actually Antifa under disguise. It is time for the truth. For critical thinking. For math and science to prevail over conspiracy theories. Facts matter. Words matter. Actions matter.


Trump has supposedly been banned from social media. 12 hours in Twitter jail and 14 days in Facebook jail? Twitter and Facebook need Trump. Their success has been largely due to the media covering every single outrageous thing he's said since he began campaigning in 2015, and fanning the flames 'on both sides'. But I guess that's more than Congress has done. Impeaching him and letting him stay in charge anyway is exactly how they let this happen. Congress, do your jobs. Abide by the constitution. Follow the rule of law. We have three branches of government for this very reason.


The last time the U.S. Capitol was breached was in 1814 by British troops during the War of 1812. And then, yesterday, by domestic terrorists. After the insurgency had been quelled yesterday, our sitting president called those traitors "great patriots". A stark contrast to his tweets about "thugs and looters" at BLM just months ago. But 70 million Americans experienced the last 4 years of a Trump presidency, and decided, 'yes, let's vote for that again!' It may have been a mob of extremists on Capitol Hill yesterday, but there are many of his supporters who can rationalize and justify what the world witnessed. And that is, in my opinion, a more worrisome sign for our fragile republic.