By Bob Gaydos
A president of the United States actively sought to overthrow the results of a legitimate presidential election through a variety of lies, fraudulent claims, illegal maneuvers and political pressure, even though some of his closest advisers, including his attorney general, told him there was no basis for challenging the election. That same president, knowing he had no legitimate basis for his efforts to reverse his defeat, then encouraged thousands of supporters to march on the U.S. Capitol to prevent the formal certification of the election of the new president and pressured his vice president to invalidate the vote when presiding over the U.S. Senate and went so far as to publicly ridicule that vice president for refusing to do so, further inflaming the angry mob marching on the Capitol. That president then refused for hours to order any kind of police or military support to go the Capitol to help an overwhelmed Capitol police force when the mob stormed into the building, attacking police, sending members of Congress running into hiding, ransacking offices and erecting a gallows to hang the vice president.
We know all this because (a) we witnessed it live on television when it happened and (b) members of that president's political party and his own family have now testified so under oath before a congressional hearing.
A president of the United States of America orchestrated a failed coup attempt. I still can't wrap my head around that.
Worse yet, I can't wrap my head around the fact that millions of Americans, purportedly raised and educated in the land of liberty and justice for all, still defend that president and many at least pretend to still believe that he was denied a legitimate victory and had nothing to do with the Jan. 6 Insurrection.
Finally, I still can't wrap my head around the fact that many Americans still don't seem to understand or care about what Donald Trump and his power-hungry Republican sycophants, apologists and army of racist goons tried to do "- install a president by force, against the will of the people.
Actually, one more thing I can't wrap my head around: The wife of a Supreme Court Justice was part of the plot to overturn the election and her husband refused to recuse himself from any cases arising from the effort. A lot of Americans don't seem to grasp the unacceptability of that situation either.
I don't know if the current attorney general has the guts and sense of duty to bring charges of treason where they apply. I don't know if the owners and purveyors of phony information on the Fox TV network will be held accountable for fomenting racial and political tension in America. I don't know if anyone will again be allowed to teach true American history in Republican-governed states.
Personally, I hope all three happen, but I can't wrap my head around the fact that too many Americans still don't grasp that democracy itself is at stake.
rjgaydos|AT|gmail.comEmail address
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