A wave of leftist rioting and looting followed the police murder of George Floyd. The Establishment and the media stoked the riots, encouraged them, and made excuses. Biden campaign staffers contributed to rioter bail funds. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler tried to de-escalate the situation there, only to see Antifa in the streets every night. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Fry tried to address a BLM rally and was turned away by a crowd shouting ‘shame’ after him. They’re not gonna let up and they should not,’ Vice President-Elect Kamal Harris said of the George Floyd rioters. They were ‘mostly peaceful’, the Dems and the media said.
On January 6th, the day Congress met to certify the Electoral College vote, more than 200,000 Trump supporters gathered on the Washington Mall. After an address by President Trump, several thousand marched on the Capitol Building and overwhelmed police. There, followed a few hours of mayhem within. When it was all over, five people were dead, including Officer Brian Snicknick knocked in the head with a fire extinguisher, and Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran shot in the neck by a Capitol Police Officer. The Electoral College certification continued apace. The press says the Trump rioters are insurrectionists, and maybe they are. A siege, the media called the events of 6 January. Now the right has rioted.
The right has also adopted the left’s tactic of harassing politicians in public. But right-wing anger is directed at Republicans not Democrats. Last week conservatives heckled Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) as he waited for a flight at Reagan National Airport. Police escorted the senator from the terminal as protestors followed. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) was accosted by Trump supporters as he sat quietly in an airport lounge in Utah. The former Republican presidential nominee was unfortunately on the same plane as these people, who chanted ‘traitor’ during the flight. Going forward, loyalty to Trump and MAGA Nation will be the litmus test for the Republican base.
In response to the Capitol riot, Big Tech has escalated the cancel and de-platforming wars. Forbes is building a ‘blacklist’ of people who worked in the Trump Administration. ‘Hire any of Trump’s fellow fabulists above, and Forbes will assume that everything your company or firm talks about is a lie,’ says Forbes’ Randall Lane. The Never Trump Lincoln Project is blacklisting too. Stuart Stevens, a Lincoln Project operative Tweeted, ‘At @ProjectLincoln we are constructing a database of Trump officials & staff that will detail their roles in the Trump administration & track where they are now.’ People who merely attended on the Washington Mall have lost their jobs. As long threatened, Twitter finally banned Trump from its platform, along with more than 70,000 other accounts. The day Twitter cancelled the president, its stock lost more than 6 points or about $5 billion in value. People fleeing or banned from Twitter went to Parler, a Twitter alternative. Downloads of Parler’s app surged 500 percent after Twitter banned Trump. Big Tech promptly cancelled Parler, and the service is unavailable as of this writing.
The Democrats have called upon Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, whereby the cabinet and vice president can remove the president. Pence, whom Trump slammed for refusing to stop the Congressional from certification the Electoral College vote, has refused to do so. Under enormous pressure from the press and official Washington, several cabinet members have resigned. As he finishes his final week in office, Donald Trump is an isolated and diminished figure.
Since Pence refused to invoke the 25th Amendment, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has introduced new articles of impeachment. Trump encouraged the rioters, she says. Impeaching Trump with barely a week left in his presidency is a pointless, vindictive gesture sure to further divide the nation. Senator Dick Durban (D-IL) is not to be outdone. He has introduced legislation designating MAGA rallies ‘domestic terrorist activity’ and directing the FBI and DHS to take steps to prevent them. In essence, Durban wants to criminalize 74 million Trump voters. Those voters have not abandoned the president. A poll conducted by Hill-HarrisX found 55% of respondents did not blame Trump for the riots. According to the Rasmussen Reports, Trump’s approval rating stood at 48% at the end of last week and the beginning of this one.
Durban and Pelosi seem like the Bourbons after the long exile from France, they forget nothing and learn nothing. Mindful of what the Republicans might do if they take control of Congress in 2022 elections, and politics being what it is, the GOP almost certainly will, Biden has pointed out that the best way to get rid of Trump is to go forward with the inauguration on Tuesday the 20th. In preparation authorities have erected fencing all around the Capitol and deployed thousands of troops to Washington. The Federal government has occupied its own capital to ensure the peaceful transition of power.
