When Nothing is Punished, Anything Goes

And yes, it can always get worse

A sudden, violent, illegal seizure of power; that’s the textbook definition of a coup, or coup d’etat. The French saying, which translates to English as, “a state stroke” or rebellion, pretty much sums up the attempt to thwart Congress from confirming the election for Joe Biden.

Call it what you will; an attempted coup, insurrection, treason, or terrorism, it certainly bears the hallmarks of all four.

How did it come to this?

Let’s start with the day in question, then back track slightly. Here’s a run down from the events of January 6th, the words and actions which led to subverting the popular will of the American people, in a failed attempt to seize power.

It may have lacked competence, and proper coordination, but that’s exactly what it was. A loosing head of state (Donald J. Trump) held a rally in Washington D.C, and directed his mob to the halls of Congress, asking, among other things:

“We are going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we are probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them — because you will never take back our country with weakness.” Donald J. Trump

The President also threw Vice President Mike Pence under the bus:

“And we are going to have to fight much harder. And Mike Pence is going to have to come through for us, and if he doesn’t, that will be a sad day for our country. Because you’re sworn to uphold our Constitution.”

Come through for us… Uphold the Constitution… How so I wonder? Was Trump asking Pence, in a largely ceremonial role mind you, to do what the courts, lawmakers, and electors couldn’t do? This session is held, merely to confirm what has already been certified, challenged for two months via sixty-two failed lawsuits, withstood threats against election officials and the strong arming of state legislatures, in a failed effort to thwart the will of the majority.

In the grand scheme of things, it came to this because of an age old concept where bad behavior never really gets punished. What’s the worst thing that happened to Donald Trump? I would argue, his impeachment. In his mind though, because the Senate voted not to remove, he was absolved of any wrong doing. In his first appearance after that infamous trial, he held a newspaper with the headline, “Acquitted”.

In his mind, he’s innocent. So, yeah, I doubt he believed the impeachment trial was anything but political theater, and there he was, still President.

The Ukraine scandal was far from the only impeachable offense Trump committed while in office. In addition to multiple rounds where he’s incited or condoned violence, from Charlottesville to the kidnaping plot involving Governor Gretchen Whitmer, there’s the 15,000 false or misleading claims, violations of campaign finance laws and the emoluments clause, tax evasion/fraud, obstruction of justice, perjury, negligence, and of course the rampant attacks on a free press.

New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman recently tweeted the following, “I keep thinking back to what a senior White House official said in summer 2017 when I asked why Trump was abusing Jeff Sessions as the Mueller probe was unfolding. “Because he can,” the official said.”

The same can be said about everything. He breaks the law, because he can. He insults, fires, and abuses people, because he can. He incites violence, because he can. And so far, there has been little, if any, in the way of consequences.

Now, with a few weeks to go before leaving office, in continued defiance and an attempt to absolve himself of wrong doing, Trump is asking aids and lawyers about a self-pardon. In the “never before seen” section of our great democracy, this one may top the list.

Democrats are also considered another impeachment . Unless they believe the Senate will follow suit and remove, this is yet another effort in futility. Trump values two thing above all others, money and adoration. With some of his most ardent supporters moving on, if Trump faces financial repercussions, and lawsuits begin to mount, one can only hope the madness will stop.

We have a couple more weeks to go, who knows, maybe there’s more to come.