The first two supported the president the latter two did not.
Particularly interesting were the choices of four senators who are prospective presidential candidates in 2024: Josh Hawley (R-MO), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Tom Cotton (R-AR). We will see how that works out for them-history suggests it usually ends badly. Last week, he put Republicans in the position of either supporting him or supporting rule of law and the Constitution, and many of them chose the former, no doubt thinking it was the best way to preserve their political careers. He has been remarkably successful at that and has maintained overwhelming support in his party, out of agreement on the part of some and simply fear in others. He has spent his life forcing people to choose between supporting him or supporting whatever the other side was at the moment, and then trying to destroy anyone who chose the latter. The future is less clear for those who chose to support him. The good news is that his actions likely guarantee he will never win another election. The president is discredited and will either be forced out of office early or will leave in disgrace, defiant to the end. The fallout from this tragedy will reverberate for a long time, both here and abroad.
#Day of infamy how to
We will need to do much soul-searching on how we got to this point and how to make sure we never return to it. Those who committed these outrageous acts may be brought to justice, but that by itself is not enough, because others will follow. Responsible Americans must defend our democracy every day if we are to keep it. The attack on the Capitol was a sad reminder that that work is never over. It was the product of hard work, and over the years, thousands have died defending it. Our system of government did not arise spontaneously. If people believe it is okay to attack our institutions and those who defend them when they don’t like an outcome, then our democracy is compromised and our country imperiled. The essence of democracy is majority rule and accepting the outcome of decisions.
(Some of the unsung heroes of last week were the quick-witted members and staff who rescued the electoral college documents and carried them out of the chambers so the mob could not destroy them.) We have done this to ourselves and reached a profoundly dangerous point. Last week’s attack was from the inside-our own citizens doing their best to trash a symbol of democracy and disrupt a lawful process required by our Constitution, and apparently proud of it, even though they failed to stop the process. The difference among those days, sadly, is that the other attacks came from the outside. Januwill go down in history as another “day of infamy,” along with December 7, 1941, September 11, 2001, and August 24, 1814, when the British burned the Capitol. Heads have already started to roll at the Capitol, and more will no doubt follow, but that will not erase the stain of what happened. One of the most protected buildings in the United States was easily breached by an unruly mob. On top of that, our police and security forces further demonstrated that American competence is a myth as well. I wrote that we are “tribal, violent, racist, and selfish,” and we proved that last week. The idea of America may be exceptional, but it is increasingly clear that our people, or at least a lot of them, are not. The events of last week reinforce that conclusion. My column after Thanksgiving suggested that the events of the past year, particularly the reaction to the election and Trump’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, have exploded the myths of American exceptionalism and American competence. relationship, which I think will be a big issue in 2021, but last week’s attack on the Capitol compels me to say something about that. This week I had planned to talk about the EU-U.S. Responding to Egregious Human Rights Abuses.Building Sustainable and Inclusive Democracy.Family Planning, Maternal and Child Health, and Immunizations.Energy, Climate Change, and Environmental Impacts.Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation.Defense Industry, Acquisition, and Innovation.Intelligence, Surveillance, and Privacy.
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