I was napping when they broke into the Capitol. My wife, Martha, woke me to tell me the news. At that point, the riot (or āinsurrection,ā if you prefer, although I wasnāt thinking of it in those terms at the time) was a couple hours old; it appeared that Congress was safe, our representatives tweeting and cuddling each other in their undisclosed safety bunkers. Ok, I donāt remember any reports of ācuddling,ā but I like to think of Susan Collins and Chuck Schumer holding each other tight.
Martha said she thought we were watching an important moment in American history. I said I didnāt think so; thereād already been so much insanity during Trumpās four years in office that the scene struck me as just another exampleāthough a particularly dramatic oneāof MAGAās criminal exuberance. It was, I thought, Trumpās political death knell.
Five years after the fact, with our criminal president reinstated for a second term, I understand that dayāand especially its aftermathādifferently. January 6, 2021 was the day America broke.
Archive: http://archive.today/L3hAL
I called it our beer hall putsch at the time and was unfortunately correct
thatāsā¦ surprisingly accurate.
Thanks Iād already followed the fascist vs antifascist street fighting of the years prior and made a point to educate myself on the rise of the nazis. There lied a major decision point for America: crack down hard on the fascists or they will use whatever was done as part of a persecution narrative.
Btw this makes Mitch McConnell Paul von Hindenburgā¦ the senile kingmaker (or Fuhrermaker in this case)