Trump, Hawley incite ‘Proud Boys’
First it was just Donald Trump and one senator, Josh Hawley (R-Missouri), doing everything they could to incite the so-called Proud Boys to create carnage in the streets. Now we have Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) the dumbest member of Congress, and that is saying something, actually asking Trump supporters to cause violence.
We already knew Trump is a disgusting pig with no sense of decency who has overseen a failed coup; now we have a host of Republican members of Congress joining in the games. And games is what they are because they admit zero chance of success.
Hawley, who is supposedly well educated at Yale and Stanford, is playing a very crass game to advance his own career. He couldn’t give a damn about Trump and knows what he is doing in the Senate can’t be successful. Yet clearly he thinks the headlines he is generating will help him politically. He is raising money off his efforts. Decent people need to find a way to crush him like the slimy snake he is if other Republicans, who also want to be top dog after Trump, don’t do it. Now that creep Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has gotten into the act leading another 11 conservative senators to say they will support Hawley. Cruz’s ego won’t allow Hawley to get all the press.
What we need to be cognizant of and thankful for is the judiciary, even judges Trump nominated, who are standing in the way of Trump’s attempted coup and efforts to destroy our democracy. The latest decision went against Gohmert and his frivolous lawsuit against Mike Pence saying Pence should have the power to object to the Electoral College vote.
Trump is calling his supporters to Washington on Jan. 6 and 20 to create havoc and even called the Georgia Secretary of State with threats demanding he find votes for him.
There is no question in anyone’s mind, at least those who have one, that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be sworn in as the next president and vice president. The issue with all this Republican bullshit is that they are giving credibility to the lie there was an issue with the validity of the election and what that will mean for the future.
After Biden is sworn in will Republicans continue in their asinine fealty to Trump and say that President Biden is serving illegally? Will they continue to incite Trump’s voters to violence and continue to question the underpinnings of our democracy — free elections?
How do we move forward without any penalty for those who advocate sedition, which is what some in the Republican Party are doing? The nation will have to decide how we move forward from this.
Much will depend on the results of the run-off elections for the two Georgia Senate seats. How we proceed and how much President Biden will be able to do with regard to any of his campaign promises will depend on that. If Democrats win both seats they will hold a majority in the United States Senate. They will appoint committee chairs and control the agenda. The will be able to bring House passed bills to the floor and pass them. They will be able to confirm Biden’s Cabinet choices and confirm his judicial nominees. They will be able to take the country forward as over 80 million people wanted when they voted for Biden/Harris.
What happens to Trump after Jan. 20 will play a large part in determining the future of the Republican Party. Will he face a myriad of lawsuits and have to deal with them or will he use the money he has raised by spuriously calling the presidential election fraudulent and continue to dominate the Republican Party? Will the mainstream media continue to follow his every word or will they move on and allow the country to move on? Will the Republican mainstream, whatever is left of it, speak out and try to reclaim their party or will they simply give in to the far-right pandering to the current group of Trumpers?
All this will determine the future of our democracy.
Peter Rosenstein is a longtime LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist. He writes regularly for the Blade.
Published at Tue, 05 Jan 2021 19:36:14 +0000