Middle River Dispatches

A gumbo of fly-fishing, conservation, politics and days afield, for what it is worth....

Insurrection most foul

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I’m still having a hard time finding words to express my outrage over the horrifying events of January 6 in our nation’s capital. Until I can, Michael Gerson’s column, The U.S. must punish sedition — or risk more of it, in The Washington Post, will suffice. He captures much of what is going through my mind at this moment.

First and foremost, the murder of United States Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick defines the outrage I feel. Gerson writes of it:

One moment captured on video stands out to me for its brutality and symbolism. An insurrectionist pulls a police officer down the steps of the Capitol, where he is stomped and beaten with the pole of a U.S. flag. The crowd chants “USA, USA.”

Gerson notes that Republican appeasement to Trump and his sycophants has lead to what we witnessed on January 6. The path forward is clear.

Stopping this rot in the political order will require accountability. That begins with the president, who deserves every legal and constitutional consequence our system offers. He should be impeached for sedition. He should be prevented from holding any further elective office. He should be stripped of all the perks of the post-presidency. He should be prosecuted for insurrection against the U.S. government.

Those appeasement should come at a price.

But the responsibility does not end with a single man. Many elected Republicans enabled the president’s political rise. Trump could only attempt the occupation of the Capitol because he had already occupied the Republican Party — in that case, with little resistance. Elected Republicans who cheered that takeover deserve to lose, and lose, and lose, until their party is either destroyed or transformed.

As Gerson notes in his title, this sedition cannot go unpunished or it will continue.

The post-election political theater has jumped the shark.

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Tom Nichols, writing in the Atlantic, Engaging With Trump’s Die-Hard Supporters Isn’t Productive makes the case for ignoring the conspiracy whack jobs and Trump sycophants and starve them of the attention and notoriety they crave.

Nichols points out that arguing with the delusional is not only a waste of your time, but it gives legitimacy to those beliefs. Seriously, how much time would you give to someone who wanted to argue with you about the composition of the moon? Precious little I’ll wager. Same for the post-election nonsense. 

Nichols also makes an important point out these Trump sycophants. When it comes to programs or policy, there is no there, there. No serious policy or programs underpin Trump’s actions. It is all grievance and disdain. Hardly a path to serious discussions or a better country.

The sooner we refuse to continue such conversations, the sooner we might return to being a serious nation.”

Nichols is right, it’s hurting the country. Time to give it up.

The Threat to Democracy is Real

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I could not say it any better than this.

Never Trumpers didn’t spend four-plus years trashing their careers and alienating their friends because we didn’t like Trump’s “style.” We opposed Trump because we recognized that what he stood for is an existential threat to the American experiment in constitutional democracy. While Trump will be leaving on January 20, the threat remains.

Source: Strengthen the Guardrails of Democracy

Intellectual bankruptcy and moral hypocrisy

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Michael Gerson writing in the opinion section of The Washington Post:

The intellectual bankruptcy and moral hypocrisy of many conservative leaders is stunning. People who claimed to favor limited government now applaud Trump’s use of the executive branch to undermine an election. A similar attempt by Barack Obama would have brought comparisons to Fidel Castro. People who talked endlessly about respecting the Constitution affirm absurd slanders against the constitutional order. People who claimed to be patriots now spread false claims about their country’s fundamental corruption. People who talked of honoring the rule of law now jerk and gyrate according to the whims of a lawless leader.

Read the whole article: The moral hypocrisy of conservative leaders is stunning

Kathleen Parker’s mea culpa is spot on

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Writing articles that admit you made a mistake is never easy. Kathleen Parker’s I was wrong about Trump. He won, and he broke us, is a well written look back at views that did not stand the march of future events.

For me she got to the heart of the damage done in the last four years with this.

Trump’s call to overthrow the 2020 election, which gained traction through a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) against four swing states, has exposed the underbelly of the GOP. There’s nothing some Republicans won’t do to hold on to power, even at the expense of the country’s dwindling chances to unite in common cause. Seventeen additional Republican attorneys general joined Paxton’s suit, while 126 Republican House members signed an amicus brief supporting Paxton’s request that the Supreme Court overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. The court dismissed the request Friday night. 

As she says, “what’s wrong with you people?” To which I add, have you no shame?