Day of Infamy

 One year ago, January 6th, 2021 -- a date that will live in infamy -- the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by the disciples of the Empire of Donald Trump.  My apologies to the former president, Franklin Roosevelt, for paraphrasing his famous Infamy speech.  Given the seriousness of the events of that day, January 6th will go down in history as the first such attack (insurrection) on our capital since the cornerstone was laid by George Washington on September 18, 1793.*  Not even during the Civil War was the capital attacked.  It took Donald John Trump and his minions to spoil a perfect record of 228 years.  This was the first time in our history that a sitting president planned and attempted to violently disrupt the peaceful transition of power.

[* It was burned during the War of 1812, a few bombs were set off to protest a variety of personal causes, no insurrection]  

Slowly over the past year, we have learned how this national tragedy unfolded.  We now know that Donald Trump, Peter Navarro, and Steve Bannon, along with a select group of insiders, carefully planned to have important members of Congress challenge the election results in several key states in hopes that the certification of the results of the election would be stalled.  The operation was given a name, “the Green Bay Sweep*.”  If the certification could have been stalled, there were over 100 members of congress, and a large group of GOP legislatures, governors, and judges who were committed to the plan.  Senior Justice Department official, Jeffrey Clark was working to flip the election and promoted the idea to have Trump remove the current acting attorney general to support their efforts.

* Note:  The Green Bay Sweep was a football tactic used by the legendary Vince Lombardi during his time with the Green Bay Packers.  In it, Paul Hornung (the Golden Boy) would take the ball and run parallel to the line of scrimmage while blockers would move to that same side before Hornung would make his move forward.  On January 6th, Mike Pence was the Golden Boy and that large group of GOP congressmen and congresswomen would be the blockers.

Paul Hornung running the Green Bay Sweep

In the hands of someone smarter than the inexperienced Trump, the insurrection might have succeeded.  Had Mike Pence refused to certify the results, as had been suggested to him by his boss, things could have gone very differently.  Former VP Dan Quayle convinced Pence that this was a very bad idea.  On the day of the certification, 147 Republicans voted to overturn the election results based on vague allegations of widespread voter fraud.  They had no proof of any fraud but that was not important.

Actually, the riotous mob that stormed the capitol at the direction of then-President Donald Trump, and further inspired by other speakers at his rally, may have thwarted the coup.  Their disruption of proceedings forced a recess until later that evening.  When they resumed the certification, the debate over the Arizona results continued briefly but eight members in that list of 147 members abandoned their objections and other state result debates were scrapped.

All post-election lawsuits have been thrown out of court.  That happened with 96 different judges, many appointed by Trump.  The Supreme Court rejected a Texas lawsuit seeking to challenge over 20 million votes in four states not named Texas.

Even at the anniversary of the insurrection, Trump is still promoting his big lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen by massive voter fraud.   Many Republican leaders in Congress still promote that same lie.  Many of his followers believe the big lie.  The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, a part of Homeland Security, found no evidence that any voting machines were compromised.  Even Trump’s own Cyber Ninjas, hired to investigate massive voter fraud in Arizona, failed to find any fraud.  In fact, they found that Biden won by a slightly larger margin.

In America, true Patriots include Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, George Washington, and Tom Brady*.  Donald Trump, on the other hand, joins the ranks of Aldrich Ames, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Robert Hanssen, and John Walker Jr., as traitors to our democracy and all that it stands for.

[* For the record, Tom Brady has retired to Florida and has taken up a new hobby with some Buccaneers.]

January 6th will continue to be a day of infamy.  Perhaps not as big as Pearl Harbor, but certainly a day that marks a serious attack on our democracy with a similar risk of the loss of our freedoms.  December 7, September 11, and January 6 will all be listed as dark days in our nation's history.  A defeated Donald Trump has retired to his lair in Mar-a-Lago but still remains a threat.  We can only hope that the investigations are fruitful and that not just the low-hanging fruit ends up in jail.  I won’t hold my breath, but one can hope.