Jan 5
TRUMP is Dead, Part 3: Explore January 6 Anniversary Trends, and Re-Discover How Democracy Works
National Public Radio misrepresented the strengths of Democracy when they claimed, this week, “more than a third of America believes in the big lie.” I do not believe this, nor should most worldly citizens.
It is time to further isolate the incorrect and correct them, like those not wearing masks.
Perhaps a third of those reporting to the NPR or their sourced surveys that are Republicans may believe this horrid malformed version of the big lie. The key is only a third of the party, not the 330 Americans!
You can begin to break this down into factions of the wrong-headed: there are the January 6 defendants, the general State based claims about voter fraud, and the insurrectionist babble. Over time, we will find out more about each faction, but the key is to realize the position differs and they are fragments of fragments, not a “third of America.”
THIS IS PART OF THE AMERICAN WAY
I enjoyed James Fallows famous book, MORE LIKE US, where he says that the fundamental difference between the efficiency of Japan and the apparent harsh competitive ways of America is this:
The Japanese love order, and The American loves, and thrives in DISORDER. Yes, that is a key feature of our press, our markets, and our Democracy: intelligent, tolerant DISORDER.
Now that is different, fundamentally, than condoning violence against an election.
Since the time of our founding, THE FEDERALIST PAPERS predicted, and explained, how Democracy, with a big D, would withstand the stupidities and violence of the mob. Check is out again; it is a reassuring read — especially the contributions by John Jay and James Madison — as we approach the FIRST ANNIVERSARY of January 6.
On January 6, Los Angeles Times photographer Kent Nishimura was assigned to cover a pro-Trump rally at the Ellipse, just south of the White House. Former President Trump railed at the rally over what he falsely claimed was a stolen election and urged his supporters to march on the Capitol, where the results were being certified.
Nishimura followed them, documenting the attack on the Capitol in real time. As he sent in photos and video of the event, he let his GoPro camera, attached to his helmet, run as long as the battery could last. That footage had never been shown until now.
Video originally posted on the Los Angeles Times YouTube page on January 4, 2022.
Please read this opinion piece titled How to Stop Trump and Prevent Another Jan. 6 by Thomas L. Friedman published in the New York Times with this context and history in mind.
OK, let’s proceed. First, accept the NPR claim about a third, but refocus it like it is: It is about a third of the party’s current and fickle Republican party, and a much smaller number of Democrats or Independents or Anarchists in our midst. Where does that leave us at the anniversary?
IT IS MUCH BETTER THAN IT SEEMS
It is much better than it seems because Trump and Trumpism is dead.
From my prior two entries on this theme, you remember I am not saying he is dead in any way except as an internet force and as a political candidate. He is clearly losing ground day by day, month by month. And that death will continue into the midterm elections, where he will be completely a side-show. That is how Democracy works with losers.
As the world and Americans get the evidence displayed before them, by the press (all extremes), by the Congressional hearing, by the books that the Committee members will publish, by academics — it will become clear. Trump is dead, and his big lie is fraying.
The judicial process has already gathered more than 35,000 documents, tens of thousands of videos, extensive internet exchanges, and has begun to prosecute the most violent and the most coordinated.
Explore these facts. Dream about their consequences. Rediscover Where America Stands. Sure, some of the discoveries give us a better understanding how close we were to a coup, a full military based insurrection, where rats like Michael Flynn thought themselves heroes again.
We are now seeing in this week’s New York Times that there was a “secret” paramilitary group of protectors, starting with Michael Flynn, whose name I will keep out of this, that actually organized “protection” for those raiding the Capital. Now if that is not forethought about treason then I misread The Federalist Papers.
It is shocking to see that such a trained force was focused on protecting the big lie. But Democracy, in all of its grand and fierce disorder, will whittle away at these walled-in disbeliefs, and prove The Donald is dead.
