From the beginning of my military service nearly 50 years ago, until the last my last day in the Army in May 2016, I attended dozens of change of command ceremonies. After the flag is passed the new and out-going commanders often make a speech. Probably one in three of those speeches made a sincere nod to the American tradition of the peaceful transfer of power.
For the mostly conservative officers taking or relinquishing authority, they linked themselves to a 200-plus year American tradition--a hallmark of American exceptionalism.
But that ended one year ago today when the 45th President sent a mob to overturn the election he just lost. The coup d'etat was mere minutes from success. Hundreds of Trump supporters were screaming to kill Mike Pence. If they had managed to stop the vote, the election could have been thrown into the House of Representatives. That is the last possible place in which a disputed election can be decided according to the Constitution.
With one vote per state, Trump would have taken the election.
All of my adult life I had an implicit belief in progress in America: more rights for more people. The racist rednecks would recede, I believed.
With Trump's nomination and election, my belief cracked. After Charlottesville it was shattered. With January 6, it was gone. The end of democracy was only a matter of when.
America no longer has a tradition of the peaceful transfer of power. I voted for Joe Biden and hoped normal order could be restored in America. One year later, the democratic party is fighting about infrastructure and social programs and has done nothing to fix the electoral count act or secure voting. The Republicans are running MAGA candidates all over the country to get control of election counting. How much does voting really matter if the Republicans are in charge of counting.
In 2016, 63 million Americans voted for a failed casino owner who played a business man on a game show. In 2020, 74 million Americans watched a lying buffoon for four years and said they would like four more. The people who claim most publicly to be followers of Jesus (Love your neighbor; Love your enemies; turn the other cheek) worship Trump much more fervently than they follow anything Christ ever said or did. I have read and re-read the New Testament. Few people who have ever lived are less like Jesus than Donald Trump.
January 6, 2021, was a dress rehearsal. The command performance is three years away. In 2025, there will be no need for a mob to attack. The criminals will be in the building. They will use the power entrusted to them by the Constitution to end democracy.
The Roman poet Horace fought to preserve the Republic during the Civil War after Julius Caesar took power and was murdered. The Republicans lost. Horace was wounded and lost everything. When he recovered, he knew the Republic was gone, so he made peace with his circumstances and became a poet, living the best life he could.
