Tag: insurrection

deterioration

Vote for Democrary #52


(Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash)

The Trump/Vance administration is becoming increasingly unhinged, vindicative, violent, threatening, lawless, and terrifying.

I’m increasingly afraid that Trump will do something from which future administrations will not be able to recover.

One of those things is Trump’s threats to own Greenland, which is a self-governing territory of Denmark. Denmark is a long-time ally of the United States and a member of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization which has prevented a third World War breaking out in Europe since 1949. Part of the treaty is that any member can ask the others to come to their aid if they are attacked. This is in Article 5 and has only been invoked once, when NATO allies, including Denmark, deployed their militaries to defend the United States after the Al-Qaeda attacks on September 11, 2001. In fact, Denmark suffered the greatest casualty count as a proportion of population of any of the NATO members in that conflict. Because of Trump’s threats against Greenland, troops from other NATO nations have arrived on the island to bolster its defenses and, I hope, deter Trump from taking military action there. The United States has long maintained a military presence in Greenland, currently the Pituffik Space Base. If Trump attacks Greenland and Denmark invokes Article 5, the other member states would come to their aid and be at war with the United States. This would break NATO and destabilize the global order. It’s a huge, looming danger and I hope Trump will follow our law and drop his ridiculous idea of taking control of Greenland, but I don’t know what will happen.

On the domestic side, Trump is threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act and send US military forces to Minnesota, even though there is no actual insurrection and the governor, other state and local government officials, and the residents there object to the current federal ICE agents deployed, who have already wreaked havoc in the state. The military does not belong on our streets and is prohibited from being there by the Posse Comitatus Act. Of course, the disgusting fact is that, during Trump’s first presidency, he enocuraged an actual insurrection on January 6, 2021 and then pardoned those who took part when he became president again last year. Trump is now “joking” about not holding elections in November but often his “jokes” turn into what he actually thinks and intends. It would take a huge military and law enforcement presence to prevent an election from occurring and there is a fear that Tump is trying to normalize using our military domestically so that he can prevent the election from happening or selectively suppress voting in places where Republican candidates would likely lose.

I could go on, but I think that will have to do for today.

Millions of us are using every nonviolent mechanism we can to oppose the actions and threats from Trump and his administration. Some members of Congress are finally standing up for democracy both here and abroad but we need more.

I lack the imagination to know what Trump might do next but I am increasingly terrified. Most Americans disapprove of what Trump and his administration are doing and are appalled at his actions against citizens, immigrants, and other countries. There has already been so much damage done and I know that there will be more before he can be stopped.

I just hope we can stop him and begin the hard work of repairing as much of the damage as possible.

*****
Join us for Linda’s Just Jot It January! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2026/01/16/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-16th-2026/

January 6th

Vote for Democracy #24

Under the United States Constitution, January 6th is the date that Congress meets in joint session to certify the electoral college votes for president and vice president that took place the prior November.

Today, this certification happened smoothly and quickly, marking the peaceful transfer of power that had been the norm in the US until it was shattered on January 6, 2021, when a mob violently stormed the Capitol after weeks of unfounded claims by Donald Trump and his team that the election had been stolen from him, even though government officials around the country had certified that the election results were fair and valid and dozens of court cases challenging the results had failed.

Members of Congress had to be evacuated to safer locations, but about 140 police officers were wounded in the assault, with five deaths being attributed to the attack and its aftermath. Donald Trump waited for hours to ask his supporters to leave the Capitol. When Congress re-convened later that night, there were still 147 Republicans who voted against certifying all the electors, which was unconscionable, given the threat that the riot had posed to them and their colleagues. (To read the most comprehensive report about the January 6th, 2021 attack, please visit this link, which has the full report from the House Select Committee plus supporting materials, such as court documents, videos, interviews, and depositions.)

Despite all of this, Donald Trump managed to convince enough voters that the attack didn’t happen at all, that it was a “day of love,” and that the people who had been convicted at trial or had pleaded guilty in the attack planning or execution were political prisoners, that he won the 2024 election which was certified today.

Trump has indicated that he may pardon all or most of the convicted after he is inaugurated on Jan. 20th. He has threatened to arrest the people in Congress and the Justice Department who investigated the attack and his role in it.

I will continue to be part of the millions of Americans who believe in the truth, the Constitution, and the rule of law. Trump and his Republican gang cannot erase the mountain of evidence against them. Bizarrely, one of the things that Trump is claiming the members of the House Select Committee did was to destroy all the evidence; the link above shows that they instead made the evidence public.

Don’t fall for Trump’s lies about January 6th, 2021 or anything else. Look at the evidence. Find the truth and proclaim it.

We are going to need to do it a lot to get through these next four years with our democracy functioning.
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Join us for Just Jot It January! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/01/06/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-6th-2025/

January 6

January 6, like December 7 and September 11, has entered the consciousness of the United States as a date on which we were attacked. January 6 is more painful to me because the attack was perpetrated by our own citizens, animated by lies about the integrity of the 2020 election.

The harm of the attack on the Capitol was compounded by over one hundred members of Congress who voted on January 7 against certifying the votes from some states, despite dozens of recounts, audits, and court cases verifying the accuracy of the vote count. Investigations since have also shown there was no widespread voter fraud or irregularities with the 2020 election.

Strangely, the same people who insist the 2020 election was rigged have discounted the election interference that took place in the 2016 election. This interference, which was known publicly in part before the election and elucidated further by the Mueller report and the talking indictments of Russian operatives after the election, could have impacted the result of the election, especially in the targeted districts that the Trump campaign told the Russians about from their internal campaign polling data.

After the Republicans refused the opportunity to set up an independent investigation of the events leading up to January 6 and the day itself, the House of Representatives set up a special committee, which has been meeting for months. There has been some public testimony and there will probably be more coming soon. I try to hope that this will be helpful in showing what happened and why – and who was responsible for the violence and the lies that have weakened our country and its democratic norms.

It is obvious that Trump has been the loudest voice saying the elections are rigged, but his own words dating back to 2016 show that, for him, “rigged” equals I lost and “fair” equals I won. It has nothing to do with accurate counts of votes cast or fair voter registration and ballot access or lack of foreign interference.

What is even more disheartening is that the Republican party, which had an opportunity to stand up for the fairness of the election, our democratic system, and the Constitution, chose instead to undermine our government in a quest for power, even when that power is gained at the expense of the majority of our own citizens. While there have been a few brave Republicans who have stood up for the truth and for the Constitution – and many more who have abandoned the party altogether – most have supported the lies of the former president and have not voted for bills to help the country deal with the pandemic, the many needs of our people, and the strengthening of voting rights.

I am still in the UK visiting family on this first anniversary of the insurrection. If I were at home, I’d probably be watching coverage about it today, analyzing where the country stands and what the future might be. I would like to be hopeful, but I’m not. While I try to do what I can to spread facts, it doesn’t reach, let alone convince, those who have fallen victim to lies and conspiracy theories.

I will try, in the coming year, to do what I can to keep spreading facts, as will millions of others in their professional and personal lives, in hopes that we can get national voting rights legislation passed and that the Democrats can strengthen their majorities in order to govern more effectively. It’s probably too much to hope that the Republicans will decide to honor their oaths and help to govern, which is sad and frustrating and scary.

Who knows what the next year will bring and what January 6, 2023 will look like?
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Join us for Linda’s Just Jot It January! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2022/01/06/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-6th-2022/

One-Liner Wednesday: Liz Cheney

“There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.“
~ Rep. Liz Cheney (Republican of Wyoming) from her statement saying that she will vote in favor of the impeachment resolution against Donald Trump over his “incitement of insurrection”

This sobering quote is part of Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays and Just Jot It January. Join us! Find out how here: https://lindaghill.com/2021/01/13/one-liner-wednesday-jusjojan-the-13th-2021-snow-carolers/