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The Threat Within

We must never forget what occurred at the Capital on Jan 6, but we must not overlook the panoply of grievances, many of them unsupported by facts, that motivated the capital mob to action that day.

The primary threat to our country today is not Covid, it isn’t the economy, it’s not the environment, nor is it social disparity. While all of these represent urgent and truly daunting challenges, the greatest danger threatening us today is the threat from within: The threat within our citizenry, within the halls of Congress, and, until recently, within the White House.

It’s tempting to dismiss the people who stormed the capital as deranged bigots, but that would be a grievous error. They are our neighbors—the welfare mom, the Navy vet, the bartender, the off-duty police officer, the misguided legislator. These peoples’ actions may be the actions of insurrectionists, but they are also the actions, for the most part, of ordinary people who allowed themselves to be deceived by their president, by the pundits at conservative news sources, by their ministers.

They view their actions not as shameful conduct that poses a threat to our democracy: Rather they see themselves as saviors of our democracy, summoned to action to address an untenable, albeit fictional, wrong. The events that have transpired since January  6 appear, from their perspective, to be just more evidence of the accuracy of their beliefs.

But while their assumptions about the state of affairs in our country are incorrect, their dedication to those beliefs remains undiminished and their resolve to act on their beliefs undeterred.

What the majority of us see as a singular attack on our nation’s capital, these people celebrate as the first strike in a pending revolution, an initial victory among many victories to come.

Yet, heedless of this threat, Senate Republicans appear by some accounts poised to dismiss the threat to democracy embodied in the former president’s actions, to acquit him of the charge of incitement of insurrection against the government of the United States. Should they elect to do so, their action will only serve to further encourage those who would overthrow our government. In the MAGA cult’s eyes, it will vindicate the former president, or, more  accurately, confirm what they “knew” all along, that the impeachment was a farce from the beginning.

Does anyone not believe that such an  outcome will only amplify the former president’s ability to further influence these so-called patriots, stiffening  their resolve to initiate further actions in their crusade for “justice?”

These same senators are not blind to the stakes involved; most of them had a similar decision to make a year ago the first time the House held the former president to account for his actions. They fell short of fulfilling their duty then, and they will likely do so again this time, not because they mis-read the tea leaves, not because they misjudged this man’s character. They knew full well what he was capable of then, and they know it even better today. But will it persuade them to “do the right thing?”

Recent history is not encouraging or, put another way, sycophancy by any other name still remains sycophancy. These senators’ lack of a patriot’s heart is all the more evident as, in the name of patriotism, they repeatedly take actions that are decidedly unpatriotic.

There is no finer exemplar of this trait we call sycophancy than Lindsey Graham, as obsequious a legislator as ever haunted the halls of Congress. Unctuous and stultifying, a man who blithely takes smarmy to heretofore unseen depths, Graham is the perfect poster-boy for servile incivility.

Graham yesterday characterized the impeachment as “an absurd case” and  said Republicans were offended by the House managers’ presentation.

If the Senate does vote to acquit, Graham and his co-conspirators, for that is what they are—co-conspirators—will have earned themselves a special place in infamy alongside the likes of Aaron Burr and Jefferson Davis. And, true to their falseness,  they will have earned that distinction with dishonor!

And the fate of our country?

Well, thanks to the vote, that’s still up to us. For now, at least!

Tim Konrad                                                          February 11, 2021