The Man Who Couldn’t Be King

It was, as the soon-to-be-former-president has been known to say, sad. A sad, sad day that unleashed a devastating fury and depression that ricocheted across an already deeply beleaguered nation. A moment in history that served as a searing reminder of just how divided and fraught we are.

Rioters, at the U.S. Capitol to “Stop the Steal” and protest the Electoral College votes that President Trump said were rigged, came in all sorts of gear. Guns, ammunition, Molotov cocktails and a crossbow for starters. Some wore American flags; others chose to display the Confederate one. There were those cloaked in pelts and horns, MAGA hats, and others wore sweaters that praised the Holocaust. And they were at the Capitol at the instruction of the president.

It seemed, as the rioters smashed, hit and catapulted their way into those hallowed halls of democracy and freedom on January 6, that this moment was yet another painful reminder of how the game of politics had backfired on those who had played fast and loose with their oath of office. Those who kept silent as a deranged madman ran wild and unchecked as he reveled in what he deemed was his unbridled executive power. A group that was either muted by their terror that they might lose MAGA votes, or shackled to a monster they had helped create.

These Republicans stood firmly behind a president who used his bully pulpit to try to extort a foreign leader into dishing dirt on his rival and his rival’s son, and provided unwavering support when the president politicized and mocked mask-wearing throughout a pandemic that has ruthlessly taken nearly 400,000 American lives. Some stood silent, and others took the helm, helping to peddle and perpetuate the president’s unfounded and incessant claims of election fraud.

They were noticeably reticent when Trump belligerently continued to hold super-spreader rallies. They stood by him when he seemed to placate dictators. There were some mutterings and expressions of consternation though, when Trump told the Proud Boys, a white supremacist group, to “stand back and stand by.” These concerned GOP members pretended to be shocked that a man who had courted right-wing groups throughout his campaign and presidency, would fail to condemn extremism.

But they were well aware that Trump during his 2016 campaign had failed to denounce former Ku Klux Klan leader, David Duke. Did they fail to recall that he said there were some “very fine people on both sides” when addressing the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va.? Let’s not forget that from the moment he announced his intention to run for president, his campaign often pandered to a racist ideology. He vilified Mexican immigrants and spoke of a border wall that he said Mexico would pay for. Once in office, he enacted a travel ban on Muslims. He denounced Black Lives Matter protests, and was eager to send in the National Guard to a number of cities despite the objections of several mayors, who felt that would only escalate tensions. Families were ripped apart at the border between the U.S. and Mexico as part of a “zero tolerance” policy for adults illegally crossing the border. As of December, the parents of nearly 630 children separated from their families due to Trump policies were still not located, according to reports.

Trump and his cabinet were restrictive and hostile to news outlets and certain journalists that published pieces they deemed unfavorable — labeling them manufacturers of “alternative facts” and enemies of the people. (The notorious clash between Trump and CNN’s Jim Acosta all the way back in 2018, may leap to mind.) He exploited fears, sowing division and chaos, never really trying to mend the wounds, unrest, and racial inequality that plagues our nation. And he waxed poetic with nostalgia for those all so pristine suburbs.

And there was also Trump’s infamous photo-op in front of the historic St. John’s Church. Peaceful BLM protestors were hit with pepper spray to clear the way for Trump. In the days following that episode, Trump and his team denied that the riot control agent had been used on the crowd. Throughout all this, he preached a message of “law and order.”

Yet, the self-appointed deliverer of America seemed to forget about that same law and order on the fateful day of the Capitol siege, telling his disciples “we fight like hell,” and “if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” And with that he rallied his MAGA troops to march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol building; a sentiment echoed by his cronies. He did all this despite U.S. intelligence reports warning of violent domestic extremists, and posts by extremist groups advertising and coordinating funding for their planned violence. One such post from a member of the Red-State Secession group’s Facebook page read that “if you are not prepared to use force to defend civilization, then be prepared to accept barbarism.”

And just like that, Americans watched in horror as a Batman movie and monster truck rally crossover unfolded in our Capitol, resulting in untold destruction and the loss of five lives.

But this was all in the making.

For months Trump had waged a campaign based on delusional claims of election fraud, with his sycophants in Congress echoing his misinformation. His cronies nodded and defended him in public, telling the emperor as he stood bare, drenched in hysteria, that his clothes looked not only fine, but great.

This Caligula tried to apply political pressure on state officials, asking them to procure the magical votes that still would not have amounted to a win. And when that failed, he turned to his MAGA soldiers, inciting them with repeated falsehoods that his election had been stolen.

As it grew closer and closer to the inevitable day when he would have to step down, this Macbethian figure’s panic increased, perhaps worried about the fallout and investigations into his conduct, his family and organization, that will inevitably intensify once he leaves office.

We watched his unraveling in real time, the undoing and downfall of a man many disenfranchised looked to in blind awe as some sort of messianic figure. We witnessed the culmination of this Shakespearean tragedy, aghast, with mouths open, as the protestors stormed the Capitol, sent like pawns to a pointless, futile fight. We were stunned at how woefully unprepared the U.S. Capitol Police were and shocked by images that appeared to show police letting rioters into the Capitol.

As the Capitol was under siege and senators were evacuated to another room, Trump called a senator to ask him to make additional objections to the Electoral College vote. No reports suggest that he was concerned with the well-being of these lawmakers or of the safety or whereabouts of Vice President Mike Pence. We later found out he initially balked at calling the National Guard, and that it was Pence, the 11th hour defector, who made the call.

Many from his cabinet are trying to jump ship amid the flames and fury, and congressional Republicans are now attempting to distance themselves from the demagoguery, but it’s not fooling anyone. It’s clear that they had all but aided and abetted him.

In the wake of calls for a second impeachment, it was no shock that after telling his supporters they were loved and that they were great defenders of the country, their general then did what all too many Trump loyalists have experienced; he turned on them, saying “those who engaged in the acts of violence and destruction, you do not represent our country.” He ominously added, “to those who broke the law, you will pay.”

“E tu, Brute?”

Now, our Capitol is in barricades, our country imploding from its polarization, and a new inauguration overshadowed by the dust of the past four years.

If only there had been some system of checks and balance to stop this affront to democracy and national security.

As we look toward inauguration day, perhaps this quote from Shakespeare’s King Lear sums up these last four whirlwind years:

“Think’st thou that duty shall have dread to speak when power to flattery bows? To plainness honor’s bound when majesty falls to folly.”