January 6, 2021 - At the Time; and Now
"Either this nation shall kill racism, or racism shall kill this nation." S. Jonas, Aug., 2018
US Capitol view from Newseum. A view that the Fascists would certainly eliminate.
(Image by Gareth Milner) Details DMCA
An Introduction
Was it just a year ago that a soon-to-be-former President, by all accounts --- journalistic, Congressional, legal --- that have been made public to date, actually attempted to stage what in other countries would have been called a "coup d'etat" (that is, seizure of state power by force, or [in nations that have them] unconstitutional means)? Yes, indeed it was. And whatever the ultimate outcome of those events --- which, given the Constitutional structure of the United States which gives totally unbalanced political and governmental powers to one of the two principal political parties, has yet to be determined --- it will go down in U.S. history as, so far, one of the two Constitutionally most disruptive events that have occurred in the nation's life-span.
The most destructive was of course the assault on the Constitutional structure of the nation in order to maintain and expand the institution of slavery. The two others --- with potential, shall we say --- were the "Nullification Crisis of 1832" and the abortive fascist plot to overthrow the Roosevelt Administration in 1933. Millions of words have already been written on the events of the day, the plotting that led up to it, and what has happened since in the ongoing attempts of Trump and his close allies, and what for some time I have called the "Republo-fascist Party," to set the stage for electoral processes in 2022 and 2024 designed to lead to the same overall results (whether or not Trump or another Republo-fascist occupies the Oval Office. Actually, it might be better to have someone other than Trump in that role, since he seems to prefer the private dining room just off the O.O. to the grand room itself.)
About this Column
This column has two parts. In the first, I present some of my recollections of the day itself and a few of the ones that came right after it. In the second, I present excerpts from an essay by my friend Joshua Nessen which in my view so well summarizes where we are now and also presents some thoughts on what needs to be done to prevent what I, and an increasing number of other observers, like Robert Reich (currently) and Paul Krugman (in an essay published on the day after the Insurrection) are referring to as the "attempted fascist takeover." As my regular readers know, I use a definition of fascism based on how that governmental form appeared in the five fascist powers of the last century, Hungary, Italy, Germany, Japan, and Spain:
"There is a single, all-powerful executive branch of government, in service of a capitalist ruling class that controls, for the most part, the functions of production, distribution, finance, and exchange. There is no separation of the principal governmental powers: executive, legislative, and judicial. There are no independent media. There is a single national ideology, based on some combination of racism, misogyny, religious bigotry and authoritarianism, homophobia, and xenophobia. There is a political party supporting the movement. There is a state propaganda machine using the big and little lie techniques. There may be a full-blown dictatorship, a charismatic leader, engagement in foreign wars, and the use of the mob/private armies to enforce governmental control."
It is some form of this 20th century model that Trump and his Republo-fascist allies are aiming to establish in the U.S.
SJ on The Day and soon After
Sometime on the early afternoon of The Day I was working at my desk on one project or another, obviously without AOL up on the computer screen. I received a phone call from my Lady Lee: "Are you watching television?" Well, I wasn't, but then I quickly was. And what was unfolding before my eyes was for me quite unbelievable. Here was the mob outside the Capitol, getting bigger and bigger. Here were the "Hang Mike Pence" chants and an actual built gallows with a noose that appeared to be very well made (although I have seen them only in the movies) and when I first heard them, I did not understand their significance. Here was the sea of "Trump banners" of various sizes and design, but all seemingly very well made. Here were a variety of costumes and make-ups, which must have taken quite some time to design and put together. Here was at least one Confederate Battle Flag (there is no Confederate flag) being waved around inside the Capitol. Here was the assault on the police outside the Capitol, then inside the Capitol, then attempting to get into the House Chamber, then Capitol police (and others) with guns drawn, and it went on for hours.
I must admit that I did not watch the whole thing, because I could not believe what was appearing before my eyes. One could see this in fascist assaults on Constitutional government in say, Chile, or Guatemala, or the Dominican Republic, or Greece, or Myanmar, but not in the U.S., even with a man whom I (and indeed numbers of others) had been referring to as "fascist" for some years now in the White House. But there it was. And there was no broadcast reaction from the President for some hours, there was no National Guard for some hours. At one point an FBI contingent very prominently marched into the Capitol and I thought "finally, 'the Feds' are doing something about this." But apparently, they were marching in only to collect and protect the Electoral Vote forms.
But some kind of organized plot by Trump and his allies? How could that be, here, even if it is Trump --- and his allies? As late as last August, the FBI was saying : "[that it] has so far found no evidence that he or people directly around him were involved in organizing the violence, according to the four current and former law enforcement officials." Well now we have the House Committee, which has gathered tons of evidence to the contrary from participants and others, and things are beginning to look rather different. But before I share with you my friend's comments on the current situation, let me just note a couple of thoughts that occurred to me at the time or shortly thereafter.
First, if there was no organization, where did all those flags and banners come from? They had to designed, they had to be produced, they had to be transported to Washington, and they had to be distributed to members of the gathering mob. Who organized that endeavour, who paid for it, and who carried it out --- without, of course, "any advance, organized planning"? Second, and this of course was widely noticed, why was there that bunch of leading Republicans, Graham, McCarthy, and etc., who at first condemned the riot/insurrection but then very quickly (VERY quickly in certain cases) abandoned that position and came scurrying over to Trump's side. How and why did that happen? What were they being told that they were being told just before and immediately after the events of the day? Knowing those details could be very helpful in unraveling the whole thing. But let's stop here with a consideration of some of the details of where we were then and turn to this brilliant overview of where we are now, by my friend Joshua Nessen (used with his permission).
Joshua Nessen, a Memorandum, 1-4-22
"I just viewed a compilation of videos showing how the Trump-inspired Insurrection unfolded nearly a year ago on January 6, 2021. It is chilling viewing. Fed the Big Lie for months by Trump and his allies [see SJ column: Click Here], even before the voting began, that Trump had won the election [or would], thousands of his supporters, including highly organized body-armored white Supremacist groups led by the Proud Boys and Oath keepers, stormed the Capitol to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the electoral college that Biden won by a large margin. . . .
"January 6th was the face of fascism, which is all about the negation of democracy. And as Trump said that day before giving the final exhortation to his mob to march on the Capitol, January 6 would just be the beginning. For the past year, the Republican Party --- fully folding into Trump's fascist flock --- has passed laws in numerous states to enable the Party to fix the next Presidential election in 2024. The objective has been to remove the conditions of easier ballot access and independent state election officials that stopped Trump in 2020. Laws have been passed to limit access to the ballot through limiting mail-in and early voting, [and} drop boxes in Democratic areas; and [establishing] ID requirements [that are easy to get in Repub. areas, but difficult to get in Democratic areas], while giving Republican-state Legislatures the power to override independent State election officials, and appoint their own "electors" in the Electoral College in place of those chosen by the vote of the state's citizens.
"The U.S. Supreme Court by all indications is going along with this 'legalized' fascist Insurrection by refusing to overturn this restrictive State legislation, notably in Arizona. This will likely have an impact in the 2022 mid-term elections and control of the House and Senate, and the 2024 Presidential election. This is particularly the case if Republicans control both chambers and will again be called on to certify the results of the Electoral College in 2025. Keep in mind that on January 6, 2021, the day all their lives were threatened by the Insurrection, 121 House Republicans still objected to certification of Arizona's electoral outcome and 138 to Pennsylvania's, and were joined by a smaller number of Senators, notably Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley [who proposed a special "ten-day recount period" that is nowhere to be found in the Constitution --- you could look for it too --- and not likely found in the Constitutional Law course that Cruz took at Harvard Law either]. Many of these Republican politicians continue to endorse the Big Lie, and indeed just 22% of all Republicans believe Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 election.
"Democracy is in jeopardy. Unless the Democratic Party will suspend the filibuster to enable passage of federal legislation to overturn the Republican state level measures, the Republicans may well succeed in their legalized fascist [long-term] Insurrection and take back the Presidency in 2024, with either Trump himself or one of his ilk, such as Florida Governor DeSantis as the candidate.
"The implications of a complete Republican takeover of all branches of Government, or even just the Presidency are enormous. First, it will in effect be an undemocratic fascist coup, since it will be built not on winning over people to policies, but on suppressing and negating votes. Second, with Republicans in control there is no chance that the United States will effectively address the [rapidly oncoming] Climate Change that threatens the survival of global civilization [and already affects, for example, the U.S. at the micro level, with the massive Boulder Country Houses Fire in Colorado, the previously unseen tornados in Kentucky, Incredible Alaska Warming, and the I-95 freeze-up in Virginia]. Without our leadership, other countries will also not take the needed measures to save the planet.
"The stakes in stopping Republican fascism could not be higher. Whatever the numerous shortcomings of the Democratic Party, unless that party prevails in 2024, there is no hope of stopping Climate Change and enacting any legislation to address unmet human needs. As the ability of just one West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin (with his coal stockholdings) to slow down if not prevent progress even now, it will always be rough sledding to overcome the power of the fossil fuel industry, and the general power of Corporate American to block sensible measures such as paid family leave, and federal negotiation on drug prices embraced by most advanced nations."
[Josh then puts it VERY briefly.] "In this context, we need to support the focus on the organized attack by the Republican Party on democracy and do all we can to educate people about this fascist threat."
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Note: In future columns I will be dealing with certain relevant issues such as the prospects for forming a Popular Front, the prospects that the bourgeois Constitutionalist wing of the U.S. ruling class will pull itself together in time to forestall the Republo-fascist government takeover, how Trump has changed the GOP (if he really has done so --- or was it just on its way to becoming what it has become, anyway), and the prospects for civil war/secession.