As a libertarian, I have long opined against the evils of nationalism. I have opposed restrictions, e.g., in political dissent in terms of burning the flag and the like. Does that mean I don't have an appreciation of my American identity? No. I was born a military brat, and my late dad was career USAF; my two older uncles served in WWII, and my younger uncle, along with my Dad (the youngest of the family, served in the Korean War. I sought an officer's commission after earning my Master's in math, eventually joining the Navy, later being honorably discharged. I have worked as a contractor or consultant to various federal departments and agencies, particularly since 2004. I think in the early years of the blog I spoke how my heart would skip a beat, in the aftermath of 9/11, seeing a flag mounted on an overpass as I drove past it daily.
What has happened since Biden's election last November is nothing short of an abomination. I've written many critical posts of Trump, including my annual mock award, Bad Elephant of the Year. Trump had made it clear MONTHS BEFORE THE ELECTION he was unlikely to concede gracefully; he is still sensitive about losing the popular vote in 2016, which he blamed on unsupported "illegal voting". He had fought Vote By Mail from the get-go as institutionalized fraud. Never mind states have traditionally conducted elections under the Constitution--and Trump himself had taken advantage of absentee voting, which is in the same genre. Anyone with a functional brain knew that Trump would never accept an outcome short of his reelection with a built-in excuse. Two historically recent incumbents, Carter and GHW Bush, lost reelection in the context of a recession. Trump had almost never had a net positive job approval rating during his entire term, and he never led Biden the entire campaign. By any objective analysis, Trump has failed to manage the pandemic. Just take the botched COVID-19 testing rollout under his watch in CDC. Earlier detection of asymptomatic individuals could have mitigated propagation.
Seditious conspiracy (18 U.S. Code § 2384):
If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.
The Constitution: Article I, Section 8, Clause 15:
[The Congress shall have Power . . .] To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions; . .
Here are excerpts from Trump's January 6 rally before Congress was to go into session to ratify Biden's election (I'm not going to repeat Trump's trite recital of long-debunked crackpot election fraud conspiracy theory rubbish):
We will never give up. We will never concede, it doesn’t happen. You don’t concede when there’s theft involved....Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore and that’s what this is all about....We must stop the steal...you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong...And we fight. We fight like Hell and if you don’t fight like Hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore....So we’re going to, we’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue, I love Pennsylvania Avenue, and we’re going to the Capitol...
Here's the point: Trump took a Presidential oath. Among other duties under his responsibilities is to uphold our laws and Constitution; he's supposed to protect the government and government property. What are we supposed to do when the President himself fails to suppress a riot of his own making, basically including invasion and occupation of the Capitol with the intent of interrupting of a ratification he opposed and demanded VP Pence's unconstitutional intervention to reject?
This is not the first or only time that Trump has confounded his own vested interests with the national interest. An obvious precedent is when he unlawfully used allocated US aid to Ukraine to attempt to extort President Zelensky into opening a politically embarrassing investigation into political rival Joe Biden, over which he was justifiably impeached.
Trump has smeared our long cherished legacy of peaceful transfer of power. The part he played in Wednesday's unprecedented insurrection must not itself set its own precedent. Trump must be impeached again.
