Bravery

January Sixth Committee

From a Google Image Search - The Economic Times

It is tempting to summarize what I saw and heard in the presentation by the January Sixth Commission on Thursday, October 13, 2022. However, since Heather Richardson already did such a great job in her newsletter on Substack, Letters from an American, that would be redundant. It is also tempting to hammer away at Trump’s unusual and treasonous behaviors as they are being exposed by the commission. But what I really want to talk about is bravery and the lack thereof.

Bravery is defined as having or showing mental strength to face danger, fear, or difficulty. (Merriam Webster). Its twin term, courage, is defined as seeing a dangerous or scary experience and acting even though you are scared. I will always be grateful to our public servants who recognized the dangers Trump represents, who understood the events of January 6, who do not react with fear of Trump and his troops, and who have explored in great detail the events surrounding the violent acts on January 6. Honest members of our government knew that these acts were intended to prevent the counting of the electoral votes in the 2020 election so that Donald Trump could remain in power although he was not the winner of the election. If trying to subvert the votes of the American people and install yourself as President although you lost the election is not unconstitutional, I don’t know what is.

The members of the committee are:

Majority: Bennie Thompson – Chair - Mississippi, Zoe Lofgren – California, Adam Schiff – California, Pete Aguilar – California, Stephanie Murphy – Florida, Jamie Raskin – Maryland, Elaine Luria – Virginia  

Minority:  Liz Cheney - Vice Chair – Wyoming, Adam Kinzinger – Illinois

Although it is unclear how Donald Trump inspires fear in others, it is clear that he does possess that power. Is it because he talks in pugilistic images, shaking his fists as he verbally savages his enemies? Words are not enough to create fear. Is it that some people long to be considered an ally of his and then have to pass loyalty tests to stay in his good graces? A Don in a mafia organization backs his threatening behavior with threatening acts. Mafia members who betray the Don are killed; they disappear. As far as I know Trump has not killed anyone. But he does ostracize those who betray him, takes away his rather dubious protection and feeds them to the legal system.

Trump also encouraged the militia movements in the US to become his personal troops. He did this through his rallies, and his defense of gun ownership, his barely coded praise, and his suggestions that he supports white supremacy, racism, Christian nationalism, and xenophobia. Trump’s allies on social media, TV and radio tend to be radical rabble rousers like Steve Bannon and Alex Jones and those who tread the edges of legality like Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn and Roger Stone, figures who would generally be avoided by traditional politicians. The whiff of conspiracy theory, QAnon craziness, follows Trump everywhere.

Those who don’t respond to Trump’s pheromones or whatever it is he has that attracts the fringy, have long had a collective gut feeling that sentiments in the FBI, the Secret Service and even the military were leaning towards Trump. Some of the evidence presented in the recent commission presentation gives credence to our fears. Since Trump does not carry a gun or threaten to use anything other than an inert or Trump-allied justice system, his troops provide the threat of death that has barely manifested yet. We did get a foretaste on January 6 and there is the fear that violence could return if Trump were reelected in 2024.

For whatever reasons, fear of Trump is real. Since fear is such an important attribute for a dictator, an authoritarian leader, this quality in Trump increases our fears that he could possibly succeed in his power grab if we are not vigilant.

Fortunately, we have had the brave members of the United States House Select Committee to Investigate the January Sixth Attack on the United State Capitol or informally the January Sixth Committee, who seem immune to Trump’s scary “excretions”. These elected Representatives to the US House of Representatives were able to hold onto their sanity, to remain unemotional and painstakingly collect testimony about the events that preceded the violence of January 6. The committee has been able to sort through the timelines and the casts of characters, and, at every turn, to try to trace the actions of President Trump in fomenting violent activities on his behalf, and basking in his implied powers of persuasion as represented by this insurrection by watching what he had wrought on TV, for hours.

From a Google Image Search - CNN

From a Google Image Search - NHPR

Of course, the truly talented fearmonger that Trump is copying is Vladimir Putin and the Ukrainians offer an overwhelming example of bravery. Does the bravery of the Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and of the Ukrainian people help our government representatives with their own acts of bravery? Perhaps this is a moment for heroes and villains, for good and evil; a moment when morality becomes important, and calumny is exposed as bankrupt. Perhaps we are at the moment when everyday bravery saves our republic/democracy and breaks the spell of fake rebellions, forging a recommitment to our values so that we can build up that which is broken and save our planet in the bargain. We could just as easily allow those who fear progress and align with bad actors to grasp the reins of power and undermine the bravery of people who could lose power and be punished for their acts of courage if the wrong side wins.

For the brave saga of Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and Mike Pende