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Wednesday’s storming of the Capitol should not have come as a surprise to anyone who has paid attention to Donald Trump’s election-related conspiracy-mongering in the weeks since November 3. Politico’s chief political correspondent Tim Alberta has been interacting with Trump supporters for months now and joins today’s show to explain why Wednesday’s Capitol siege was almost inevitable: “What we saw at every step of the way was a coordinated and deliberate campaign” by the president, high ranking Republicans, and far-right media personalities “to deceive the American public,” Alberta tells Sarah and Steve.
Show Notes:
-“Jan. 6 Was 9 Weeks — And 4 Years — in the Making” by Tim Alberta in Politico.
-American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump by Tim Alberta.
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"My fear is that every minute we are removed from what happened Wednesday the sting of it is going to be less intense." This makes so much sense to me. I find it profoundly upsetting and devastating that all of this may well be normalized in two weeks. There was a point where we didn't elect presidents who grab women the pussy. There was another point where we didn't accept leaders who bribed Ukraine to influence the election. The thought that the all of the violence and treason that happened can and may well be swept under the rug in short order rocks me to my bones.
It's like if 9/11 happened and then on 9/17 all of America said, "Wait, what was it that happened last week?" And the one guy holding his "Never Forget!" sign just sat and cried and cried like I am wanting to do.
My prediction is that unless Trump tries to overthrow the republic ONE MORE time before January 20, very few House Republicans will get on board with impeachment and it will go nowhere in the Senate. The path of least resistance is just too attractive if you can convince yourself that this will ALL be over in just 12 days.
Republican leadership are treating Donald Trump exactly the same way Donald Trump handled Covid - by closing their eyes, clicking their heels, and repeating over and over and over again, “There’s no place like home!” The resulting health and economic disaster from Trump’s covid strategy was predictable and inevitable.
The consequences of allowing a grievance-filled public and ethically challenged politicians believe that there will be no answer, no punishment, for a president who directed a violent insurrection at the US Capitol for the specific purpose of impeding democracy, is that the grievance-filled public will continue to elect ethically challenged politicians to come to Washington and impede democracy.
The people have got the bit in their teeth and the stampede to disaster is well under way. This will not end unless Republican leadership bites the bullet and uses the mechanism gifted to us by our farsighted founders to make it end. The time to make it happen is right now, and they are missing their moment.