From the moment he took office, this president actively and with malice worked to undermine our government and turn our citizens into subjects. His operative definition of truth is monarchical: Truth is what Trump says it is. Facts which controvert his truth are dismissed as lies made by disloyal members of a vast conspiracy aiming to undermine his divine right to rule unchecked.
He surrounded himself with vacuous courtiers who understood that their survival depended not on their ability to pretend that Trump was wearing clothes but rather the certainty that he was actually wearing the best, most beautiful clothes they had ever seen. Eventually, they dropped all pretense of occupying a shared reality, and simply ignored facts, math, science and the law.
As with all tyrants, he weaponized hate, fear, blame and polarization, and proved those weapons powerful tools for power, profit, engagement, clicks and self-styled heirs to his throne. Perhaps the worst of his crimes is his systematic and relentless attacks on the rule of law and the authority of the government to conduct the people’s business which is the very definition of treason.
On January 6th, Donald Trump assembled a human incendiary device in our nation’s capital. Born of 10,000 lies endlessly repeated and fueled by 4 years of cultivated rage he lit the fuse and rolled it down Pennsylvania Avenue. Then watched it burn on TV from the Whitehouse. That is the act of a traitor, a madman and a coward.
And now, only hours later, our long national nightmare is nearly over. Joe Biden has finally been acknowledged as the president elect, and Georgia has assured his ability to govern. And we, the American people, having looked into the abyss of anarchy must find a way forward. Perhaps the simplest suggestion I can offer is that we must agree to start with the Truth.