Rosenblum writes: "Arrests need to begin today. Everyone who flouted the law in plain sight needs to answer for it."
Pro-Trump protesters storm the Capitol Building, January 6. (photo: Reuters)
08 January 21
he first thing a reporter learns when covering a gulag or shithole run by a mad king is how to read signals to the aroused rabble and gestures to the Gestapo. It’s harder in Romanian, Serbo-Croatian or Lingala. But Trump’s pidgin English is so unmistakably clear he might as well have bright red flash cards and an interpreter signing at his shoulder. I watched him on Fox, as usual, making sure no blunt movable objects were nearby to ruin yet another TV set.
As in every speech, he hammered away at a favorite line. Any anarchist commie terrorist who disrespected the statue of an America hero, enslavers and Indian exterminators included, would be jailed for 10 years. He berated the three Supreme Court justices he put on the bench for siding with the people over him. Then, after an avalanche of horseshit about a stolen election, he ordered his howling mob to the Capitol, saying he would likely be there with them. Fat chance. He went back to our White House to watch.
Throughout Trump’s term we’ve seen the Capitol cops operate with higher authority. Their favorite tactic is the “kettle,” herding protesters, reporters and hapless tourists passing by into clusters to be carried off in paddy wagons. Journalists only doing their jobs spent months on end fighting charges that could have put them away for decades. We all saw Trump’s insane foray to hold a Bible upside down, protected by a four-star general in combat fatigues, cops in riot gear flailing batons with high-tech sonic weapons at the ready.
Yesterday, the world watched, stupefied, as louts in battle costume swarmed into the Capitol unhindered, trashing our representatives’ offices, pawing through their files, taking selfies and exchanging high fives before filing out unhindered before ignoring a 6 p.m. curfew. Grinning assholes smirked at TV cameras, flipping us all the finger. Video shows lone cops fleeing in panic or, in an alarming number of cases, standing back in apparent approval.
In the District of Columbia, the National Guard responds to a Pentagon that Trump has packed with his shameless sycophants. As the mob ransacked America’s seat of power, Virginia state police eventually rolled up in soft cars. By the time serious reinforcements arrived, a woman was shot dead – no one gave reporters any details – and three people died of unexplained medical conditions.
Remember those fiery demands for harsh punishment when a handful of Portland protesters tossed the odd projectile at a federal building guarded by heavily armed DHS stormtroopers?
I watched Hong Kong protests erupt in 2019 and followed them closely. At the peak, crowds swarmed into the legislative council as disciplined police phalanxes stood by with shields – and cameras. They allowed protesters to wear themselves out, but every face was registered. When Beijing had enough, jail cells filled.
This was no movement of courageous citizens fighting to retain a modicum of freedom. It was a flat-out terrorism instigated by an elected president who should have been impeached or removed by the 25th Amendment years ago.
Congress did us proud by re-emerging from hiding to finish its ceremonial role of confirming the people’s choice. But still. It was an eerie scene of business-as-usual. Ben Sasse spoke with his usual folksy homilies. Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz and a few other faithless hypocrites continued their treacherous demand for a 10-day review of election results that 60-plus court cases upheld.
Arrests need to begin today. Everyone who flouted the law in plain sight needs to answer for it. On January 21, prosecutors in New York, Georgia, Florida – and Washington D.C. – need to hold Trump, his family and their criminal entourage to account. If not, our claim to “rule of law” government is a pathetic joke. None of our allies is laughing, but each of our adversaries is popping Champagne corks.
Mort Rosenblum has reported from seven continents as Associated Press special correspondent, edited the International Herald Tribune in Paris, and written 14 books on subjects ranging from global geopolitics to chocolate. He now runs MortReport.org.
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