Epiphany and Sedition at the Capitol

 Of the many cliches regularly abused in media reports, probably the worst is "wake-up call."  At once inappropriate and most often inaccurate, it supposes that the reason that something--or the importance of something--has not been acknowledged is that everyone has been asleep.  There have been so many wake-up calls about Trump and his Republican enablers over the years that it's a wonder anybody got even a catnap.

And yet here we are, deep in the same nightmare.  The storming of the Capitol, mobs roaming through the House and Senate chambers and offices, while forcing elected officials and their staffs to seek safety, with damage and death in their wake, is supposed to be the latest wake-up call from any illusion that the individual in the White House is not our Homegrown Hitler, who in that tradition, today publicly fomented violence and sent a violent mob to attack the elected legislature.

Another, better word for what "wake-up call" really means in this context is epiphany--the truth made manifest in a sudden blinding realization.  And as Speaker Pelosi noted when the Congress defied the violent mob and returned to their business, January 6 is the Feast of the Epiphany in the Christian calendar.

Unfortunately for some elected officials, that business was to continue an act of sedition, of attempting to nullify the votes of Americans in a legal election.  The day's violence deterred some, but not the many House Members who insisted on their pious windbag five minutes in the middle of the night.   Nevertheless, at around 3:30 a. Eastern, the Congress fulfilled its necessary but basically ceremonial duty to affirm finally that in two weeks Joseph R. Biden will be inaugurated President, and Kamala Harris Vice-President.

In the wake of this I scan the headlines with charges of sedition and "President Trump has committed treason" and many calls by current and former high officials and major organizations for Trump's immediate removal from office, either by invoking the 25th amendment (which is reportedly under discussion by at least aides to the Cabinet officials who must make that determination) or Impeachment and Conviction.

Will those voices grow louder, or will they fade tomorrow?  Was this an epiphany, or another wake-up call ignored?  Can a wake-up call break through social media hypnotism, or the functional hypnotism of craven political ambition?  Can an epiphany move to action?

Another epiphany of the day is how broken the Trump administration is.  On a day that the Capitol building was assaulted, overwhelming the unprepared Capitol Police (with some indication that some were even complicit), there was not an official word from the federal government: not from Justice, not from Homeland Security, the FBI, anyone.  Certainly not from the White House, where someone sought fit to leak their impression that Trump was pleased by the attack.

Instead there were a few almost comic resignations--the First Lady's chief of staff, the WH social secretary--and rumors of other more senior resignations to come--which will add to the chaos that has become the Trump administration.  

Otherwise, the media is full of opinion, which is perhaps all it can be filled with since so many reporters are working from home during the covid crisis, while we are very much short of facts.  Thursday may turn out to be even more dramatic,  stoked by whatever is happening behind the scenes.  Because in terms of public information we are in a dark void.