Impeached, Bothered and Bewildered

On Wednesday, exactly a week after the attack on the Capitol and a week before the Inauguration of a new President, the current stain upon the White House named Trump was impeached by a furious U.S. House of Representatives for inciting an insurrection. He is the first President in history to be impeached twice, and as someone also observed, of the grand total of presidential impeachments, he has half.

 The Washington Post finds him “increasingly isolated, sullen and vengeful.” He reportedly made the most Trumpian of all threats against his lawyer Guliani by instructing aides not to pay him.

Only ten Republicans joined all Democrats in voting to impeach.  Still, it was the highest number in history to vote for the impeachment of a President of their own party.  

 Mitch McConnell, also playing his own characteristic political games in probably his last substantive act as Majority Leader, refused to convene the Senate to begin the trial before Trump runs out his term. If the trial is to begin immediately upon the Democrats taking the majority, it will be scheduled for part of the working days, while the Senate gets on with the crucial task of confirming the new Cabinet.

 But with National Guard troops everywhere in the Capitol complex, the House is not done with the immediate response to last week’s attempted coup, including investigating the actions of one or more Republican members the day before, in escorting people around the complex who were among those breaking in and terrorizing Members and congressional staff, on what one military veteran and Democratic Member described as “reconaissance.”

 Preparations to thwart threatened violence this weekend and next week are accelerating. National Guard presence in Washington has already been expanded to 20,000 and may be augmented again to 30,000 troops.  That means, according to a House Member, there are more American troops at the Capitol than in Afghanistan.

  Since it’s just a week until the Inauguration, the Secret Service has now formally taken over leadership. The most concern voiced on Wednesday was for the possibility of bombs and improvised explosive devices.

 Federal alerts have been sent to state capitals as well. But especially since certain Republicans, from Ted Cruz to the crazy QAnon lady in the House, continue to fan the flames, experts don’t think the violence will necessarily end after Inauguration Week. Said one counter-terrorism expert: “People are still looking at this with eyes wide shut. I mean, it is truly stunning. Misinformation and disinformation constitutes nothing less than a major public health crisis. I think this is really the consequence of where we are now after the last four years.”

 Do you have to be as old as me to see this in the light of history? The United States fought the Great War and suffered the flu pandemic. After the tumult of the 1920s there was the Great Depression that shook this nation to its foundations. That was immediately followed by the largest and most destructive global war in history. There were assassinations, turmoil and violence in the 1960s and 1970s over race and Vietnam. But in none of those decades was it necessary for there to be troops guarding inside the U.S. Capitol against a violent invasion. It hasn’t happened since the Civil War. 

 History will perhaps see more clearly how the Covid pandemic is part of this national threat to the government itself.  For more Americans have died (according to official statistics) in this covid crisis than died in combat in World War II. Covid deaths will likely equal the total number of American deaths in that war by this weekend.  And that carnage took some four years to accomplish.  We've seen it in less than one.

 And if you're looking for more Civil War parallels, getting to the number of deaths in that war--which equals or surpasses American deaths in all other wars combined-- is not really out of the question.  (That number is approximately 620,000, though recent scholarship suggests it was more like 750,000.) 

With legal and financial troubles closing in on Trump, his attention is likely to turn to pardons, especially of himself.  Though the constitutionality of a self-pardon is doubtful, he may well see it as what does he have to lose.   A CNN report suggests a batch of pardons could come today, to blow impeachment off the news.  But since Jared and Ivanka--among others-- haven't had a word to say in his defense recently, he may not be in the mood to pardon anyone, except his own impeached, bothered and bewildered self. 

Epiphany in Washington: What's Next?

A week that includes the almost certain Impeachment of a President is not normally described as quiet. But it may turn out to be, in contrast to the coming weekend and next week, including Inauguration Day in Washington.

 The House of Representatives has the votes to impeach Trump on the article charging him with inciting an insurrection on the Capitol. It is likely to be voted on exactly a week after the attempted coup, on Wednesday. Enough Democrats have already signed on as co-sponsors to pass it, while a small but growing number of Republicans let it be known they will consider voting for it. There may be as many as a dozen.  What happens regarding a Senate trial is still being discussed.

 As law enforcement investigations of the Capitol violence continue, and officials quarrel about who failed to do what, attention is also turning towards the plans of white supremacist and related terrorists groups for violence in Washington and all 50 state capitals this weekend and the following week.

 Homeland Security is beginning security arrangements for the Inauguration as early as January 13, as the FBI warns of online organizing for armed mobs.  Washington's Mayor has requested all permits for demonstrations be withdrawn and most of the federal tourist sights not already closed for Covid, will likely be off-limits through Inauguration Day.

 A Huffpost story provided the most graphic account so far of three planned clusters of events, all involving violence. Members of Congress were briefed and:

 “three members said was by far the most concerning plot would involve insurrectionists forming a perimeter around the Capitol, the White House and the Supreme Court, and then blocking Democrats from entering the Capitol ― perhaps even killing them ― so that Republicans could take control of the government. Democrats were told that the Capitol Police and the National Guard were preparing for potentially tens of thousands of armed protesters coming to Washington and were establishing rules of engagement for warfare. In general, the military and police don’t plan to shoot anyone until one of the rioters fires, but there could be exceptions.” 

Other sources indicated there are specific (if not specified) threats to Speaker Pelosi, Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris, and President-Elect Biden.

 The White House acquiesced to the Mayor of Washington’s request to declare a state of emergency for the city. Some 10,000 to 15,000 National Guard reportedly are being mobilized for a variety of tasks. It is likely that other measures are being taken that are not being publicized, so potential armed insurrectionists won’t be informed.  But additional Air Marshals are being added to flights in and out of Washington.

 Alot of the chatter may turn out to be bullshit but thanks to last Wednesday’s epiphany, authorities aren’t taking chances. Whether there is enough expertise and intelligence left in the Trumpified government to deal with these threats is another question.

 Meanwhile, two Democratic women Representatives, forced to shelter against the Wednesday attack with Republicans who refused masks offered to them, have tested positive. The first was Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey, in her 70s and a recent cancer survivor. She has mild symptoms so far.

 The second is Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington State, who issued this statement: “Too many Republicans have refused to take this pandemic and virus seriously, and in doing so, they endanger everyone around them. Only hours after President Trump incited a deadly assault on our Capitol, our country, and our democracy, many Republicans still refused to take the bare minimum COVID-19 precaution and simply wear a damn mask in a crowded room during a pandemic — creating a superspreader event on top of a domestic terrorist attack."

Poetry Monday: White Owl Flies

White Owl Flies Into and Out of the Field

 Coming down out of the freezing sky

 with its depths of light,

 like an angel, or a Buddha with wings,

 it was beautiful, and accurate,

 striking the snow and whatever was there

 with a force that left the imprint

 of the tips of its wings — five feet apart —

 and the grabbing thrust of its feet,

 and the indentation of what had been running

 through the white valleys of the snow — 

and then it rose, gracefully,

 and flew back to the frozen marshes

 to lurk there, like a little lighthouse,

 in the blue shadows — so I thought:

 maybe death isn't darkness, after all,

 but so much light wrapping itself around us —

 as soft as feathers —

 that we are instantly weary of looking, and looking,

 and shut our eyes, not without amazement,

 and let ourselves be carried,

 as through the translucence of mica, 

to the river that is without the least dapple or shadow,

 that is nothing but light — scalding, aortal light —

 in which we are washed and washed

 out of our bones.

 --Mary Oliver 

 Years ago my sister Kathy let it be known that she was fascinated by owls. So for years afterwards, anyone who couldn’t think of another gift to get her, got her something with an owl theme. I thought maybe that was long over, but coincidentally or not, on my last birthday she got me a copy of Mary Oliver’s Owls and Other Fantasies, poems and essays. This is one of the poems from that book, which I dedicate right back to her, for her birthday this week. Happy birthday.