On December 20th the House January 6th Committee referred charges to the Dept. of Justice against Donald Trump for his actions and inactions leading up to and on that infamous day. It was an inevitable and necessary conclusion to the year-and-a-half long process of publicly compiling evidence behind those events.
Also just as inevitable (regrettably) is the GOP backlash that followed the announcement of those charges. Although these conservative party leaders know exactly what happened on that day as well as anyone else, they will refuse to publicly accept it for fear of losing credibility and power. They learned a big lesson from the Watergate scandal: Never call your own man out, ever. The GOP did back then, and paid a heavy price for it. What with all the money and another big loss of face riding on the line, they see nothing to be gained by allowing these charges to go unchallenged.
So now we see the headlines and stories about how referring these charges will be “controversial” and could possibly trigger a “political war”. Which is laughable, because it’s not like things were just going to be “normal” in Washington if only the Dems/DoJ wouldn’t indict Trump. For decades the GOP has made it clear that obstructionism and extreme partisanship are the norm. So now are we to believe the GOP might decide to be reasonable if only the Dems/DoJ would back off charging Trump?
All these rumblings about “war” and “division” are merely threats meant to protect a corrupt official and the party that enabled him. These threats may not be empty, but they also should not be heeded. It’s as if the GOP is already holding a knife to democracy’s throat, and now they’re threatening to use a gun instead. It’s a ludicrous escalation, so it’s pointless to capitulate. Besides, in this post-January 6th country, fear of further polarization is becoming a less effective motivation.
Simply put, the GOP and their media-verse are not honest critics; Dems will never earn their praise no matter what they do. So the only just path is to proceed with charges and hope the wheels of justice can ultimately bring to heel not only an incompetent, dangerous conman, but also a political party that has willingly radicalized itself for the sake of power over all else including democracy.