This morning Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden delivered inspired and inspiring speeches condemning the Trump inspired insurrection that took place in our Capitol one year ago today. Without using the name of the disgraced, defeated, and twice impeached former president, Biden and Harris clearly stated the obvious truth that Trump was directly responsible for the violent coups that left five dead and millions of dollars of damage done in this violent attempt to overthrow the oldest and most successful democracy in the history of the world.
My chief complaint is that these are the speeches we needed to hear at the inauguration of Biden last January 20, if not, in fact, last year on January 7, the day after the failed insurrection. Trump, his family, and much of his obviously corrupt administration have been shown deference for five years, through self dealing abuse of the office of the president, incompetent if not treasonous foreign and domestic policy and a clearly intentional dismantling of America’s commitment to diversity, justice, and human rights. But, as horrific as the controversy laden presidency was from its first days in 2017, the events of January 6, 2021 were an orchestrated attempt to dismiss the results of a free and fair election, to reverse our two centuries long tradition of a peaceful transfer of power, and to cast doubt in nations around the globe in the integrity of the government of the United States of America.
A failed insurrection is most often a rehearsal for a successful insurrection. In fact, anti-democratic Republican legislators have been working tirelessly to restrict voting rights and to change election laws so that the next time they lose a national election, they will be able to legally set democracy aside in favor of their fascist vision for an autocratic America governed by an ideological and racial minority, functioning primarily to transfer both wealth and power into the hands of a right-wing, white, male minority.
Many progressives were induced to trust the Mueller investigation of the Trump administration, full of hope that the former president would be impeached and removed from the oval office in handcuffs and taken away to life in prison. With a large staff and a nearly unlimited budget, the Mueller investigation went on for 674 days, longer than the Watergate investigation, and yet they never even looked at Trump’s tax returns, they never interviewed members of Trump’s family, nor seriously looked at the numerous criminal connections that Trump’s businesses and political administration hardly even tried to hide.
Nations the world over have reason to believe that American claims to equality under the law, being a nation of laws rather than an oligarchy ruled by the rich and powerful, are little more than jokes. Yes, to protect democracy, the Biden administration should have proceeded in January 2021 to lead the way in restoring our reputation and defending our democracy in seeking swift due process to charge and put on trial the criminals who caused this insurrection and not just the gullible thugs who violently fought the Capitol Police and desecrated the Capitol Building. That Trump has been allowed to return to his Florida resort and golf courses and, possibly worse, true traitors like Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley have been allowed to return to the floor of the Senate and vote against our democracy day after day, is a national humiliation and, if I may say it, a crime against democratic rule.
Justice delayed is justice denied. Almost no legal action against those who stormed the Capitol last year will move the needle in measuring America’s hypocrisy and even the incarceration of Donald Trump and most of his family and administration will make the statement that it could have made last spring. Perhaps we may assuage our rage saying “better late than never,” but a couple of passionate speeches may soon be forgotten if the Justice Department does not now quickly take action against the “head of the snake” of the January 6, 2021 insurrection.