Some events make a resounding difference that is hard to fully fathom at the time. The insurrection at our capitol on January 6 was a hell of a way to kick off 2021. The stain on our standing in the world as a model of democracy will outlast any white-wash applied to it.
When Donald J. Trump hopped out of his clown car into the White House in 2017, it seemed that he was alone, a scary anomaly. It turns out that somewhere along the way, that car has picked up most of the Republican Party. The clown car is packed and it’s not the least bit funny.
Trump, the consummate sore loser, spurred his followers to storm the capitol in order to prevent certification of his reelection loss to Joe Biden. Rioters smashed glass and toted lethal weapons into the Capitol in search of legislators. One capitol guard was beaten to death.
The rioters left a wake of destruction to lives and property. Many, perhaps most, legislators will deal with varying degrees of post-traumatic stress disorder after spending those hours under siege.
National Guard troops eventually quelled the insurrection. The rioters, murderers and aspiring murderers hopped on planes, buses, trains, and highways and went back to where they came from. Many proudly posted videos (AKA ‘evidence’) on social media of themselves in action at the Capitol. Three weeks later, with several tracked down and arrested, we are a fraction safer. But why was there such hesitation to arrest the perpetrators at the scene?
In the aftermath, one capitol guard member and one D.C. police officer have died of suicide. This was stated in the news as another statistic, an augmentation of the toll. News analysts have failed to offer any in-depth commentary on this tragic phenomenon. To me, that is a glaring omission.
These policemen had lives with families. They were reasonably successful individuals with sufficient faith to get them from one day to the next. But after experiencing the Capitol insurrection, they couldn’t go on. They had survived the onslaught that never should have happened…the treachery of the ‘leader of the free world’ who admired authoritarian rulers and aspired to be one.
Two men gave whatever courage and strength they could in the face of an unthinkable betrayal – and discovered afterward that they had nothing left to give – to their country, their wives, their children. Nothing left to hope for. Having endured that assault on reality itself, they could not face another day.
Why is there nothing said on their behalf, other than to add their bodies to the tally? Within the constant analysis of each and every news day, why does their particular experience go unaddressed?
Sometimes it is instructive to use a metaphor in order to grasp what we would prefer to avoid. The two suicides are canaries in the coal mine of our toxic political atmosphere. Those policemen were attacked by their fellow citizens. Such a betrayal was unthinkable, but it is no longer. It forms our new reality. We must take a long, appraising look in the mirror and begin to sort out who and what we are as a country. By doing so, we will honor the sacrifice of those two tormented gentlemen.