The Recently Disposed

With invitation in hand, come they did. By mid-day 6 January 2021, as many as 30,000 of t·R·D·o’s followers had come from out of the woodwork to be in Washington D.C. where, after having been incited by t·R·D·o and others at a noon rally to ‘stop the steal’ by whatever means necessary; they stormed the US Capitol. Over a nearly three-hour period, in wave after wave, they viciously assaulted and finally overpowered the badly outnumbered Capitol and Metro Police, broke down the doors and windows of, and forced their way into, the Capitol building. The chambers where Congress was in session to ratify the election of Joe Biden as President-elect. For more than three hours the badly outnumbered Capitol and Metro Police valiantly fought back against the large vicious mob. For long hours, the Police, fighting for their lives, pleaded for help. For long hours, none came.

There were a lot of other calls for help that day from the leaders and members of Congress. There were a lot of those being called who should have done something to assist the outnumbered Police, to rescue the besieged Congress; to quell the riot. Calls made to those who were sworn to protect the nation, to protect the constitution; were chosen to lead us, but who would not, did not, do their job.

Who were these ‘they’ that came to DC on 6 January 2021? Many were self-avowed white supremacists. These self-avowed who came to act on t·R·D·o’s behalf saw him as one of them. Was he? Probably, if he was ever anything. He said that he would, but he did not go with them. Instead, he went back into his chambers and watched it all on TV. Is it possible that they, now, a very large mob of the incited, were but sheep following a Judas goat? A Judas goat that did not even go with them; that did nothing at all but watch it all on TV.

Obviously, these self-avowed white supremacists, from their choice of self-descriptor, thought themselves superior. Was this simply because they were white? Even a brief look back at the recent history of white supremacy lays the lie to such thinking. Those less than brave who killed Emmett, too, were also self-avowed white supremacists; white supremacists who also ran in a pack. Being white didn’t make them superior. Thinking oneself maketh oneself naught other what he is. Think of themselves what they might, those who brutally beat and killed Emmett were the lowest of the low; belong at the very bottom of the trash bin of history.

Fair to suppose that those who committed this heinous act on 28 August 1955 were probably of mongrelized, mostly white, mostly European ancestry. But, color is a quite relative thing. There was a time when any fraction of black ancestry made one a black, when Spaniards and Italians were considered non-white. And, after all, Africa is mother to us all. Are you still there Senator Cruz?

The crowd of self-avowed who came to DC on 6 January, too, were mostly-white. Of those four obviously superior hero officers testifying before the House select committee on 27 July 2021, only one was ‘white’. None claimed supremacy. Fair to assume that after his experiences on 6 January, Officer Hodges would be the last person on earth to espouse white supremacy.

Leading up to, and on the day of, 6 January, t·R·D·o had plenty of insider help in rallying his followers to come to DC, to disrupt the transfer of power, to steal the election (while all the while claiming to stop the steal). One of those insiders at the rally with t·R·D·o on 6 January was Congressman Mo Brooks, Alabama:

Mo Brooks addressed the large crowd at the January 6 rally. He said “America is at risk unlike it has been in decades, and perhaps centuries.” He told the crowd to start “kicking ass,” and he spoke with reverence, at a purportedly peaceful demonstration, of how “our ancestors sacrificed their blood, sweat, their tears, their fortunes, and sometimes their lives,” before shouting at the crowd “Are you willing to do the same?!” Brooks intended these words as a threat of violence or intimidation to block the certification vote from even occurring and/or to coerce members of Congress to disregard the results of the election.

What was the “risk unlike any in decades” that you were speaking of, Mo? Was it perhaps the risk to white supremacy posed by the Civil Rights advances of the 1950s and 60s?

Was your “perhaps in centuries” perhaps in reference to the Civil War, Mo?

Was your “our ancestors sacrificed their blood, sweat, their tears, their fortunes, and sometimes their lives,” addressed to only those with you on the stage and those in front of you? Tell us, Mo, did our ancestors include the black soldiers who fought and died in the Civil War? In WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, or Iraq? How about the Native Americans, Hispanics, and Asians, Mo?

Mo, no doubt, you can tell us what you meant, since, in written testimony to the Justice Department, you swore that you wrote the speech yourself; as a part of your congressional duty. The arc toward the trash can has taken far too long for some, Mo. The passenger will please fasten his seat belt in preparation for landing.

And, Mo, could you please tell us a bit more about the bullet-proof vest under your bright yellow vest (wind-breaker)? Did you not understand, Mo, that Mouvement des gilets jaunes was called that because of the gilets jaunes (the yellow/orange vests) they wore, and was a demand for economic justice? Or, was it that you thought you were in costume for playing the part of the ‘Cowardly Lion’ in the wizard’s little party?

At this point, there is still much that is unknown about how many Republican members of Congress colluded with t·R·D·o and his followers in the lead up to, and on the day of, the insurrection of 6 January. It is known that he spoke with House Minority Leader, Kevin McCarthy by phone, during the siege of the Capitol. It now appears that t·R·D·o, probably also spoke with his best-bud Jim Jordan on the phone while the Capitol was under attack. A more honorable, more patriotic, pair would be hard to find. But, who else among this membership abetted t·R·D·o and the insurrectionists on 6 January?

Given that today’s Republican Party has been completely co-opted by the former, known to have been white supremacist, Southern Dixiecrats, that the Republican Party has almost completely been co-opted by t·R·D·o, that all the red states are enacting voter suppression legislation: How many Republicans, Republican members of state legislatures, of the US Congress, are white supremacists?

The cult of t·R·D·o followers includes cults other than white supremacists. Many of those who came to his insurrection were followers of QAnon. Though nothing about QAnon makes sense; that doesn’t mean that it can be ignored; QAnon has an estimated thirty million followers in the US. It is as if some deranged psychologist has taken a hand at writing the script for a Russian cult movie and millions of people believe it all is real. Little is also known about some of the other cults within the cult of, or loyal to, t·R·D·o.

6 January 2021 was a very scary day; too close of a call.