by John Walters

“We all see it. We alllll see it.”

–This had never happened before: the flag of the Confederacy inside the U.S. Capitol. What’s next, the flag of Nazi Germany? Because that’s all these people are: Nazis.

(“Coup Klux Klan?” That’s gold, Jerry)

–As I was doing the night clean at the supermarket last night, two-plus hours of wet and arduous work, a contradiction to the five-figure sum I’d earned in the stock market the same day hours earlier, I had plenty of time to think. Many things occurred to me, but the overriding idea is that this is only the beginning of a civil war. And it will not take place on battle fields such as Antietam or Gettysburg, since the war is not over land but over ideas. It will take place wherever prominent politicians or heads of states and cities who never bowed to Trump reside. It will take place between security details and armed militias. And right now? The former side is wildly under-staffed and under-prepared and it probably doesn’t help that more than a few of them are (sympathetic to the) MAGA-dolts. We’ve seen this time and time again, from cops on Wednesday waving barrier-breakers into the Capitol to the cops in Kenosha not even thinking to stop Kyle Rittenhouse as he walks toward them with a long gun after just having shot two people to death.

–Whenever I deal with an entitled or annoying customer at the supermarket, I mutter under my breath, “The customer is always white.”

–I hope the Dept. of Justice and the FBI track down as many from the Capitol mob as possible. I hope that each one of them serves jail time and I particularly hope that every last one of them is given a black or Hispanic cell mate. Please let this happen.

–Seriously don’t know why the House hasn’t already called a special session to impeach Trump. But that’ll happen Monday. Then Moscow Mitch will drag his heels for eight days and bring it to the Senate on January 19th. That at least is his plan. Mitch don’t want the Lindsey Graham-at-the-airport treatment, people.

So Trump will serve out his term, and Mitch and MAGA will be able to blame the Democrat-led Senate for impeaching Trump post facto. It still must be done, and as Rachel Maddow pointed out last night, all Republican Senators who don’t want to be labeled as anti-Trump need to do is not show up for the vote. All it requires is 2/3 of the Senators in attendance. And the Senate will already have 51 Dems, 52 if Lisa Murkowski of Alaska defects. If just 20 GOP Senators are AWOL, then you’d only need three or four Republican Senators to vote to impeach. That seems probable, particularly if the militias do anything crazy (ya think?) between now and January 19th.

–For decades—I can remember seeing them back in the ’80s in the outskirts of Phoenix—armed white militias have been training for this doomsday. You know what happens when you practice the piano over and over and over and never have a recital? Eventually you get bored with playing the piano. You need something to look forward to and then, at some point, you need to have the damn recital. For these white supremacists, it’s recital day. And they say they’d be happy to die for Trump. Let’s give them that chance.

–I think what particularly depressed me as I took the power hose to various saws last night is how fragile this democracy of 330 million people is. If Brad Raffensperger does not do his job, if Gabriel Sterling does not do his job, if Stacey Abrams does not become the most potent non-elected force in the deep South since MLK, if any number of appellate judges do not do their jobs, we’re stuck with Trump and Fascism. Going forward, will the police and military, both of which have more than a few white supremacists in their ranks (“a few bad apples”), do their jobs?

–What we need is a Tuskegee Airmen-type security detail for elected officials. Honestly. The biggest, baddest, blackest mother*ck*rs we can find. Arm them. Swear them in like the Secret Service. Maybe we call them “Wakanda.”

Put Wakanda in charge of security detail for President Biden, Kamala, AOC, Stacey Abrams, etc. Secretly (or not so secretly), I’ve always felt (and covering college football and the NFL only reinforced this) that a great deal of the White Male Rage toward African-American men is that these dudes know deep down that, physically, blacks are superior to whites. They just, on average, are. And that scares the bejeezus out of them. So they try to retain control of the things that will keep the black man from becoming empowered: wealth, education, guns.

Get me that Tuskegee Security Detail. Get me Wakanda.

–To think of all the courageous men who fought and/or gave their lives fighting the Nazis in World War II only to see their sons or daughters, grandsons or grandaughters, or grand-nephews and grand-nieces marching on the U.S. Capitol in defense of Nazi ideals on Wednesday. That is sickening.

Of course many of these people, or those who cheered them on, have been brainwashed into thinking that they’re fighting on the side of the red, white and blue. This is simply a matter of a lack of intelligence, an inability to separate symbols from principles. Just because you carry the flag doesn’t mean you’re always right. No, carrying the principles of America is what makes you right. And the principles involved here are democratic elections and the rule of law. Both of those these people stamped on the other day. They refuse to acknowledge it while failing to see just how closely they align with Adolf Hitler and the early stages of the Nazi Party in Germany. Or, some of them do see this with clarity and embrace it.

—White Power is either in its final throes in this democracy or this democracy is in its final throes to be subjugated by White Power. That’s the choice.

In the short term, the GOP base is very Trumpy. The problem for the party is as it ever was: that base is too small for a nat’l party. Weds. events provided visuals that have been missing the past 4 years. Every Dem ad now can put this on screen and say, “Is this what you want?” pic.twitter.com/vfmhWyYCpo

— David Freedlander (@freedlander) January 9, 2021

— I’m continually shocked and rocked by the “Heads I Win, Tails You Lose” attitude of countless Trumpers. Many that I know personally. It’s incredible to me that no matter what the truth and evidence shows, they’ll only believe what Donald Trump (a serial liar going back five decades) tells them. The fact that a woman was screaming “AUDIT THE VOTE!” at Lindsey Graham yesterday after the REPUBLICAN Sec. of State of Georgia already did exactly that and still declared Biden the winner shows you their inability to accept facts. It’s only factual if we get our way.

On Thursday night Yale history professor Timothy Snyder appeared on Rachel Maddow’s show. He’s either a highly intelligent man or a liberal elite, depending on your sway. Snyder said something that has remained with me since. He noted that so many of the Trump supporters claim to be fighting for the freedom to do what they want and to say what they want. But they’re actually not free at all, he reminded. Why not? Because everything that they do or say is predicated on what Donald Trump tells them to do or say or think. They are willingly putting themselves under his spell. They’re not free thinkers at all. They’re sheep. But they’re just too stupid to see it.

“None of this happens without a concerted effort to keep this Big Lie going… Senators Cruz and Hawley were on the side of the Big Lie… and effectively encouraged the insurrection by domestic terrorists that interfered with the count of the vote.” @maddow @MaddowBlog pic.twitter.com/YTgoEQMaQm

— Timothy Snyder (@TimothyDSnyder) January 9, 2021

I loathe Trump and Trumpism with the heat of a thousand blazing suns but even I readily conceded that he won the electoral vote in 2016. He may not be a legitimate human being, but he legitimately won the election. These people simply listen to Laura Ingraham or Sean Hannity or Tucker Carlson or Rush Limbaugh or NEWSMAX and these people tell them what they want to hear, absent any evidence, and they lap it up like Oliver Twist on his first bowl of porridge. So sad.

My First Rule of Trumpism is 1) Always lie if the truth will damage you.

Second Rule: 2) Never accept blame or cop to any error or crime.

Third Rule: 3) Accuse your opponent of exactly the thing that you are doing.

I spent about 30 seconds watching Fox News on Thursday evening, just to see what they were saying. And you know what they were saying? That the “liberal media” is “gas lighting” its readers/viewers. There’s your Rule No. 3.

–Go through as much footage of the storming of the U.S. Capitol or all of the attacks on state houses or a governor’s mansion this past week. You know what you will not see a single instance of? A law enforcement official putting one of these cretins in a chokehold. I wonder why that is.

–If there’s another attack on our democracy, I would encourage NFL players to take a stand by not playing their playoff games. A distraction is not what this nation requires. A call to justice is what it requires. Meanwhile, I hope plenty of NFL players, black and white, take a knee today. Why wouldn’t you?

–Joe Biden is scheduled to be sworn in on January 20th but this is far from over. I really think the most important thing going forward is that we get the goose-steppers and Nazis out of the ranks of the police force and military. Otherwise, the safety of our elected leaders is at great risk. Like I said, deputize a Tuskegee Airmen security detail. Deputize a Wakanda.