Capitol Hill Attack: Finally Trump’s Legacy Sends Congress Into Total War.
Capitol Hill Attack: Finally Trump’s Legacy Sends Congress Into Total War.
By Rowlandgate.
It’s now clear that the January 6 mob attack on Capitol Hill, while failing in its bid to reverse Trump’s election loss has utterly fractured the basic level of trust needed to make a political system function at a critical national moment.
At times on Thursday, it appeared that the whole of Congress was fixated on its own civil wars, cut off from behind its high iron fence from the reality of America’s darkest modern winter.
And with more than 432,000 Americans dead from Covid-19 and the economy in ruins, hopes are fading amid the acrimony of a bipartisan effort to beef up the crucial vaccine drive.
The magnitude of that death toll has much to do with Trump’s neglect when he was in office. The tumultuous forces now rocking Capitol Hill are, in most cases, linked to Trump or the extremism of his acolytes who have fully bought into his alternative reality that rejected truth and democracy itself.
In an extraordinary comment on Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned of the enemy “within” in an apparent reference to some pro-Trump Republicans. We have members of Congress who want to bring guns on the floor and have threatened violence on other members of Congress, Pelosi said.
Given the urgency of getting every American regardless of party a vaccine before the pandemic mounts another deadly wave, it might have been expected that the Republican House leader would be locked in negotiations.
But Kevin McCarthy was in Florida, paying homage to the ex-President, paving the way for Trump’s political comeback and effectively launching the 2022 midterm election campaign. The make-up session means McCarthy is pinning his hopes of winning the House majority next year on the Trump base and an aggressive political effort by the former President. Far from being ostracized for trying to destroy democracy, Trump is yet again dictating its future.
Trump is still a hero to his base, but since he just comprehensively lost a national election, McCarthy is taking a gamble. In the shorter term, his genuflection means that with the House GOP in thrall to the former President and his vengeful instincts, Republicans will be even less ready to work with Biden on critical efforts to respond to the pandemic.
