Why did he bring that flag into the Capitol?

One image from the January 6 mob attack on the U.S. Capitol sticks with me. It is only one picture, but by itself it tells a story of conflict, prejudice and failed leadership.  The picture is of a man, one of the mob, who is strolling through the halls of the Capitol carrying a flag mounted on a pole resting on his shoulder.  The flag is the Confederate battle flag from the American Civil War:  thirteen white stars arrayed along two diagonal-crossed blue bars, all overlayed on a red background.

I know nothing about the man in the picture.  The flag, though, has a well-known story.  Throughout the Civil War it served as a symbol of rebellion and armed conflict.  In a time before radio communications, the flag was used to identify locations of Confederate military units and to help in their deployments when in battle against elements of the Union forces.

The Civil War was about slavery and the supremacy of Southern white masters over their property, the Black slaves.  Leaders in most of the slave-holding states were convinced that the institution of slavery was doomed by the Abraham Lincoln presidency, and feared that their wealth would suffer. To protect that institution, eleven Southern states (and parts of two others) seceded from the Union.  The thirteen stars recognized that secession.

The Union victory crushed the institution of slavery, but it did not end prejudice and lawlessness spawned by that prejudice.  The battle flag lived on, becoming an emblem of white supremacy.  Clearly, the flag is a part of American history, but it does not deserve to be a part of American heritage.  To see it displayed in the U.S. Capitol is offensive.  Keep it inside museums where it can be honestly and factually described for what it was and what it has represented; there is no other place for it.

I don't know that I can blame Donald Trump, losing candidate for reelection and outgoing president of the country, for this fellow bringing the Confederate flag into the Capitol.  But I believe that I can blame Trump for the words from his mouth and from his Twitter fingers that caused the perpetrator to think that he was entitled to carry that flag into the Capitol.  That makes Trump the Offender-in-Chief.

Let's review Trump's assortment of recent offenses against American democracy and see how they all can be tied together with that flag.

Trump has sought to overturn the election won by Joe Biden with evidence-free assertions of fraudulent voting.  He has trampled state laws by attempting to interfere in final voting certification, going so far as to demand in the state of Georgia that officials there should "find" more Trump votes.  As of this writing he has neither conceded to President-elect Biden, nor has he supported the necessarily complex efforts needed to assist in a smooth transition of powers from his Administration to Biden's.  He has publicly harangued his supporters to believe that he is the victor and Biden the loser.

In response, the January 6 mob -- including the flag-carrying man -- gathered at the White House that morning.  Trump spoke, urging them to assault the Capitol so as to stop Congress from accepting the votes of presidential electors pledged to Joe Biden.  Vice President Mike Pence was singled out as a target, too, since he had earlier refused Trump's demands to disqualify electoral votes for Biden.  (With good reason -- the Constitution provides no such powers to the Vice President.  Pence has apparently read the Constitution; it seems that despite his four years in office, Trump has not.)

Trump has not -- and, I think, will not -- accept accountability for his actions that set off the riotous behaviors of the mob of his supporters.  There were fatalities among the rioters and Capitol police; that and other violence will lead to numerous legal prosecutions for law-breaking.  Those consequences should be shared by the Instigator-in-Chief Donald J. Trump.

Put all of this together and Trump became a renegade president on January 6, 2021.  He is the only such president, and the House of Representatives has correctly impeached him for his actions.

Trump might end up being considered the worst U.S. president because of his actions on January 6.  No other president has attempted to subvert a presidential election and the peaceful transfer of power to a new president and administration.  

Nor should there be any doubt that such behavior is to be tolerated.  Having happened once, impeachment -- even if conviction is not delivered by the Senate -- and any subsequent lawful prosecutions lodged against Trump should be relentlessly conducted with sufficient strength to impress upon the country and the watching world that Trump has stirred up a righteous anger among the majority of the American populace.  We, that majority, fully support the fact that no person, not even a president, is above the law.  

Perhaps it is fitting that the flag of rebellion and armed conflict in a failed attempt to perpetuate slavery and the supremacy of one skin color over all others should be the enduring symbol of Trump's closing days of his presidency  

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Biden has a governing mandate like none before. He should use it to go big.

Joe Biden was always going to have a mandate to govern.  A winning margin of over seven million votes against an incumbent president -- one who insisted that the so-called stimulus checks from the 2020 CARES Act be printed with his signature so that voters would get the idea that they should give him thanks for the helicopter money -- is by itself a convincing mandate.  Incumbent presidents who run for reelection almost never lose.  Putting those pieces together provides President Joe Biden with leadership power that can come only from such clear evidence of the popular will of those who are governed.

Yesterday, January 6, changed all that.  President-elect Biden will be inaugurated on January 20 with a mandate to govern based not only on the math and the demographics and the state-by-state map of his victory, but also with the authority that comes from being the sole occupant of the moral high ground on which rests the leadership qualities of the Office of the President.  

In contrast, Donald Trump -- loser and outgoing president -- used his time yesterday to cede any possible claim to that high ground by personally inciting a mob of his followers to attempt insurrection against the American government.  In doing so, Trump's post-election behavior is perhaps more dishonorable than that of James Buchanan, acclaimed as the worst American president for failing to take action to stop the beginning of the Civil War in 1861.

The story of Trump's vanity project to subvert the election is well-known.  Prior to the election I wrote in this space and described him as "un-American" in recognition of his undermining of the country's democratic foundations.  Yesterday's events are a direct result of Trump's behavior; NPR has summarized January 6 in a timeline and with revealing photos.

I think we always knew that Trump's version of "law and order" was that of an outlaw.  Now that has been confirmed in full view for all the world to see.

As I sit here writing this, there is growing sentiment to hamstring Trump by invoking the twenty-fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and by conducting impeachment.  Amendment XXV requires action by the Vice President and the majority of Cabinet members; it would result in Mike Pence, as VP, becoming "acting president."  Impeachment is done by Congress, and would end with Trump being evicted from office and -- critically -- being forbidden from holding any elective office in the future.

Whether either of these actions comes to pass is an open question.  But even if neither happens, it is clear that Donald J. Trump no longer can claim even a shred of moral authority associated with presidential leadership.

And so we come back to president-elect Joe Biden.

When newly sworn-in, President Biden will be stepping into an office that has been severely damaged by predecessor Trump.  There is a leadership vacuum in America, and to prevent that empty space being filled by un-democratic elements Biden will have to occupy it with rapid and decisive actions that are visible and constructive.

He needs to show accomplishments -- the bigger, the better.  With Trump reduced to a malign specter, and on the heels of a massive vote win in the November election, Biden has the winds of a governing mandate at his back.

There is always temptation to put up an ordered list for a new president:  Do this first, and then that, and for third priority get going on. . .  In reality, of course, there are lots of Priority One's, and then there's everything else.

Even so, here's my list of things on which the new President Biden should Go Big:  An effective national pandemic strategy with clear, consistent messaging on safety measures, as well as assistance to the States for rapidly administering vaccinations; ensuring that there are consequences for the perpetrators of yesterday's insurrection, including Trump for his subversion of American democracy; an economic stimulus program that pours funding into research and development (especially for non-fossil fuel projects) as well as national infrastructure repair and rebuilding; reforms to immigration policy and practices that encourage and enable legal immigration, while simultaneously reducing motivations for illegal immigration by fixing security and economic problems in certain Central American countries; commitment of U.S. re-engagement with our traditional allies, alliances, treaties and agreements; actions for addressing the emergencies of climate, civil rights, nuclear proliferation, environmental protection, and world-wide human rights and democratic reforms; there's more, but that's a good start.

The downstream effects of what happened yesterday are potentially enormous and for some people they will be dangerous:  increased covid-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths will occur; damage to national security due to theft and vandalism within Congressional offices by the rioters could be significant; Trump's executive actions prior to yesterday, as well as anything he attempts to do over the next two weeks, could be invalidated as a consequence of his subversion of the election.  And also, the toxicity of the far-right social media forums that -- as The Washington Post is reporting -- "voice glee in the aftermath" of insurrection must be dealt with as an incubator for domestic terrorism.

All of this shows why we need a professional, knowledgeable, well-populated and experienced Federal government.  What is written above is a collection of problems that newly-installed President Biden will face, along with this question:  If government doesn't act to solve problems, then what good is it?

President Joe Biden will be dealing with a world that has changed much in the last four years.  Some problems are new, and almost all of the same old problems have become bigger and worse over that period.  To top that off, the Trump presidency leaves a swamp-like sucking bog of unresolved questions about covert hostile foreign influence that intends damage to American democratic institutions.  The report of the Mueller investigation must be revisited, and actions taken based on its findings.

Much time will be needed to score big accomplishments, but -- as the saying goes -- fortune favors the bold.  Biden should boldly assert his governing mandate, and relentlessly pursue big solutions and fixes to big problems.