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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