Condemning Trump’s Insurrection
On May 22, 1856, Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina used a cane to beat Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts nearly to…
On May 22, 1856, Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina used a cane to beat Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts nearly to death on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Sumner had been condemning slavery and Brooks refused to suffer him any longer. The event is ensconced in the national memory as indicative of the breakdown of institutions and political discourse that preceded the Civil War that would claim more than half a million American lives. It is notable because it was such a radical departure from how things happened within the hallowed halls of American government and because it challenged notions of the superiority of the American experiment.
Similarly, the assault today on the U.S. Capitol Building by riotous Trump supporters encouraged by the delusions, lies, and rage of the worst president in American history should terrify us to our very core. This event was the physical embodiment of the Trump presidency. An assault on American institutions with the justification that being “right” means being above the law. Confirming my argument from previous pieces on the Trump presidency, the Republican Party, and endorsing Joe Biden this is further evidence of the evil legacy of Donald Trump. His ardent supporters are not patriots, as they would have you believe, instead they are quite simply cancerous to the American experiment. No ideological sympathy can justify supporting a man who would lead his supporters in a coup or be reason enough to throw your lot in with individuals who rather dilute themselves and resort to violence than accept reality and defeat. Absolutely no evidence exists to support Trump’s claims as over 60 failed legal battles and election officials can attest. Simply wanting something to be true does not make it so.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in his speech condemning further attempts to reject the Electoral College results stated, “We cannot keep drifting apart into two separate tribes with a separate set of facts and separate realities. With nothing in common, except our hostility towards each other and mistrust for the few national institutions that we all still share.” He is correct of course, however, it is exactly that path that Trump would like to tread. Stoking division and appealing to the worst in people has been the source of his political success from day one. Those who wrote it off as ‘telling it like it is’ or unimportant as long as he supported conservative policies have now come face to face with just how wrong they were. Senator Romney described the events of today thusly, “We gather today due to a selfish man’s injured pride and the outrage of his supporters whom he has deliberately misinformed for the past two months and stirred to action this very morning. What happened here today was an insurrection, incited by the President of the United States.” The mortal danger of today for American democracy simply cannot be overstated and make no mistake responsibility for the events of today rests squarely on President Trump.
The attack on Senator Sumner should serve as a warning. Behavior like that showcased today by the president and his followers is simply unacceptable in a democracy. If political leaders and citizens on both sides do not work to be better than this, then it will simply be a harbinger of worse things like the attack on the senator. Representative Brooks’ actions demonstrated that many in the South loved their sin more than institutions. Ultimately, civil war would prove that they loved being right more than being American. Trump’s unenviably legacy as America’s would be dictator is sealed but it need not condemn us all.
Bibliography
Fink, Jenni. “Full Text of Mitch McConnell’s Speech before ‘Most Important’ Vote of His Career.” Newsweek, January 6, 2021, sec. U.S. https://www.newsweek.com/full-text-mitch-mcconnells-speech-before-most-important-vote-his-career-1559426.
Romney, Mitt. “Romney Condemns Insurrection at U.S. Capitol.” Statement. Washington, D.C, January 6, 2021. https://www.romney.senate.gov/romney-condemns-insurrection-us-capitol.