Not exactly the Storming of the Bastille, was it? The ‘insurrection’, as the media, in their overly dramatic fashion, likes to refer to the riotous behavior of Trump supporters outside and inside Capitol Hill on January 6th, was much less than all the clamorous cacophony would have us believe: engendered by a mob that resembled more a Comic-Con convention than an insurgency, the ‘invaders’, with primitive weapons, no apparent guns, directionless, leaderless, and completely unsure as to where on earth they were going, or what the hell they were doing. As one reporter observed, ‘for a coup attempt, there was certainly a lot of milling-around.’
The variety of haberdashery parading around in the Capitol in its own perverse way was a testament to the full-throated, free exuberance of American democracy: all kinds of camouflage military regalia; a man clad in a full Revolutionary War uniform; the American flag design made into all types of garments: shirts, pants, even shoes; Tom Brady jerseys; a woman walking around the rotunda grasping a piece of a rostrum from Pelosi’s office; an ornamental police vest slung over someone’s shoulder; guys taking photos of official papers on legislators’ desks, figuring they’ve got their hands on evidence of the rigged election in, say, Wisconsin.
All these morons in the Senate chambers looked a bit abashed – awed actually -- by the surroundings, as it must have finally dawned on each of them that they were very small, inconsequential minnows in a huge ocean, and that a yawning insignificance was to be their fate always. With the insurrection going nowhere, and having nothing else to do, they even started to pray.
The one individual who, hypothetically, could have galvanized these hooligans into a purposeful force was, of course, President Trump. But he was nowhere to be found. Oh, sure, he encouraged his supporters to action, after his speech 1-1/2 miles away, by asserting he’d march down to the Hill with them and carry on the ‘stop the steal’ fight.
That’s not quite what happened. After he spoke, he immediately turned his fat ass around, and retreated [yeah, Mr. Gripes uses the term ‘retreat’, an action verb Mr. Trump’s ‘patriots’ would never countenance from their hero, of course. ] to his residential quarters in the White House, to watch the ensuing mayhem, comfortably ensconced on his couch, sipping Diet Cokes and undoubtedly wolfing down pigs-in-the-blanket, a dozen at a time. Not exactly Teddy Roosevelt hustling his Rough Riders up San Juan Hill, was it? The truth is that the germaphobe Mr. Trump can’t stand to be near his disheveled, vermin-carrying true believers at any time, and wouldn’t choose to mingle with an unruly horde like that under any circumstances.
He might have expressed it this way, ‘Are you kidding? No f__kin’ way… I’ll watch on Fox, thank you, a million miles from those crazies.’
To every one of the Trump detractors, the days after the election right through the inauguration on January 20th can only be described as exhilarating….especially since a lot of us went to bed the night of January 3rd convinced that Mr. Trump had been re-elected, and woke up to the news that he very likely had been beaten.
Biden voters on Election Day were the victims, for the most part, of the television networks operating under ‘recency bias’, meaning that the most current news is considered as most important, and longer-view and older perspectives ranked much lower. The ongoing narrative, at least through the earlier part of the night, was that Donald Trump possessed a huge, increasing lead, and it was very likely too much of an advantage for Mr. Biden to overcome later.
Mr. Gripes was for one, misled by the networks, and sensed, as he went to bed, that Trump was in an indomitable position, and couldn’t lose. I was duped, regrettably, by the media coverage; again, where were the longer-view analysts insisting that a vast number of Mr. Biden’s votes would come in later in the evening? Watching the somnolent Wolf Blitzer solemnly announce very early on that ‘Trump has 760 votes and counting in Florida, and Biden trails with 476’, absolutely useless information, demonstrates how short-term some of the coverage was.
But I digress from my main focus: the days and weeks before January 20 to Trump opponents were some of the most delicious moments since before Mr. Trump took the oath in 2017. Donald Trump, never deviating from a frontal attack on our democratic ideals, attempted in multiple ploys during those weeks to overturn the election of Joe Biden. Republican lawsuits, argued often In front of judges appointed by the Trump administration, were thrown out repeatedly – in fact, I think there was only one legal victory for Trump among 55[!] court cases, and that was to permit a stay of a few days before the same court threw out the suit.
President Trump, who has savaged badly American respect and reverence for our Constitution-based democracy in his four years, probably thought those Republican appointees owed him big time, and that made him particularly angry. Reading about his tearing around the White House at all hours of the night, the enfant terrible, apoplectic at his lawyers, the courts, Republican ‘traitors’, even his most loyal believers, was, to Mr. Gripes, akin to slurping down, as a kid, one of those monster Howard Johnson banana splits with its three huge scoops of different flavored ice cream – ah, the memories. It was pure, unadulterated joy.
And the words and actions of the clown car of enablers and abettors working for Mr. Trump to overthrow the election elicited not fear but a Keystone-Kops comedic overtone to the events going forward.
Let’s glance at one of the most egregious operatives: Rudy Giuliani. My goodness, he’s fallen off a cliff, hasn’t he? For a year after September 11th, he was adored by the vast majority of Americans as a hero, associated with that resolute image of him walking through the destruction and dust of the Twin Towers that day. The late Jimmy Breslin said it perfectly, ‘Rudy won the jackpot.’ He sure did. ‘America’s Mayor’ managed to amass a huge fortune as a result.
Now? He’s viewed as essentially a thug, and a Trump attack dog, spewing lies and unproven conspiracy theories day after day.
Here’s one of his most outlandish that may cost him his fortune as well as his law license:
He has accused a voting machine company, Dominion Voting Systems, of manipulating vote counts in many states on Election Day to throw the election to Joe Biden, essentially charging that Trump ballots were altered to Biden ballots, using their machines. The charges don’t stop there, and get even crazier: according to Guiliani and his cohorts, Dominion was created in Venezuela [??] by Hugo Chavez, the Communist baboon who managed to destroy not only the Venezuelan economy, but its flourishing democracy as well. The story goes that Chavez created Dominion to make sure he remained in office through fraudulent ballot counting. Really? Chavez did this? That idiot couldn’t tie his shoelaces.
Mr. Giuliani makes no mention that Dominion’s machines have been utilized in many states without incident in numerous elections over the years, and, yes, even in 2016, when Trump won.
To continue, Dominion told Giuliani on several occasions to ‘cease and desist’ with his lies, and he did not.
Guess what, and this is to Mr. Gripes the sweetest moment of all during the post-election days: he’s now being sued for $1.3 BILLION, with Dominion asserting he’s caused anguish among employees, even threats, costing the company a million dollars in added protection, and Rudy’s slanderous language – done with ‘malice’, by the way, which makes the libel case much stronger -- has damaged badly Dominion’s reputation and cost it a lot of real business now and in the future as well.
The Dominion CEO said he ‘welcomes’ a full court trial to expose the ‘lies’ of Rudy Guiliani.
Guiliani seems to have a blood lust for amassing money in any fashion he can [he’s even now hawking gold coins on his podcast]. Well, $1.3 billion, Rudy…you better have proof of your allegations; otherwise, after your bank accounts and stock holdings are frozen and then garnished, and after your legal fees go through the roof, you can kiss every penny you own goodbye.
Mr. Gripes
February 1, 2021
Jim Israel
