WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The following is Wednesday night’s status check of developments in the U.S. that can influence economic, health and political outcomes:
- The images from the Capitol Wednesday have been burned into the national consciousness where they will remain, to be engraved in the history books, a “dark moment” said President Elect Joe Biden. It was a evidence of failure to contain the divisions promoted with increasing intensity by President Trump. In fact, Trump’s remarks on the Ellipse before noon were clearly an instigation, telling supporters, “You have to show strength. You have to be strong” as he told them to march on the Capitol. In asking what happens now there are the already obvious answers, the prosecutions of many of the Capitol invaders, some of whom carried Confederate flags even into the House and Senate chambers. There will be endless editorials, expressions of horror and revulsion, perhaps some kind of official censure of the president. Beyond that, though, the tectonics of political alignments have lurched into a different pattern, the full dimensions of which will become evident in the days and weeks ahead. President-Elect Joe Biden has been endowed with different powers than 24 hours earlier. The Capitol dynamics have also been altered in ways large and small. At one end of the spectrum, will the chief of Capitol police still have his job? In the midst of a chaos so huge, the confirmation Democrats had taken over the Senate was nearly lost in the tumult and that alone will mean a different context for the new administration, new directions for layers of policy. The threat of domestic terrorism will have a higher placement in the hierarchy of federal concerns, now that disgruntled and disaffected Trump followers are scattered around the country in much greater numbers. There were at least two pipe bombs discovered near the RNC and DNC headquarters during the day. The relations between Congress and the presidency, the relations of Trump and the Republican party, the relations of government to the American people have been recalibrated, to what extent it will take time to tell.
- Wannabe presidents in the Senate may have seen their futures clouded, their prospects abruptly changed. One senator among the 13 who said they were objecting to some swing state Electoral College certifications saw his home town newspaper, The Kansas City Star, headline, “Senator Josh Hawley has blood on his hands in Capitol coup attempt.” Said the Washngton Post, Trump, Hawley and Cruz will each wear the scarlet “S” of a seditionist. Another senator said she had come to the Capitol fully intending to be among those senators objecting to the certification of Biden votes from swing states. Having just lost her seat in the Georgia runoffs, Sen. Kelly Loeffler told the Senate Wednesday night she no longer intends to object. Some senators applauded. Sen Ted Cruz, the Senate sponsor of the first Electoral College vote objection had delivered his argument before the invasion, Sen. Michael Bennet recalled on the Senate floor how marauding gangs had kept the Roman Senate from voting on top positions. “There are people in this Chamber who have twisted the words” of the statute setting the terms of the congressional count of electoral votes, he said. “Go out there and tell them the truth” that this election wasn’t stolen, he implored his colleagues.
- President Trump, left unadmonished for so long by fellow Republicans, is now admonished, not by his party, but by Twitter which suspended his cybervoice, his Twitter account, for 12 hours and said the block may become permanent. His unrepentant last tweet of the day repeated the election was rigged, his “landslide” win stolen He tweeted the Capitol riot was the kind of event that happens when an election win is “viciously” ripped away. Never forget the day, he told his followers. Those tweets were removed but it’s safe to say, no one will forget.
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Contact this reporter: denny@macenews.com
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