America, Lessons and Lies of January 6. By Chido Nwangwu
Special to USAfrica magazine (Houston) and USAfricaonline.com, first Africa-owned, US-based newspaper published on the Internet.
Exactly one year ago, on January 6, 2021, an evidently coordinated mob of supporters of President Donald Trump and their allied confederacy of extremists and xenophobists set upon and violently attacked the United States Capitol. That is, the congressional building in Washington, D.C.
It was a sad and disgraceful day. I watched the events unfold live on tv. It was almost too much to take in as true. But it was true.
Like many of you, I was wondering: what is this happening? Is this the great America or a Third World event superimposed on the capital of the American congressional institution?
On January 6, 2021, Donald Trump’s name, Trump brand and Trump legacy were instantly reduced to the level of an insurrectionist.
The man, Trump, immediately became legislated into history as the first president of America who levied war of destruction of the institutions of democracy in America.
Americans including those who supported him all these years could not believe their eyes when the instinctively petty and chaotic Trump openly and viciously instigated his mob to walk to the Congress and “show strength”. It was a direct and naked message for confrontation.
It was an open invitation to violate the operations of the legislative arm of the American government through his own mob! Trump has, falsely, been claiming that the election of November 2020 which he was factually and mathematically defeated by Joe Biden was “stolen by emboldened radical-left Democrats”!
Trump’s mob and their insurrection had led to the deaths of several persons, including Capitol Police officers.
Consequently, one of the daughters of the arch-conservative Republican Dick Cheney (former vice president), Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney will be remembered well by history for her reasons to impeach Trump as President of United States on Wednesday, January 13, 2021:
“On January 6, 2021 a violent mob attacked the United States Capitol to obstruct the process of our democracy and stop the counting of presidential electoral votes. This insurrection caused injury, death and destruction in the most sacred space in our Republic…. The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the President. The President could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not.”
She concluded, specifically: “There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution. I will vote to impeach the President.”
And, she did!
After realizing that history and decency and patriotism had left him while he chose to be Trump’s shameless apologist and water carrier, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California, managed to say that Trump “bears responsibility” for the insurrection.
Sadly, for the past couple of months,
McCarthy returned to the position of being a footstool for Mr. Trump — all because he wants to be the next Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives. Remember that Mr. Trump is planning to run for president in 2024!
Except for his suddenly seeing the scientific advantages and calling on his “folks” to take the anti-COVID vaccine, I still believe that Mr. Trump has, through a combination of recklessness, lack of self restraint, self-glorification, an over-bearing instinct to lie, and petty vindictiveness reduced his own name and legacy to the lowest levels of Presidents in American and world history of democratic governments.
Remarkably, after one year, most of those thorny issues are being sorted while some will linger. I ask, reasonably: What next for Mr. Trump? What next for American democracy? Soon, time will tell.
Dr. Chido Nwangwu, the Founder of USAfrica multimedia networks and public policy organization since 1992 in Houston, established the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper published on the Internet USAfricaonline.com. He served as adviser on Africa business to the ex-Mayor of Houston, Dr. Lee P. Brown. He is the author of the summer 2022 book, MLK, Mandela & Achebe: Power, Leadership and Identity. Chido has been honored by the Washington-D. C.-based National Immigration Forum for utilizing multimedia to fight authoritarianism and foster freedom of expression in parts of the African continent. follow @Chido247
