Opinion: Democracy’s unconquerable soul rises in America beating back the wrath of its own president

Nations are a tale people tell each other about their collective history, about shared values, about the vision and the heritage, about what makes them a people, about where they have been and where they are going. It is a craft of state to shroud that history, those actions, the heroic moves that made things possible into elaborate archives that imbue meaning and continuity, that show the treasure and the compromise, that teach children and project to the world the best about themselves and how they organize their affairs. You see it in ceremonial affairs of State where kings, queens, heads of state preside over acts that draw upon past honor, on reverence, on respect, and on heartstrings that reach deep into the cultural background to develop a greater meaning and a spiritual relationship with the State. They are acts that evolve and construct the DNA of a nation, the fabric of a people, the soul of a Republic.

It is because of this that Donald Trump’s years of lies and anti-establishment tolerance for violence finally became too much for America this January 6th, at precisely the time scheduled to celebrate the completion of the grand process of accounting and accepting the results of a national election. Out of the chaos Trump unleashed with his calls for a “wild” day of protests and his direct incitement to charge the US Capitol, as lawmakers winced and hid under chairs to protect themselves from an attacking mob of Trump followers intent on undoing the results of the national election, a heroic march took place within the halls of the United States Capitol that preserved everything.

Young women and men, too young for the big, powerful jobs of state — congressional pages — did what a nation needed to preserve its sacred democracy. Quietly, solemnly, heroically in the face of the attack, these young women and men in their 20s and 30s carried the wishes of 159,633,396 Americans in the ornate boxes designed to present the ballots to Congress on a quiet parade through the invaded halls and into safety to guarantee the confidence of the American people and the world in American democracy.

Two-by-two, each carrying one end of a leather-bound ballot box with the wishes and hopes of Americans, these heroic young people became warriors of Democracy, the guardians of a faith and a story the country has been selling the world for 244 years. Out of the fear and circumstance that surrounded the building with the prospect horror of mass casualties and collapse that could have burned the building as it happened the last time it was breached by the invading British in 1814, it was this single act by people acting by the weight of duty and responsibility that saved the American tale for Biden/Harris to reconstruct and build on.

It was only after those heroic acts under a real physical attack and desecration of “the cradle of American Democracy,” that a new generation of leadership moved to from the edges of technology to protect the nation. Mark Zuckerberg banned Trump from Facebook and Instagram. Twitter silenced Trump as well, diffusing the biggest threat to America in its history — an enemy within, able to manipulate millions with lies, innuendo, and no principled limits.

The siege of the Capitol building was the direct result of Trump drumming a steady stream of lies and unfounded accusations claiming elaborate fraud scenarios that conveniently but falsely told that the election was fraudulently stolen from him. After hyping up the demonstrations under the name 'Save America March' Trump set up a choice for his followers: Lose the America you know to radical communists or go out and defend it from those stealing his presidency.

“These guys better fight for Trump. Because if they’re not, guess what? I’m going to be in your backyard in a couple of months!” said Donald Trump Jr. “This gathering should send a message to them: This isn’t their Republican Party anymore! This is Donald Trump’s Republican Party!” You can be a hero, or you can be a zero. And the choice is yours. But we are all watching. The whole world is watching, folks. Choose wisely,” he said, enticing the crowd to action.

“Have some backbone. Show some fight. Learn from Donald Trump!” shouted Eric Trump to the crowd, adding that his father “has more fight in him than every other one combined. And they need to stand up. And we need to march on the Capitol today. And we need to stand up for this country. And we need to stand up for what’s right.”

Continuing with the incitement to violence, Trump’s lawyer —  a twisted caricature of his former self, Rudy Guiliani, once regarded as a 9/11 hero —  spoke at the march, fanning the fires of violence. “Over the next 10 days, we get to see the machines that are crooked, the ballots that are fraudulent. And if we’re wrong, we will be made fools of. But if we’re right, and lot of them will go to jail. So — let’s have trial by combat”

“We are going to the capitol… we are going to walk down and I will be there with you…let’s walk down Pennsylvania Avenue,” Trump told the crowd, before disappearing into the safety of the White House.

“Big protest on Washington DC, January 6th. Be there. It will be wild,” was the Trump tag at the end of false claims about election fraud.

Outside the Capitol, Trump supporters erected a hangman’s noose, carried Confederate flags, wore Auschwitz and “6MWE” shirts (A reference to 6 Million Dead Jews not being Enough), and other shirts that read “Civil War, January 6, 2021.”

It was White privilege and White nationalism running rampant, entering the United States Capitol practically unimpeded. It was action inspired by years of Trump lies. Lies repeated by more than a hundred Republican Congressmen and at least 7 senators in Congress chambers.

“The scene that unfolded yesterday in the Capitol Building will go down as one of the darkest days in our nation’s history. Every insurrectionist who tried to overthrow the free and fair election of President-elect Biden should be identified, arrested, and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for desecrating the cradle of American democracy. They should be given no quarter. They are not patriots. They are the antithesis of what it means to be an American,” said New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy in a prepared statement.

“This was not a protest. It was an act of domestic terrorism spurred on by the president himself and his minions

“The president’s refusal to accept the reality that he lost an election created this. His years of lies and willful misinformation created this. His belief that the laws don’t apply to him created this. His spewing of unfounded conspiracy theories created this. His unwillingness to understand even the basic precepts of the Constitution created this.

“The fact that we all woke up this morning to the reality of President-elect Joe Biden’s election formalized by the United States Congress is proof that our democracy is stronger than an unhinged mob.

“I am relieved that the members of Congress were all safe and were able to complete their Constitutionally mandated task of counting and formalizing Joe Biden’s election as our 46th President. In two weeks, with his inauguration, the renewal of America will begin in earnest,” said Murphy.

There is a heroic element to the protection of the American tale. There are heroes yet to be known that have preserved the veneer of greatness. Yet America’s head is bloody and its pride has a bowed back. Trump is likely to escape any accountability for the actions he unleashed. He is a master of doublespeak and “maybe I meant it, maybe I didn’t” trap door speak. The question will remain, Will the strength of America’s Democratic soul uncoil itself straightforward? Or will the weight of convenience bend and accommodate itself to the twisted machinations of the man who nearly destroyed it?

It is therefore of the greatest weight how the Biden/Harris administration chooses to channel these unconquerable forces. Will the world see the greatest reconstruction of the character of a nation? Will it be a new America that sees justice apply equally to peoples of all color? Or will it continue the two-tiered system that allows White expression and insurrection, but gasses and shoots those of color demanding their rights as it happened on those very grounds just this past summer? Who will be the master of its fate?