Only Trump in Handcuffs will Unshackle America from Looming Fascism

Terror and treason are business as usual for the modern GOP

The January 6 Committee hearings have been revelatory and must-see television. It has shined a searing spotlight on the profound perfidy and perniciousness of one of America’s two political parties. Although a gripping drama, it’s been somewhat difficult to relive the trauma. Our ongoing troubles are caused almost exclusively by a radicalized segment of society, egged on by shameless politicians, that have wrought instability on our once secure country.

It’s also been challenging to watch innocent people, including patriotic poll workers, Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss, having their lives threatened and upended, after they were deliberately singled out by Trump’s malice machine. While there are several additional hearings on the horizon, a few conclusions are already clear:   

First, Donald Trump is essentially a mafia don who ran a criminal enterprise directly out of the Oval Office. The scope of his criminality and abuse of power, to illegally remain president, is breathtaking. Given the audacity of Trump’s ongoing conspiracy to defraud and defile the country, The United States will not be able to move forward, nor will democracy be safe, until Trump is in prison.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., was correct when he said during the hearing, "If the most powerful person in the world can bring the full weight of the presidency down on an ordinary citizen [Moss and Freeman] who is merely doing her job with a lie as big and heavy as a mountain, who among us is safe?"

There is hesitation, in some quarters, to slap handcuffs on Trump for fear of how his rabid cult followers might react to his arrest. The real danger, however, is allowing the threat to further metastasize by letting this shameless crook walk after brazenly staging a coup. Until the rule of law is restored, we will cease to be a nation of rules or laws, as Republicans will keep pushing our institutions and norms past the breaking point. If the reaction to Trump’s incarceration means battling MAGA thugs in the streets, so be it. It’s better to have that confrontation now then after Trump, or a fascist successor like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, falsely declares “voter fraud” to illegally steal an election.

Second, the Justice Department needs to arrest and indict every seditious sycophant, such as lawyers John Eastman and Rudy Giuliani. Every hate group leader that spreads terror across the country, including on January 6, also needs to be wearing an orange jumpsuit.

These are as much preventive measures as they are punitive. The Republican sabotage of democracy is ongoing. In most states, peddlers of the Big Lie are winning Republican primaries. The GOP is recruiting loyalists to serve as election workers, with instructions to find “fraud” as a pretext to disrupt and dispute election results in 2024. By arresting the perpetrators and peddlers of the Big Lie today, the Justice Department can send a powerful message to these aspiring criminals: If they do the crime, they will do the time. And, nope, they won’t be getting a Trump pardon.

Third, a combination of epic spinelessness and unchecked ambition led weak Republican leaders, such as Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and House Republican Conference Leader Elise Stefanik, to cower under the weight of Trump’s threats. They twisted themselves in psychological pretzels to stay in Trump’s good graces. In doing so, they put their careers ahead of their country. This craven party can’t be trusted with power, nor can it represent America’s best interests with honesty, decency or integrity.

Fourth, the Trump White House thrived on bullying and intimidation. It eagerly normalized and embraced the threat of mob violence as a political tactic. It strategically used messaging – whether online, in the media or in speeches – to encourage vigilante goons to harass opponents and use fear to silence those who would not endorse the Big Lie.

Who can forget when Trump gave his signal to the Proud Boys, during a presidential debate, to “stand back and stand by”? That’s precisely what they did, until Trump unleashed them on our Capitol building on January 6 to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s victory.   

From the moment Trump slithered down his tacky gold escalator at Trump Tower in 2015 to announce he would run for president, these undesirable elements have felt emboldened. They now serve as his shock troops and the MAGA movement’s enforcers. Violence has become such an everyday occurrence in post-Trump politics, that it’s hardly news that members of the January 6 committee are under imminent threat of attack and have had to receive increased security detail.

Over the weekend, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) publicly released a deranged letter addressed to his wife that threatened to murder them and their 5-month-old baby.  “There is violence in the future, I’m going to tell you,” Kinzinger said on ABC’s “This Week” program. “And until we get a grip on telling people the truth, we can’t expect any differently.”

The Republican penchant for violent words and imagery has increasingly appeared in political advertising, where extremists running for office are airing unhinged ads where they bandy assault rifles. No longer content to terrorize liberals, these yahoos have moved on to staging mock hunts of Republicans who dismiss Trump’s Big Lie.

Missouri GOP Senate candidate Eric Greitens posted a television ad on Monday where he dressed in a military-style uniform while hunting down moderate Republicans with a war weapon. "I'm Eric Greitens, Navy SEAL. And today, we're going RINO hunting," Greitens says in the ad, while loading his gun. RINO is a slur for sane Republicans, standing for “Republican In Name Only”.

It's worth noting that Greitens is not a “good guy with a gun.” He resigned as Missouri’s governor in 2018 after allegations that he had an extramarital affair. His alleged mistress claimed that he physically abused and threatened her. According to CBS News:

Greitens' resignation was part of a deal with a St. Louis prosecutor to drop a felony charge alleging misuse of a charity donor list to raise funds for his 2016 gubernatorial campaign. Greitens also stands accused by his ex-wife of abusing her and their young son.

Apparently, Greitens’ resume, and seeming penchant for violence, is no longer radioactive or a disqualifier in Republican circles. In fact, he’s a poster boy for the modern Republican Party. This is what the GOP has been reduced to – alleged wife beaters, mistress slappers and child abusers – peddling conspiracies, lies and commercials saturated with threats of gun violence. If you need more evidence that the Republican Party is bloodthirsty, consider that Texas Sen. John Cornyn was booed at the Texas GOP convention this weekend for working on weak, bipartisan gun legislation.      

The violence, unfortunately, is seeping beyond partisan politics, with groups being targeted by Trump-inspired white supremacists and Nazis. A new study by The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), found that, “nine times as many anti-LGBT demonstrations were reported in 2021 relative to 2020. At least 15% of these demonstrations turned violent or destructive last year. ACLED data indicates that 2022 is on track to be worse than last year.

Terror and treason are business as usual for the modern GOP. At this stinking, sinking point of its moral and ethical demise, the Republican Party is incapable of reforming on its own. It has become a pathological cult of personality and an authoritarian gang of hoodlums that is actively working to end democracy.

Voting may no longer be enough to save the country. It likely requires filling police paddy wagons with Republican politicians, including Trump, who committed crimes and put their own selfish interests above America’s. If we don’t directly address the source of our problems, we will never find solutions.