Opinion

The second American Civil War has begun.

No official announced Trump's Civil War. That's the reason our major news organizations dance around the awful truth using obfuscating language.

When Donald Trump ran for the Republican Party's presidential nomination in 2016, many top Republicans shunned him. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) confidently explained how Trump was "not going to change the platform of the Republican Party, the views of the Republican Party… we're much more likely to change him." He even admitted, "it's pretty obvious he doesn't know a lot about the issues." McConnell alluded to Trump's racism in vague terms, saying, "I object to a whole series of things that he's said—vehemently object to them. I think all of that needs to stop… these attacks on various ethnic groups in the country."

But as soon as Trump won the Electoral College and was declared the winner of the 2016 race, McConnell set to work to ensure he could make full use of the newly elected president regardless of Trump's continued spouting off of dangerous lies and hateful claims. The Senate majority leader was happy to see the seating of ultra-conservative Supreme Court justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and most recently Amy Coney Barrett. He went on an unprecedented spree to remake the federal judiciary into one that is dominated by white conservative men, young enough to reshape legal decisions for a generation. He pushed through a massive tax reform bill that disproportionately benefits the wealthy, allowing almost no room for debate over it. He ensured the Senate turned into a "legislative graveyard," refusing to even consider hundreds of bills passed by the House of Representatives, thereby ensuring that most policy changes during the past four years were shaped by the president's executive action.

Senator Josh Hawley knew he would be entering history when he catapulted himself into national prominence by declaring he would challenge the January 6 certification of Biden electors, transforming a pro forma event into an attempted coup. He is, after all, a historian, having written a serious biography of our 26th President: Teddy Roosevelt, Preacher of Righteousness.

Perhaps he even had TR in mind, imagining himself emulating the strategic insight and bold action that had propelled the 26th president onto the national stage in 1898. Then, as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Roosevelt had encouraged war with Spain, and when war commenced, resigned, formed the Rough Riders, then led the charge up San Juan Hill that made him a national hero and prospective President.

With President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration less than a week away, many far-right conspiracy theorists continue to make the thoroughly debunked claim that the election was stolen from President Donald Trump — including evangelical pastor Robert Henderson. This week, Henderson angrily claimed that Biden couldn't have won the 2020 election legitimately because God wouldn't have allowed it to happen.

During an unhinged rant, Henderson told his followers, "You're going to tell me that a man that has been the best friend that Christianity and the kingdom of God has had is going to be removed by God and replaced by a baby-killing socialist? You're going to tell me that God's going to do that because President Trump didn't humble himself, when all he's done had been attacked, had been attacked, had been attacked?... Oh, really, what do you say when he says that Jesus Christ is the most famous person on the Earth?"

Since March 2020, our body of mental health experts, the World Mental Health Coalition, has urgently recommended that Donald Trump be removed from the presidency, whether via the 25th Amendment, impeachment, resignation, or an involuntary psychiatric hold. Following his incitement of violent insurrection where five people were killed and a massacre of lawmakers was attempted, we have issued a call for his removal from the presidency for medical reasons.

While a second impeachment is a step in the right direction, without actual conviction and removal, the public remains vulnerable. As president, Donald Trump officially controls access to weapons capable of destroying civilization.

At first glance, one might think the attackers of the U.S. Capitol have little in common with ISIS or Al-Qaeda. But they are both cut from the same cloth: narcissistic terrorists who see vindication not in their purported ideology, but in a belief system where they see themselves as the center of attention, capturing their exploits on video to broadcast to the world via social media. Thus, the events of January 6, 2021 can be called "The You-Coup."

Only slightly less shocking than the assault on the U.S. Capitol was how many of them livestreamed their own participation in their bid to destroy the American legislature as members officially counted the ballots for the 2020 Election. There was little attempt to wear practical masks, or much of an attempt to disguise oneself among the mob. Perhaps some thought in the new authoritarian system that would replace the U.S. Constitution, that they would be regarded as heroes and wouldn't face accountability. But for most, it didn't matter if their own video would lead to their incarceration, loss of a job, and potential family estrangement. For the narcissist, public attention and adoration matter more.

Donald Trump has made history again.

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives voted to impeach him a second time because of his role in inciting violence before the coup attempt last Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol. Trump is now the only president to have been impeached twice, and could easily have been impeached on other occasions for his many other crimes against democracy, the Constitution and the rule of law.

Conservative GOP Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska has been lambasting all the Republicans on Capitol Hill who realize that President-elect Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 presidential election but are afraid to say so publicly — which, Sasse has stressed, is terrible for democracy. Liberal Washington Post opinion writer Eugene Robinson makes similar arguments in a January 14 column, declaring that unless Republicans in Congress are willing to defend democracy, they are "enemies" of it.

"President Trump is impeached yet again, disgraced yet again, soon to slink away in shame," Robinson writes. "But he leaves a poison trail behind him as he departs, an insidious Big Lie about 'voter fraud' that gravely threatens our democracy. The Republican Party he leads is out of time to repudiate that lie. If its members fail to act now, they may never extricate themselves, or their country, from it."

President-elect Joe Biden believes that rescuing the faltering economy and crushing the coronavirus are the most important challenges he faces right out of the gate when taking office on Jan. 20. To address these problems, he proposed a bold and aggressive $1.9 trillion legislative package on Thursday to tackle them head-on.

"The US government can borrow money for less than the rate of inflation, which means we owe it to ourselves to borrow, borrow, borrow," said writer Matt Yglesias in praise of the plan. "I'm excited to see a new administration thinking big."

Evangelical leader and top Trump religion advisor Franklin Graham is under fire Thursday after attacking Republican Members of Congress who voted to impeach President Donald Trump, to "Judas," the biblical times apostle who betrayed Jesus Christ.

"Shame, shame on the ten Republicans who joined with @SpeakerPelosi & the House Democrats in impeaching President Trump yesterday," Graham said on Twitter. "After all that he has done for our country, you would turn your back & betray him so quickly? What was done yesterday only further divides our nation."

There is no way to defend Donald Trump's behavior last week, when, after pouring gasoline for months, he lit a match and set the insurrection fire. And, by and large, Republicans aren't even trying. Instead, the Republican arguments against impeaching the president for a second time largely cite "concerns" — or what might be better described as threats — that any effort to hold Trump accountable for his behavior may anger an already angry mob, leading to more violence.

This article originally appeared at Salon.

Even by the sub-standards of Fox News, it was fairly amazing Wednesday night when host and evil sorceress Laura Ingraham bemoaned the fact that authorities are doing too much to keep Washington, D.C. safe for next week's presidential inauguration.

Ingraham hosted retired Gen. Robert Spalding, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank. This is how she introduced the segment:

Donald Trump's attempted coup against our government was predictable. He had it all planned out. He would incite thousands of supporters to attack the Capitol, disrupt the proceedings of the Senate and find a way to maintain his grip on power. He knew full well that his violent insurrectionists had blood on their minds and that Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence were in harm's way. He knew there was a chance that both Pelosi and Pence could be kidnapped or murdered. He did not care one whit. He was partying and celebrating as the attackers formed and began their deadly march. He was inciting an insurrection against the United States for his own personal gain. Democracy and human life were of no concern to him.

This article was originally published at Salon