Into the Woods

For years, our televisions brought us the horror story that was Donald Trump. Last night, our televisions brought us something completely different: an end to the despair that Trump and the Republican Party would inevitably get away with everything. It should now be clear to all that Donald Trump and many others are going to prison. There will be many charges from the U.S. Department of Justice, the most damning of which will be seditious conspiracy.

I believe that Liz Cheney was speaking to history when she said this:

“Tonight, I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible: There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.” To decent human beings, it is appalling that the Republican Party even continues to exist.

On Fox News last night, Tucker Carlson said, “They are lying, and we will not let them do it.” There is not much that we can do for those who still believe Tucker Carlson. But they are a minority, not more than 25 to 30 percent of the voting population. They do not have the power to prevent justice from being done. The events of January 6, 2021, were their Hail Mary effort to retain that power. That effort not only failed, it also made things much worse for them. The lies of Fox News cannot prevent the justice that is coming. More lies will only darken the stain that they carry into history. Among other things, the hearings will make sure that history has the full story of what happened during the Trump administration and on January 6, 2021.

The greatest danger now is that Republicans could regain a majority in the U.S. House or Senate after the November election. If they do, they will do everything possible to throw the country back into chaos. But, without control of the U.S. Department of Justice, which is out of Republican reach until January 2025, there is nothing that Republicans can do to stop Donald Trump and those who aided him from being put on trial.

If the Republican Party can raise up a whole new set of dangerous people who did not commit crimes for Trump and thus won’t go down with him, then we are not out of the woods. But Trump himself, and those who aided him, are history. They now have no power other than the power of their lies. The danger to the American republic now is not Donald Trump. It is the Republican Party.