_edited.png)
An Op-Ed
A mere six days into the year of 2021, and the United States was greeted with a most egregious act of “domestic terrorism”. On the 6th of January 2021, at around 12pm EST, protesters consisting of Trump supporters held, what started as, a relatively peaceful protest at the U.S Capitol. Around an hour and a half later, the protesters had turned violent, breaching Capitol defenses and storming inside - a federal crime. Since then, at least twenty-five domestic terrorism cases have been filed against the rioters.
While federal laws were being broken, lives taken, and members of Congress threatened, the rule of law of the United States of America was being torn asunder by the constitutionally pious Republicans. Donald Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, was making a rather inappropriate phone call.
President Trump had spoken earlier that day to Senator Tuberville, but had to do so through the phone of Republican Senator Mike Lee, as he rang the wrong number. Coincidentally, Giuliani rang that wrong number later on in the day, again calling Sen. Lee, and had to be passed onto Sen. Tuberville.
Giuliani said to Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, "Senator Tuberville? Or I should say, Coach Tuberville. This is Rudy Giuliani, the president’s lawyer. I’m calling you because I want to discuss with you how they’re trying to rush this hearing and how we need you, our Republican friends, to try to just slow it down so we can get these legislatures to get more information to you. And I know they’re reconvening at 8 tonight, but it … the only strategy we can follow is to object to numerous states and raise issues so that we get ourselves into tomorrow—ideally until the end of tomorrow."
The president's own lawyer, witnessing the Capitol come under siege and overrun, was determined to ask the Alabama Senator to do whatever he could to "pick up the baton" from the mob; to sabotage the working of modern-day democracy. The New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) strongly disapproved of Giuliani's involvement in the Capitol Riot: a riot perpetrated by citizens of the States, who were hell - bent on skewing the certification of the 2020 presidential elections.
While the siege of the Capitol illustrated a physical opposition to the mechanics of democracy among supporters, this call confirmed the Trump administration’s more explicit opposition to democracy. This was a clear indication of corruption at the highest level.
An officer was killed, Congressmen and Congresswomen were cowering in their chambers, and the faith in this administration was being undermined. All the while, one can assume the president had instructed his attorney to contact a Senator in an attempt to stall the counting; to further his agenda of muting the votes that had given Biden a lead of more than 7 million. Biden was the undisputed winner of the election.
The riot came at a time the world would have thought the U.S. to oppose all rioting in all cities. It stands now parallel to the protests, just a few months earlier, of the racially discriminated seeking equality in free America. However, the integrity of the U.S. homeland security system has been found wanting.
While the peaceful protests in the summer were met with outrage, public humiliation, and copious amounts of teargas, rioters were able to kill a cop, loosen windows to gain access to the Capitol, and propose an armistice by trying to reason with Capitol officers. One rioter urged the officers to side with them to deliver the "accurate" election result.
The start of 2021 did not show the integrity of Trump's administrative officials in a kind light. Moment by moment, we became disabused of their facades, and shown the lengths to which they would have obscured the truth. This just begs the question - when have they done so prior?