Despite many speaking out against Donald Trump’s actions and some even crossing over to the Democratic Party’s side and voting to impeach him, early 2021 witnessed Republicans in the Senate abiding by Mitch McConnell’s specific request for a ‘personal favor’ and voting against the bipartisan January 6th commission negotiated by Democrats and Republicans. Their objective was simple: To discourage any investigation into the January 6, 2021 insurrection. The Party of White Patriarchy wanted you to forgive and forget what happened that day, because you’re not supposed to hold angry White men accountable for their actions. Nancy Pelosi, however, did not act as White Patriarchy expects Women to act; she refused to be deterred, to be silenced by threats of violence or by a public discourse that sought to besmirch and vilify Women who dare demand justice. She refused to bow her head, be meek, and surrender.
She also refused to allow on her Select Committee any representatives who held discourse or helped in any way amplify the Big Lie. And after much debate and attempts to hinder process by abusing protocol, despite shameless and even at times audacious GOP obstructionism, the committee was officially formed on July 1st, 2021, and held its first public hearings on July 27, 2021.
Composed of nine members – seven Democrats and two Republicans – under the leadership of Chair Bennie Thompson, the Select Committee’s objective is very specific: To reveal the means and the hands of those who strategized and financed the January 6th insurrection. The first months were busy in building from the ground up. The process seems long because, first, it’s not a one-hour tv show, and second, necessary and careful steps are taken with respect to public acknowledgements that both national security and the Justice Department have officially laid down. The Select Committee’s specific wording in every letter inviting to testify, in every hearing, in every subpoena, and there are many, is grounded in particularly tailored motive, building on a strong foundation to get to the top, leading towards not only revealing every hand that aided and abetted the insurrection, but also towards accountability. In the meantime, the Department of Justice has made over 500 arrests of people who partook in the January 6th insurrection, and as of December 24, 2021, over 240 were accused with the rare charge of obstructing an official congressional proceeding. This is what many believe will be the Select Committee’s official and specific charge against Donald Trump.
As the weeks went by with the Select Committee sending subpoenas to, and speaking with over 200 witnesses, revelations started slowly trickling out regarding complicit hands that drafted memos and prepared blunt PowerPoint presentations strategically laying the ground to overturn the 2020 Presidential election. In the last few weeks of 2021, the subpoenas started inching closer to the top including White House aides and Trump’s closest allies. Among many are Steve Bannon, Mark Meadows, and Sean Hannity.
The pressure is slowly and relentlessly building, and not one law-enforcement venue is allowing Trump or any of his cronies to get away with their crimes despite their endless court challenges in attempt to stop the multiple ongoing investigations.
Every Republican is now panicking because despite their show of bravado and their refusal to abide by subpoenas, pretending to be above the law, the Select Committee and Department of Justice have been slowly and effectively making way to reach leadership figures who planned, financed, and lead the insurrection. In very Republican fashion, offended that White Male Grievances aren’t allowed to go unpunished for committing acts of violence, many have been publicly losing control and revealing even more of their hypocrisy and their hand in the insurrection.
This is why voting Democrats into office is important. Keeping the House Blue is keeping the investigation going. Flipping more Senate seats is holding accountable those who abetted the insurrection to overturn your democracy. Whoever tells you that Republicans and Democrats are the same is lying to you; worse, they believe you’re stupid and gullible enough to believe their obvious easily-disproven lies. Pay attention how those who have believed and spread the last 10 lies from the same agents of disinformation will also believe and spread the next five lies from the same sources. It should be clear by now those who take you for a gullible fool hold the same agenda and aim as the Republican Party they pretend to fight: Voter apathy is effective voter suppression. Because the objective is to get the right voters to the polls and keep the wrong ones away. Don’t be fooled. Make it your mission in 2022 to vet any information before amplifying it, and dare to hold accountable those lying to you. This is how you defend your Country. You don’t need to always go to war and sacrifice innocents; you just need to respect her enough, to love her enough, and to protect her.
Bonne et heureuse année, Politicadoes!