Oh, if only “what if” could become a reality once in a while.
On that point, the Secret Service made a colossal mistake on January 6, 2021. Even though it would have violated its mission of assuring the physical safety of the president of the United States, it should have permitted Donald Trump to join the crowd that attacked the Capitol.
Instead of returning him to the White House after his remarks, the state of our country might be greatly different today had Trump been allowed to complete his wish and promise to join the attackers that afternoon.
Trump’s combat experience outside wrestling rings would have afforded him self protection. Even more significantly, he had correctly asserted that the people bent on disrupting the certification of the presidential election were his people – not folks who would harm him.
They saw Trump as their hero. In turn, Trump consistently calls them “patriots” who later became “hostages” and “political prisoners” whom he intends to pardon.
Trump would then fill those jail cells with members of the Biden family, MSNBC presenters, anyone now prosecuting or testifying against him, and civil employees not displaying total fealty to Trump. According to Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton, Trump’s ambition is to “put people in jail” without having to ask “anybody’s permission.” Does that bother anyone?
An assessment of Trump’s physical safety in the vicinity of the Capitol on January 6, 2021 was uttered by his ardent supporter Wisconsin senator Ron Johnson. Among others, Johnson called the gathering a “peaceful protest.” If so, why didn’t Johnson stay in the Capitol and have a friendly chat with those who entered there?
The January 6 incident, whatever one cares to call it, caused more $2.7 million in damage to the Capitol building, injuries to 140 members of law enforcement and several linked deaths plus more than $30 million in related costs. It seems Johnson and his fellow Trumplicans have a new definition of “peaceful.”
Had Trump been granted his wish on January 6, would he have directly confronted Vice-President Mike Pence, members of Congress, and the officials constitutionally authorized to conduct the election certification?
However that would have turned out, would Trump’s direct presence have been enough (one can only hope) to convince another 10 Republican senators to vote to convict him, after he was impeached by the House of Representatives, for the attempted subversion of the election certification?
His physical presence should have erased any doubt about Trump’s direct participation in the nefarious and multi-pronged scheme, thereby meriting conviction by the senate and apparently disqualifying Trump from holding federal office again (absent any Supreme Court adverse interpretation of Article 1, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution).
If so, we wouldn’t be facing the debacle that confronts the country today – in large part the struggle of an entangled political and judicial scene for months ahead.
Oh, if only this “what if” could have become a reality – just this once.