Shards from the embattled Republic -- January 6 is open-ended

It's not just you and your friends. Most of us think Donald Trump is a criminal. Don't forget that.

Via Marcy Wheeler: 

After three years of concerted propaganda effort, thin majorities still believe:
    •    January 6ers were “mostly violent” (50%)
    •    Punishments for Jan6ers have been fair or not harsh enough (73%)
    •    Trump bears responsibility for January 6 (53%)
    •    DOJ is treating Trump like anyone else (57%)
    •    Trump telling his mob to march to the Capitol threatened democracy (51%)
    •    The mob entering the Capitol threatened democracy (58%)
    •    Congress voting against certifying the election threatened democracy (53%)
    •    The attack on the Capitol should never be forgotten (55%)
    •    There is no solid evidence of widespread voter fraud (63%)

We know better than to return the criminal to power.

When National Guard troops and law enforcement retook control of the Capitol complex on the evening of January 6th it was possible to see the shameful episode as a dreadful first, yes … but something the republic had survived. The ongoing Republican defense of the failed coup means January 6th never really ended.

Politically we’re still living in an open-ended January 6th. You can see it every time an elected Republican refuses to admit who won the 2020 election, the refusals to admit that Trump attempted a coup and failed. You have to look long and hard to find an elected Republican who can clearly and honestly answer these simple questions. Because the contrary is a party article of faith.

No republic is safe if it contains a major political faction which allows itself to resort to subterfuge and violence if it can’t succeed in a free and fair election. Joshua Marshall

Via historian of fascism John Ganz: 

On January 6 Trump fully revealed himself to be as someone who had the will to destroy the democratic republic even if he didn’t have the means. He attempted to subvert the republic’s constitution and laws and he defied the democracy’s will as expressed in the vote. He lost both constitutionally and popularly. In terms of the American form of government, he had no leg to stand on: neither legality nor legitimacy. But he attempted to remain in office. That he failed is immaterial. The simple fact is that he wanted to put an end to this country as we know it.

... From a certain perspective, the critics who say that talking about fascism takes Trump too seriously are correct: it involves too much hocus-pocus, it cloaks him in a certain dark grandeur, and gives everything a Spenglerian gloom that that him seem bigger than he is. After all, he’s just a crook and a conman, an idiot. But the phoniness, that bombast, and the ridiculousness was a part of the original thing, too. There has always been a deeply moronic side to fascism.

Fascism is perhaps most fundamentally a moron putting on world-historical airs. “Morons trying to make history” — what better way to describe January 6? The second biggest mistake is to take it too seriously.

But the first biggest mistake is to not take it seriously enough.

We can end January 6 and we have to.