The Elephant in the Capitol

 The January 6, 2021 insurrection by Trump supporters has had a surprisingly short tenure in the national news.  Occasional reports surface as law enforcement agencies file charges.  One recent report on NPR stated that more than 250 have been arrested.  The report included a graphic of categories for the people and the indictments.  

Thus far, the Republican Party has reacted in a disturbing way.  Republican members who condemned the violence and Trump's role in inciting the violence have been rebuked by the Party.  Member who have supported Trump and who echo his claim that the election was 'stolen' have been lauded by the Party.  Some of the latter group will claim that they also condemn the violence (others are at least honest and do not address the issue), but their rhetoric includes efforts to ascribe the violence to 'a few rowdies' or even to left-wing factions that are against Trump.   A majority of polled Republicans believe the election was invalid.  

The general absence of Republican leadership condemnation of the January 6 insurrection and Trump's role in it represents an acknowledgment by Republicans that they represent a group who fundamentally rejects the democratic process bedrock of our government.  They are unpersuaded by judges, state officials, and the obvious fact that more people wanted Joe Biden to be elected rather than Trump.  The alternative reality for this cohort is that they believe their ownership of the country has been taken from them, and that any and all action necessary to reverse the status is justified.

It is largely a coalition of white supremacists, white nationalists, and Christian activists who feel aggrieved about their minority status.  It is frustrating to hear their irrational rhetoric, but I believe I could get most of them to admit that they know they are in the minority.  Surely most Christians understand that the world at large is not majority Christian.  In my former status as a member of a church, it was my firm understanding that most of the world did not know Jesus as savior.  Perhaps even most Christians did not understand the need to confess their sinfulness and be 'born again'.  Surely this means that the majority, perhaps the vast majority, of their fellow Americans do not share their conviction.

If this analysis is correct, there is an inescapable conclusion about the current Republican Party and its attitude towards the insurrectionists.  This elephant-in-the-Capitol is a sizable minority that would establish authority over the nation by any means necessary.  They have abandoned trust in democracy and in the Constitution.  The group is militarized by members who have been preparing for this occasion over the past few decades.  They are heavily armed and imagine themselves as revolutionaries.  They do not have much in the way of ideals.  Rather, they have an unshakable certainty that those not with them are against them, and that task #1 is to establish authority over these 'others'.  

The January 6 insurrection was no aberration.  The flags other than the Stars and Stripes suggest to me that most of the rioters believe the U.S.A. flag no longer belongs to them (it was stolen by the majority).  Their identity is with each other, and their righteous cause is to take back their country through any means necessary.  They are not listening or negotiating.  They are dictating.