Some Glimmers of Political Hope, Followed by Horror

I fully realize that there’s a lot going on in our country today, with many citizens convinced the election was rigged, others convinced Trump is doing his best to steal the election, and even more doubt being stirred up by the election in Georgia. Listening to Trump’s diatribe against the election and seeing all the protestors in DC right now really disappoints me, and would typically leave me feeling despondent.

However.

I also see some areas that actually give me hope. First, there’s the fact that Georgia held a run off election that essentially confirmed what had happened in the first election in that state (a state whose electoral votes are being accused as being rigged today). Sure, Trump tried to claim that Democrats just rigged the election a second time, because they got away with it the first time, and doubtless there will be a significant number of Trump supporters who believe him. But to me, the runoff election showed the country is still working and will continue to work after Trump is gone. (Though the process to have Trump leave is far rockier than I would like.)

But more than that election, I’m encouraged to hear Republican politicians finally speak out strongly against this charade of pretending the election is rigged. Mitch McConnell is far from my favorite politician. (Very, very far. I believe much of the harm Trump has done to the country couldn’t have been done without McConnell’s support.) But to hear him get up and call for this effort to be voted down was really encouraging. Toomey, Romney. and other Senators–seeing members of the party finally take public stances against all of this is at least something.

And yet.

Even as I was writing this, the debate on the Senate floor was interrupted as Trump protesters swarmed the Capitol. I literally watched as thousands of them flooded the grounds, with some of them even going into the rotunda itself. And sure, watching many of them makes them look like nothing more than bemused Americans, filming everything with their phone cameras and taking pictures of what they’re doing. But I also realize that all it would take in a situation like that would be for a few confrontations for it all to spiral out of control. It was deeply troubling to watch. Evacuating members of the House and Senate? Evacuating the Vice President?

Trump has consistently lied about the election, pushing people the believe things without any real proof. I worry what might happen today and even more what might happen tonight.

Can we just have this over with already? I don’t know what else to say. I’m speechless, and it’s happening on live television.

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