The End of the Line
The edifice of Trumpism has collapsed. It was rotten from the very beginning.
For more than four years — ever since Donald Trump captured the Republican presidential nomination — those of us who opposed the normalization of Trumpism have been accused of being in the throes of “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
On January 6, 2021, the real Trump Derangement Syndrome was on full display in the nation’s capital as supporters of the defeated president violently stormed the Capitol, fought the police, vandalized the building, and briefly forced Congress into hiding to prevent the certification of election results Trump has groundlessly declared to be fraudulent.
At noon, Trump wound up his supporters at a rally, vowing that he (and they) would “never concede” and encouraging them to march on Capitol Hill to stop the supposed theft of an election by “weak congresspeople.” (Before that, his loyal minion Rudy Giuliani was calling for “trial by combat.”) A little over an hour later, when Congress began its joint session to certify the election results, pro-Trump mobs began to storm the Capitol, smashing windows and doors, pushing past police lines, fighting with police and Capitol Hill security, vandalizing and looting offices and, for a time, taking over the Senate floor. Members of Congress had to be evacuated for their…
