Thoughts for the Day, Memorial Day, 2021: Remember our fallen heroes and soldiers on this day.

Regardless of our political persuasion, gender, ethnicity, race or religion this is a day for all of us to remember and honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country. Take a moment to remember and ask for peace for the families of those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

In honor of Memorial Day, I was going to hold off on this post until tomorrow. However, I feel there is no better way to honor our fallen heroes and soldiers then by calling out the Trump Republicans who are determined to destroy our democracy by continuing to protect Trump and his supporters from their actions which led to the January 6, insurrection. Their vote in the senate on Friday was a disgrace to the Capitol Police that were killed and injured during the January 6 insurrection while protecting the 35 senators who refused to vote to approve a bi-partisan commission to investigate the January 6 insurrection.

I am mad and I am not going to sit back and remain quiet anymore. I do not and cannot understand how seasoned politicians can remain loyal to Donald Trump.  Our democracy is in peril. On the evening of January 6, 2021 as the senate reopened following the insurrection that occurred earlier in the day Mitch McConnell opened the U.S. Senate with the following statement.

I want to say to the American people the United States Senate will not be intimidated. We will not be kept out of this chamber by thugs, mobs or threats. We will not bow to lawlessness or intimidation. We are back at our posts. We will discharge our duty under the Constitution and for our nation. And we’re going to do it tonight.

This afternoon, Congress began the process of honoring the will of the American people and counting the Electoral College votes. We have fulfilled the solemn duty every four years for more than two centuries. Whether our nation has been at war or at peace, under all manner of threats, even during an ongoing armed rebellion and the Civil War, the clockwork of our democracy has carried on.

The United States and the United States Congress have faced down much greater threats than the unhinged crowd we saw today. We’ve never been deterred before, and we will not be deterred today. They tried to disrupt our democracy. They failed. They failed. They failed to attempt to obstruct the Congress.

This failed insurrection only underscores how crucial the task before us is for our republic. Our nation was founded precisely so that the free choice of the American people is what shapes our self-government and determines the destiny of our nation – not fear, not force, but the peaceful expression of the popular will.

Now, we assembled this afternoon to count our citizens’ votes and to formalize their choice of the next president. Now we’re going to finish exactly what we started. We’ll complete the process the right way by the book. We’ll follow our precedents, our laws and our Constitution to the letter. And we will certify the winner of the 2020 presidential election. Criminal behavior will never dominate the United States Congress. This institution is resilient. Our democratic republic is strong.

The American people deserve nothing less

At the time, I gave McConnell credit for standing up to Trump and his followers.  Shame on me. 

Since that time, the senate’s Trump Republicans led by McConnell, have found Trump innocent of impeachment for causing the insurrection and then on Friday the senate Trump Republicans led by McConnell blocked the creation of an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, using their filibuster power in the Senate for the first time this year to doom a full accounting for the deadliest attack on Congress in centuries. Trump Republicans are determined to shield their party from potential political damage that could come from scrutiny of the storming of the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. Only six G.O.P. senators had the guts to join Democrats to support advancing the measure. The final vote, 54 to 35, fell short of the 60 senators needed to move forward.

As a result of the senate vote on Friday the public may never know precisely what President Donald Trump and members of his administration did or said as a throng of his supporters stormed the Capitol while Congress met to formalize President Biden’s victory; why security officials were so unprepared for the breach; or the extent of the role of Republican lawmakers in planning the “Stop the Steal” rally that turned into a deadly attack.

The Trump Republicans are ruining our democracy.  They are supporting a person who only cares about himself and no one else. They are supporting a person who will turn on them in a flash regardless of how loyal they have been (just ask VP Pence). They are dishonoring the 5 people who died during the insurrection and the 140 plus officers who were injured trying to protect them from the Trump supporters who carried out the insurrection.  Next to the actual insurrection, I believe yesterday’s vote to not have a bi-partisan commission to investigate what happened, who was involved, and why it happened is a slap in the face of the American people and is the lowest point of our democracy in my lifetime.  I am losing hope for our democracy as a result of the Trump Republican party’s loyalty to a man who wants to destroy our democracy.

Stay safe.  Wash your hands regularly. Social Distance.  Wear your mask properly.  Schedule your vaccine.

Orchid of the Day: This country’s fallen soldiers and heroes, especially those who died in the January 6 insurrection.

Onion of the Day:  The 35 Trump Republicans who voted to block the independent commission.

Quote of the Day: “Do my Republican colleagues remember that day?  Do my Republican colleagues remember the savage mob calling for the execution of Mike Pence, the makeshift gallows outside the Capitol? Shame on the Republican Party for trying to sweep the horrors of that day under the rug because they are afraid of Donald Trump,” New York senator Chuck Schumer following Friday’s senate vote.