Troubles ahead

I feel I should acknowledge the first anniversary of the storming of the Capital but what to say? A friend was expecting bloodshed and death at rallies and counterrallies across the land, and I half hoped he was right and that it would lead a critical mass of Republicans finally to distance themselves from the Big Lie. But, of course, no. MAGA rowdies are just the tiny tip of an iceberg of bad faith. As the House Select Committee confirms what we all knew was happening in the waning days of the Trump administration (en gros if not en detaille), the events of January 6th are looking to me like a glitch. The storming by the mob wasn't supposed to happen, since the Vice President and Congressional Republicans were supposed to do the deed circumventing democracy themselves. The assembled crowd, who'd been told to "stand back and stand by" until the day things got "wild," was there to share the giddy thrill of the last-minute putsch, and, as needed, to engage with protesters after the act of usurpation, if necessary providing a pretext for a crackdown. When Pence wouldn't play ball, his boss changed the plan: the crowd would pressure the Republicans who had been given their marching orders to stay the course - as, of course, almost all did. Things got out of hand because some of the marchers understood that the kneecapping of American democracy they were being asked to participate in was already an act of violence against the state - something the House Republicans, and now most members of that party, continue not to admit. The number of people in on the plan then (and still in on it now!) is staggering. The number convinced that democracy must and may be short-circuited - by legal means if possible, by others if necessary - is terrifying. How can they be convinced to trust democracy again?