In a forthcoming book by McKay Coppins, excerpted in The Atlantic, retiring Senator Mitt Romney, who, one should never forget, is an entirely shitty human being and a blithering dickhead, pointed out something that should have been patently obvious. He said that prior to January 6, 2021, "elected Republicans feared a political backlash from their base. But after January 6, a new, more existential brand of cowardice had emerged. One Republican congressman confided to Romney that he wanted to vote for Trump’s second impeachment, but chose not to out of fear for his family’s safety."
And "Later, during the Senate trial, Romney heard the same calculation while talking with a small group of Republican colleagues. When one senator, a member of leadership, said he was leaning toward voting to convict, the others urged him to reconsider. You can’t do that, Romney recalled someone saying. Think of your personal safety, said another. Think of your children. The senator eventually decided they were right." They're not talking about crazed leftists going all Bolshevik on their asses. It's the fucking MAGA cretins who are murdery. They're the ones, primarily, who call in the death threats and bomb threats and show up at the houses of Democrats, armed to the tits with guns and ammo because open carry.
Romney himself pays, he claims, $5000 a day in security to prevent those same cretins from 2nd Amendmenting him or his family. And Romney's rich, so he can afford that $150k a month. I don't think I'm taking a particularly brave stand in declaring that it's bullshit that politicians of any persuasion should have to deal with some asshole telling them where their children live and how they're going to be murdered.
Put this in context: According to Romney (and others), the reason that Donald Trump was not removed from office is because Republicans were scared of the very white people they declare are the heart and soul of the country, the "real Americans," if you will. They were afraid that these "patriots," as more than one obsequious jellyfish has called them, will hang them or gun their children down in vengeance. The terrorists were protecting their terrorist leader. Think of how many decisions have been made because of this fear.
What's most idiotic here is the way that people are acting shocked about this "revelation." Hell, I've been writing about it since at least 2017. This isn't a revelation. It's a confirmation. What we should be saying is how this is pure cowardice, an excuse to make an easy choice to do nothing. The patriotic act would have been for Republicans to say, "Fuck you, you fucking creeps. He's guilty and an asshole. Fuck him and fuck you again." The representatives who did this likely would have lost re-election (like Liz Cheney) because of the MAGA animals, but at the very least you could have said you did the right fucking thing and you didn't cower while crazy motherfuckers wrecked the joint. Except, of course, for the terrorists in Congress who want to see the whole joint crumble. (And let's be clear: if you were happy to go along with things like the bullshit wall and the bullshit Muslim ban and other Trumpian bullshit, you empowered him and his cretins.)
Trump is counting on his terrorists to fuck up any chance of a genuine trial occurring. In his motion requesting that the judge in DC get Trump to shut the fuck up sometimes, Special Counsel Jack Smith (which, despite what Trump says, is his real name) is very clear about the terrorism that Trump has already caused. When it came to Trump lying about election interference, "the defendant engendered widespread mistrust in the administration of the election, and the individuals whom he targeted were subject to threats and harassment...The defendant knows that when he publicly attacks individuals and institutions, he inspires others to perpetrate threats and harassment against his targets." Smith says that witnesses and prosecutors in the case are all now subject to threats because of how Trump is deliberately degrading them. He is also concerned that the threat of being a target of harassment and possible violence by the MAGA terrorists will taint the jury pool. So, for fuck's sake, make this orange shit lump close his asshole mouth.
This is how we live now, and most of us pretend we don't. We live in a time where a large terrorist movement, with just a few active but with millions of supporters, can control how the country is run. And if we don't stop it by imprisoning its leader and his lieutenants, then the terrorists are not going to stop.
