UNMOVED: The Acquittal Will Be Quick: Facts Don’t Matter!
There is historical precedence for what is happening in this country today and for the recent political violence that occurred at the Capitol. The former President Donald Trump is set to be acquitted for inciting the January 6, 2021 riot on the Capitol. I think we need to take a moment to consider the deeper, structural historical forces at work here and ask ourselves “What is this trial really about?”
We have heard the loud whispers that GOP Senators are going to acquit Trump. Yes, the Impeachment Managers put on a compelling, stellar case (according to what I read, I could not watch it). Yes the evidence is overwhelming. Yes they brilliantly laid out the facts.
The closing remarks were a plea to any of the GOP Senators who may be on the fence about this case to help them draw the line here with Donald Trump because they know what happened on January 6, 2021 could happen again.
It is important to keep in mind that Trump didn’t invent White supremacy or White domestic terrorism; he commodified it — with Republicans as his willing accomplices buying into and spreading BIG LIES.
Remember when Trump contracted Covid-19? Well as it turns out he/they LIED about how sick he actually was (no surprise here). Still he received the best treatment therapies (for a disease he politicized as a hoax) and told us to inject bleach and lysol in our asses. And even after getting really sick he continued to LIE and play down Covid and people died.
That’s some evil shit.
Nothing the former President does seems to have anything to do with justice or basic human decency, but what Donald Trump does do — and he does it spectacularly — is to make white-supremacy and violence fun and entertaining for his masses — at the expense of the rest of us.
America is a nation that was built on the lie of White supremacy and White fragility. We cannot change what we refuse to face. The former president of the United States, enabled by the Republican Party sent terrorists to storm the Capitol, and those who stormed the Capitol believed it was theirs for the taking — and acted in violence because their Whiteness would protect them from the consequences.
We know that if President Obama was on trial today the GOP would vote to unanimously convict because he’s Black. No question!
Many Senate Republicans are unmoved by this trial. Teenage-men like Josh Hawley wanted us to see him sitting in the gallery with his feet up, not giving a fuck. His actions are representative of something rotten and evil at the core of the GOP. They are unmoved!
Unmoved watching the videos.
Unmoved by the insurrectionists’ desire to murder Speaker Pelosi and VP Pence.
Unmoved by the flawless presentation on behalf of the American people.
Unmoved by what the police went through — being beaten with pipes, hockey sticks, bats between a doorway.
Unmoved by policemen who lost their lives.
Unmoved by their fearing for their lives.
Unmoved by the police who took their lives because of the emotional stress and trauma.
Unmoved by the violence.
Disgraceful yes. New? No.
Today, Trump’s attorney will present more LIES and NONSENSE. His defense team knows they do not have to make much of a case because they already have the votes to acquit. The vote will be quick! It will be quick because they have already moved on.
It will be quick because the facts don’t matter.
So what is this trial really about?”
It is Black History month and I am remembering the trial of Emmett Till?
The grand jury refuses to indict J.W. Milam or Roy Bryant based on evidence. The two white men go free.
The trial of Emmett Till was not about the facts according to the jurors and Milam and Roy the men who savagely beat and killed 13 year old Emmett Till.
What was at stake then and what is at stake now — is a way of life.
It is important to also realize that in this Impeachment trial the past continues to haunt us because we have not adequately dealt with racism and bigotry in this country. So, in essence, we are meeting another moment in history and the Republican Senators are in some ways defending a way of life. Most of you are intelligent enough to know:
There are two Americas: America (1) and “Amerikkka” (2).
This nation is split between the “right” and the “Civil right” and the division is in full view. We need to see that one side defending one version of this country and the other side defending another version of this country.
What happens after he’s is acquitted? More violence? Absolutely, because the rule of law was not designed to stop structural racist violence and hatred but embolden it. And no amount of enough executive orders can undo the hate that has been unleashed in this country.
This country cannot heal without a reckoning. We cannot move forward without responsibility and accountability taking place. Trump was the mirror America needed to truly see itself. Had we dealt seriously with racial injustice, with misinformation, with the vast amount of lies that were allowed to spread like wildfire through our TVs and social media, we might not be here. The Obama years allowed for a glimpse into who we could be; the Trump years showed us who we really are — a misguided nation that has struggled to live up to its creed. A nation that teaches generation after generation that we are great, while discounting the very people who make this country great.
In sadness and grief,
Paula
