As usual, alarm at goings on in America is accompanied by irritation at the people I agree with. ‘Coup’ is a grandiose term for a ramshackle mob, but such is the self-aggrandisement that everyone seems to be using that word. Then there are at least a couple dozen examples of my old favourite, the point that annoyed me so that I closed my Metafilter account, of America becoming a ‘Third World country’. I suppose America and us Third Worlders do share this, that much political unrest has its roots in America.
Anyway, my musings last night about whether this would be a come to Jesus moment for Republicans seem optimistic given how many members of the House seem to have voted against certifying Biden.
I think they will just close their eyes and hope for the best for the next couple of weeks, hoping that Trump himself is so shocked by yesterday that he won’t do anything (else) crazy. But it’s a dangerous game they are playing, without a quick, firm and bipartisan response – impeachment or deposition as unfit for office – they leave the door ever more ajar for the next one who is more competent and surrounded by people who are more competent. There are plenty hoping to be that successor, from bag-of-corpse-flies Ted Cruz to human dental implant Josh Hawley, to whatever greater horrors lie beyond the horizon.