And a great moment in the history of congressional hearings. The U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol has concluded that what happened was a Trump-led attempted coup.
Now comes the next question.
Will the cancerous body that the United States has become, now that the cancer has been identified, be able to get itself to the operating room and remove the cancer?
All that has actually happened is that the cancer has been identified.
What needs to happen next is that it has to be legally excised. And the person in place to do that is the United States Attorney General, Merrick Garland, who is in place to hit Trump with criminal charges.
And Garland is the guy Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell kept Obama from placing on the Supreme Court.
And this gives the Republican Party every reason to frame this as a political revenge move by the Democrats to cast a shadow on Trump and his administration.
It's clear to anyone still committed to demonstrable truth that the Select Committee's conclusions are based on testimony under oath, including from many who worked within the Trump Administration. It's an overwhelmingly solid case proving this was an attempted coup.
But there is a distinct possibility someone will make an argument that the best course of action from here on in is to form a reconciliation committee.
And let bygones be bygones.
Because a critical mass of the American public have been taken in by Trump's lies, reinforced by a well-organized cabal, which includes the Trumpist propaganda organ known as Fox News.
Stay tuned.
We could get justice.
Or we could get merely the latest attempt by well-meaning Democrats who believe one can "work across the aisle."
How do you want to go down in history?
As a fighter? Or an appeaser?
There is a parallel to what's happening in Ukraine. There is no doubt that the Putin administration in Russia invaded what the world recognizes as a sovereign nation. And Putin has made no secret of his belief Ukraine has no right to exist as such.
Some people want to help Ukraine fight this invasion. And some people want to appease the invader for two very reasonable arguments: Russia is a nuclear power and it is too big to make an enemy of.
The success of the Peace and Reconciliation Committee in South Africa makes a strong case for reconciliation over justice as a means of getting on with things when large numbers of people line up on two sides and slug it out.
Framing is all in these circumstances. If you are committed to distinguishing between fact and fiction, you will argue Trump is a proven liar and deserves to be brought to justice for this attempted coup. But if you are a big-picture political analyst, you may want to argue instead that this is a conflict between big government advocates like many people on the left, and small government advocates like many people on the right.
I come down on the side of those who argue to rush to reconciliation in the United States would be to throw in the towel prematurely. The clear majority of Americans recognize that the way our government is structured means we have the tail wagging the dog. We are ruled by a powerful minority motivated by greed and tinged with white supremacy, and to surrender to the otherwise noble inclination to forgive and forget at this point would be to betray a dedication to the image of America as a land endlessly striving for ever greater equality.
Appeasement - tell the Ukrainians to lay down their arms. Better become Russian than become dead. And let the Republican Party, despite having caved in to its most retrograde self-serving members, continue with its efforts to maintain control by any means necessary, including the disenfranchisement of black people who are overwhelmingly opposed to its goals. Better to continue to attribute the best of intentions to its ruling clique than to remain a divided nation.
The country has to decide whether this is a time for appeasement.
Or a time for justice.
Stay tuned to see which way it will go.
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