What now?

Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

The attack on the Capitol was an attack against all of us. The institutions that were assaulted belong to we the people. The people within work for us. They represent us! That was us in there!

Now we start processing the insurrection and ask: What now?

After the initial shock, it really sunk in: it could've been much worse. Think about it: the two people next in line for president, V.P. Pence, and Speaker Pelosi, were in the same building! Every single member of Congress was there. What if the rioters had been more heavily armed? There were bombs placed; there was a cooler loaded with Molotov cocktails nearby. I don't want to imagine what could've happened. 

As it was, there have been five deaths. So tragic. So avoidable. Ashli Babbit, an Air Force veteran who was shot inside; three people outside in separate incidents who experienced "medical issues;" and Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, also a U.S. military veteran, all died. And why?

And so, we demand consequences for the assault on we the people. Now. 

The Instigator-in-Chief must face the full fury of the law. But first, we must remove him. We must not allow him to wreak any more damage on our nation.

There were swift calls for Pence to evoke the 25th Amendment and remove him. Two cabinet members resigned Thursday: Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chow (wife of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell); and Secretary of Educashun Betsy DeVos. Both are cowards in my book: they know agreeing to invoke the 25th Amendment is the right thing, but they won't go on record. So they run. 

Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Schumer called on Pence to evoke the 25th Amendment, or, barring that, they will move ahead with articles of impeachment. After more than 20 minutes on hold, they were told Pence would not take their call. 

There were reports that Pence was the angriest he's ever been. Of course he should be angry! Is he angry enough to do the right thing, or are visions of 2024 clouding his mind? Loyal until the 11th hour, Pence now has a target on his back. Trump's mob wants his head. Will he continue to kowtow to his boss and to them? 

Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Schumer have said that if Pence does not move under the 25th Amendment, they will bring impeachment charges. But it needs to be done fast.

I can just imagine all of the meetings and discussions happening. Are Pence and the Cabinet pressuring 45 to resign? Are they working out a pardon deal so that he will just leave? Are the House and Senate leaders whipping up support for impeachment? They must do it quickly -- like yesterday -- and have no time for debate. A failed conviction would martyr him even more and would be devastating. If they move forward with impeachment, they must be sure to have the votes to convict. 

The best solution, really, is resignation. It's best for 45, it's best for the nation to just get it over with and get him OUT. I hope that the State of New York worked out an arrest warrant last night.

There were baby steps toward meting out consequences:

The Chief of Capitol Police resigned, as did the Sergeants at Arms of the Senate and of the House. We need to know what led to the catastrophic failure of security at the Capitol. There must be investigations into what went wrong. The blame goes deep, all the way to Homeland Security and the FBI. It's a reflection of the deep chaos and corruption in the administration, as well as deep white supremacist roots in this nation. 

People are asking why the different treatment of these white supremacist terrorists vs. BLM protestors? As some astute Twitterer noted, it's kinda like asking where is  Miley Cyrus when Hannah Montana is on stage.

During and immediately after the riot, there were about 80 arrests. But mostly they were for breaking curfew. Most of the rioters were escorted peacefully out of the building and off the grounds. They simply went back to their hotels and back to their wormholes.

We must demand more arrests. The FBI and D.C. police are asking for information about the identities of the insurgents. Idiots, many openly posted their identities and crowed about their actions on social media as they were committing felonies.

And then there were people like Elizabeth from Knoxville, Tennessee. 

This woman was maced inside the Capitol. She told me, "It's a revolution!" pic.twitter.com/hMKYSzrkue

— Hunter Walker (@hunterw) January 6, 2021

and West Virginia lawmaker Derrick Evans. 

Many of the most visible are also the most well-known. I won't give them space here. There is plenty of information about them in the media. As for the rest, many of them are losing their jobs. But they need the full weight of justice to come down. The FBI has set up a website to collect tips here. The D.C. Police are looking for help in identifying people, and they have posted images here. 

Bring them to all justice! 

We must also bring to justice the Members of Congress who explicitly furthered the lies and encouraged these actions, including Sen. Ted Cruz (TX) and Sen. Josh Hawley (MO), seen below saluting the mob outside the Capitol. How is this not sedition?

Because I didn't include images in my last post, here are some summaries of that dark day.

For me, the most striking photo of all the horrendous images was this one.

And the awful video of this police officer:

But there were many horrible images.

Here is a photo gallery from NPR.

Here is a photo gallery from CNN.

Politco: January 6 in 180 seconds

Some video summaries from ABC News:

And as always, an astute summary from Stephen Colbert.

And bonus track from the amazing Randy Rainbow!

You are in charge here: Tell your Representatives and Senators what you want to happen. Resistbot is an easy and fast way to contact them. It's your Democratic Republic to protect.