There’s a new norm in America. It’s draped in breathtaking hypocrisy and pathological lying. It espouses fake patriotism, religious propaganda, white terrorism, and sedition. Our Founders envisioned it, which is why they put a mechanism in place to remove the president. Now is the time–and a majority of Americans support ousting him. It’s an imperative stop-gap measure to quell the vocal minority laying waste to the country.
In one of the most stunning events in American history, the United States Congress charged the president of the United States with inciting violence against the United States government. It would have been an unthinkable act from any previous president. Not this one.
Trump and his rebels with a white cause don’t believe in democracy. When aides leaked that he expressed pleasure in watching neo-Nazis and racists storming the Capitol to kill members of Congress, nobody was surprised. Trump has no conscience, so not even the sight of his supporters beating and murdering police officers phased him.
Trump didn’t begin his brand of politics though and it won’t end with him. We can trace the fall of the Republican Party back to Nixon’s filthy tricks and hatred for Jews and Blacks, but Reagan’s veiled racism, religion and gun pandering, and policies that widened the income inequality gap cemented its downfall. It’s a hodgepodge of grievance politics that paints the majority as the victim of women, secular and non-Christian enemies, immigrants, and people of color.
More recently, Mitch McConnell’s refusal to work with President Obama for eight years gutted the vestiges of bipartisanship. By declining to seat Merrick Garland, McConnell sent a message that rules don’t apply to Republicans. McConnell lectured his colleagues about what will happen to our democracy if they don’t acknowledge the fair election of President-elect Biden. But by denying Garland, McConnell didn’t acknowledge President Obama’s election. And by allowing Trump to trample the constitution for four years, he failed to uphold democracy. McConnell should have addressed his speech to himself.
The next Trump must be willing to lie at any cost, always put their interests ahead of the country, mobilize fear and irrational thinking, and bring out the worst in people. The rebellion seeks a new raging narcissist, cloaked in white power and immune to feedback.
Ted Cruz deserves the runner-up award because he checks those boxes in spades. With unfathomable hypocrisy and endless pontificating, he lectures Americans about values while displaying none and views himself as a political priest. But he remains the most hated member of the Senate, so it will be challenging for him to coax his colleagues into supporting him.
There’s a new Trump minion gunning to inherit the throne of lies. He also lives in a post-truth world where facts are an inconvenience and personal gain always outweighs the country’s interests. Deception is his weapon; religion his cover. He doesn’t care how many people voted. He believes Jesus Christ ordained Trump to win, so he views it as his mission to make it so.
Josh Hawley landed on the scene with all the fanfare of a root canal. Fearing Cruz would corral Trump’s base for 2024, the self-anointed heir to the toilet throne donned his conspiracy cape, vomited up a buffet of nonsensical religious rhetoric, and transported himself from the Twighlight Zone onto the floor of the feces-covered U.S. Senate. Hawley recently said, “There is not one square inch of all creation over which Jesus Christ is not Lord.” Someone get this man a job description. So much for the separation of church and state.
As proof positive we’re engaged in a domestic holy war, Trump followers at the riot claimed they received “a message from God” to travel to the Capitol to “stop the steal.” Fortunately, many of them are now receiving a message from a judge to appear in court for stealing.
Hawley, Cruz, and company tried to pull a fast one on Americans. They got caught with their zippers undone as their followers got caught carrying zip ties to kidnap their colleagues. Not a good look for a campaign ad. They overestimated the appeal of their base–a collection of white terrorists who wear Camp Auschwitz and 6MWE (6 Million Wasn’t Enough) shirts, wave Confederate flags, and beat police officers to death. Will that sell in the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries? Anything is possible. Republicans want America white and cult religious, so they will support anyone who will carry their tiki torch.
The Republican Party operates without principle. There are no rules. It’s win and retain power at any cost. Now that we have their playbook, we must either outnumber them at the polls or figure out how to reverse their pathology.
The luxury of passively observing American politics has ended. If fair-minded Americans of all political stripes don’t get off the sidelines and work to restore a degree of normalcy, religious lunatics and hate groups will seize control of the country. They’re passionate, easily manipulated, violent, and don’t follow the law. America is in a death spiral; the status quo of watching it unravel on television won’t suffice. American democracy is at risk. Don’t sleep on it. Democracies fall. The United States is not immune.
Kirschner's Korner 
The original signers of our Constitution didn’t set up Congress and Congress seats to be permanent jobs for sitting members. They (Congress) have become very used to receiving perks our four fathers had not intended.
Over the decades congress has awarded themselves pay raises that will set them up for a life long income on the citizens dime. They do not have to worry about health care. No, they are set for life with all they need. Meanwhile ordinary citizens struggle to not only make ends meat financially, but they worry that their children will have any kind of health care.
So why wouldn’t they want to hold their seat in congress for as long as they can. They will pander to the Rightest hordes so that the votes will continue to afford them luxury we can only dream of.