Oh, That Reasoned Debate!

     I can, in fact, be convinced by logical argument supported by verifiable facts.  It's kind of a thing with me.

     On the other hand, if your idea of refutation is this comment: "Damn you're stupid" then all you have done is show me you're a member of the might-makes-right team, nothing more than a brute authoritarian, and you have neither facts nor logic on your side.  Sorry, ol' jackboot, but being quoted to mock is as close to published as your comment will get.

     Another would-be commenter linked to an oily article arguing that tired old trope, that the January 6, 2021 riot (and behind-the-scenes Administration machinations) couldn't possibly have been an insurrection because it was a grabastic soup sandwich, and because the action at the Capitol was not one hundred percent violent chaos.  Nope, sorry, won't wash.  The plotters were pretty clearly counting on Vice-President Pence playing along, at which point the riot would have been mostly window-dressing.  Muddled lines of command, control and communication are an excellent route to plausible deniability.  But a few periods of relative calm in some areas of the Capitol do not negate the violence of the break-in, nor the internal hammering-down of doors and windows, assaults on persons and facilities, vandalism and theft committed in the course of that day.  Smug commentators in comfortable offices can smirk and retcon all they like, but it doesn't change the events recorded on video that day, many of which I watched in real time.

     Trump supporters and fellow travelers would not be trying to rewrite history so desperately hard if they were not embarrassed by their side's actions on that day.  It's hard to claim you Back the Blue when your side is beating up cops, isn't it?

     So go on, keep up the name-calling, keep up the handwaving bullshit.  It doesn't change what actually happened.  It doesn't change what Team Trump tried to do.  And it doesn't change what you are: thugs.  Thugs without respect for democracy, decency or the freedoms protected by the Bill of Rights.  From the crowned heads of 18th-Century Europe to the Know-Nothings, from the Confederacy to the Klan to the fascist movements of Europe and their less-successful American counterparts, the Trumpian Right is part of a terrible tradition that believes power is its own justification and that some men are -- and should be -- more equal than others.  But that is a damnable lie; it is and has always been a self-evident truth that all men are created equal.  All of 'em.  Even women.  Even people who are darker than you are, who are poorer than you are, who don't follow the same religion, even the ones who don't share your political opinions.

     This country is headed down a bad path for the next four years.  I expect a reaction at the midterms.  I have no idea what to expect in the intervening two years, but when I look back at Mr. Trump's first term and hear his wild talk now, I can see it won't be anything good.  Oh, and if you were expecting eggs to get cheaper?  Don't bet on it.