A Dark Day in American History

 January 6, 2021, was an absolutely horrifying day. 

I remember watching the crowds of protesters on television, smashing windows, macing police officers and forcing their way into the US Capitol building, where they did $1.5 million in damage. Members of the US Senate and the House were hustled off to safe places to protect their very lives. Protesters were calling out 'Where is Nancy?' as they searched for then-speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. They constructed a gallows on Capitol grounds, ostensibly for the hanging of Vice President Mike Pence, who refused to delay or prevent certification of the votes. More than 140 police officers were injured in the riot. Some committed suiOcide in the days following the attack. Attacking America's leadership and congressional building is not making America great again. One would have to be stupid, brain dead or brainwashed to believe this is the way to make a nation great.

All of this was done at the behest of the outgoing president of the United States, in an effort to stop the certification of the Electoral College vote confirming that he had lost the election. Despite frenzied calls from members of his staff and administration to call in the National Guard to restore order, the outgoing president refused to lift a finger to stop the protest. Eventually the vice-president called in the Guard after several hours. The outgoing president reportedly watched the riots and the protest on television with great glee.  He also refused to call off his goons that were attacking the US capital.

I am a 23-year retired employee of the federal government. I spent the majority of my working life as a federal employee. Watching these goons attack our government buildings and elected officials, with the complicity of the outgoing president and some members of Congress, infuriates me to this day.

He is in my opinion guilty of inciting an insurrection. Protesters reported that they showed up because the president told them to. The protests were well organized in advance. This was not a spur-of-the-moment gathering. And they most certainly were not, as one congressional apologist stated, simply a group of tourists vising the nation's capitol. Certain members of Congress were, to one degree or another, complicit in the insurrection, having taken some of the insurrectionists on tours of the Capitol building the day before the insurrection.

This was not about protecting our freedoms or defending America as the traitors claim. It was about trying to overturn a free and fair election so the outdoing president could remain in power. He simply could not accept that he was defeated at the polls.

The riots of January 6 weren't about making America great again. They weren't about patriotism. They were, and still are, about a childish, spoiled narcissist who has never been held responsible for anything in his life throwing a temper tantrum that resulted in the deaths and injuries of many people.

January 6, 2021, was a very sad and very frightening day in American history. More than 1,200 protesters have been charged with crimes related to the events of January 6. Nearly 900 have pleaded guilty or have been convicted of crimes. Some have been sentenced to several years in prison.

It's time for the instigator and ringleader to face the same punishment.