Over the last few days I've sat and read thousands of words on the importance of unity. There are calls from the right that it's time to move past the actions of last week, and that it's time to let it go. You see, I have issues with this. This same group over the summer called for prison terms, and passed new laws, because they weren't happy about the actions of people who were protesting for their right to live. Literally the right to live. Now, less than a week after a right-wing funded and organized attempt at a violent coup, I'm being told, heck, we're all being told, that it's important to just let it go. I can't do that. I'm sorry, I can't find a place for compromise right now. I can't find a place where I'm willing to just let this go yet. This country is not built on fealty to a person, and what we've seen over the last four years is this belief in a single human being. That human being is a deeply deranged narcissist who has sold a bill of goods, without actually providing anything of value to this country. I've said it before here, but it bears saying again. We are poorer than we were four years ago. We are weaker than we were four years ago. We are more fearful, and more angry, and more divided. You can lay the blame where you want to put it, but in my mind it's being laid squarely on the cellphone and social media accounts of Donald J. Trump.
We can't let this go. We can't allow insurrection without consequences, and if the Republican party wants unity, here's how they can get it. Vote unanimously to impeach Donald Trump and remove him from office. This isn't about the next nine days, this is about the very soul of American democracy. Impeaching, and convicting, Donald Trump, deprives him of his pension, deprives him of his annual travel allowance, and deprives him of Secret Service protection. He won't need Secret Service protection, because he'll have plenty of protection in a nice New York State Penitentiary. Most importantly, convicting him in Congress automatically makes him ineligible to hold office again. That's the important part here, and the part that is vital to future unity. If Republicans want to return to a table where we debate ideas from a position of honesty, then they must unanimously put this President directly where he belongs; on the scrapheap of history and behind bars for crimes against America, and human decency. Then, Senators Cruz and Hawley must be expelled from that body. Then, every Congressman who encouraged this sedition must be expelled from Congress and replaced. My own Congressman wrote a Tweet talking about his excitement for the protests. He's since deleted that Tweet, but we all know the internet doesn't forget things, so we'll show off that Tweet here in case you missed it.
Jim Banks is a seditionist, who provoked a violent attack against the United States government. He helped to organize busloads of people from his own Congressional District and sent them off to Washington, DC., where they engaged in a violent insurrection. Jim Banks helped to divide this country when he sold his fealty in a single man instead of in American democracy. Jim Banks then helped organize busloads of "protestors." He provided means and opportunity to insurrectionists. I can't give you the circumstances around every Congressman who protested an election result, but I can tell you that my Congressman should be tried with sedition, by both military and civilian courts, and punished to the fullest extent of the law. If Republicans want us to move on, they need to take on simple step. Punish the offenders. You can show you're serious about moving on by charging these criminals, and ensuring that our fealty to democracy remains the calling of public service forever.
