Hi there, Dear Reader. It’s late afternoon here in New Hometown, Florida on Saturday, January 9, 2021. As I write this, the temperature is 55˚F (13˚C) under sunny skies. With humidity at 54% and the wind blowing from the west-northwest at 10 MPH (15 KM/H), the feels-like factor is 55˚F (13˚C). The rest of the afternoon will see partly sunny skies; tonight, the forecast for tonight calls for partly cloudy skies and a low of 36˚F (2˚C). A frost alert has been issued for this part of the state.
With less than 11 days before Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are sworn in as the new President and Vice President of the United States, the Republican Party is in turmoil after Wednesday’s assault on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters who sought to stop Congressional certification of the Electoral College results. And as some prominent GOP politicians, including Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), attempt to distance themselves from President Donald J. Trump in the wake of an act of domestic terror that left five people dead and hundreds injured, it looks like the Republican Party is going to split into pro-Trump and anti-Trump factions.
Already, conservatives are turning on each other with a viciousness I have never seen in my 37 years as a voter in the state of Florida. Trump supporters – who have labeled themselves as “patriots” – have aimed their vitriol at any Republican who has broken ranks with the man so many Trumpistas hail as the “best President ever.”
Consider what happened to Lindsey Graham at Reagan International Airport yesterday.
Per AOL.com News (and HuffPost):
Supporters of President Donald Trump harassed Sen. Lindsey Graham at the Washington, D.C., airport on Friday after the former Trump loyalist broke with the president for inciting a mob attack on Congress.
The South Carolina Republican was looking at his phone when a group of people noticed his presence and tried to engage with him.
He ignored them and started to walk away, escorted by police, according to GreenvilleOnline.com.
Lisa Murkowski, a Republican and senior Senator from Alaska, was the first upper house member of the GOP to support the possible second impeachment of the embattled President. According to the New York Times, Murkowski is wiling to cross party lines to try Trump on charges of inciting armed insurrection.
Per the Times:
As Saturday dawned on a White House in turmoil, with President Trump unable to communicate on Twitter and other platforms, momentum for impeaching him a second time was rapidly growing among rank-and-file Democrats and some Republicans.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday threatened to impeach Mr. Trump unless he resigned “immediately” for inciting the mob attack on the Capitol this week, and Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska became the first Republican senator to follow her lead.
“I want him out,” Ms. Murkowski told The Anchorage Daily News. “He has caused enough damage.”
Representative Ted Lieu, Democrat of California, announced on Saturday that the articles of impeachment drafted by him and other House Democrats had drawn 180 co-sponsors.
Whether or not a fast-track impeachment by the House of Representatives and a trial in the Senate happens is not certain as I write this; Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) prefers that the President resign or is removed by his Cabinet under the 25th Amendment. And even if the Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell (R-KY) could be swayed to go along with the impeachment option, it is likely to happen after Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th President on January 20.
Whatever happens in the aftermath of the Capitol breach on Wednesday, Trump’s final days as President will surely be interesting.
Sources:
https://www.aol.com/news/angry-trump-supporters-harass-lindsey-224540232.html
A Certain Point of View, Too 
I keep thinking of the lyrics to the Rolling Stones song “Sympathy for the Devil:”
Made damn sure that Pilate
Washed his hands, and sealed his fate
These Republicans seem to want to court the favor of Trump and his followers over the years and now want to wash their hands of this situation.
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I think that these “conversions on the road to Damascus” are, by and large, self-serving and a case “too little, too late” to redeem many Republican “now-never Trumpers.” I find it interesting that Graham, who was Trump’s toady for most of his horrendous Presidency, predicted that a Trump candidacy in 2016 would destroy the GOP. Yet, he still supported this treasonous twit till MAGA thugs attacked the Capitol.
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Yep. They had their chance to neuter him in 2016 and we wouldn’t have gotten this far, whether he was president or not, but they all wanted to court his followers. They have reaped what they sowed with that collusion.
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We are certainly cursed to be living “in interesting times.”
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I’m glad you caught the reference, Shira!
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🙂
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Republicans would throw their own mother under the bus.
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Literally.
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