This is pretty simple, actually. If you’re not at least 35 years of age, you can’t run for President. If you’re not a natural born citizen, you can’t run for President. If you engaged in insurrection after taking an oath of office to the United States and/or gave aid and comfort to insurrectionists, you can’t run for President.

I’ve argued in these pages that Trump has not (yet) been convicted of anything relating to his insurrection. Then I remembered: neither were the traitors it was written for. (Also conservatives. What a surprise.) It was enough that everybody knew what they had done. It should be enough that everybody (but a MAGA) knows what Trump did. (MAGA knows what he did, too. They just will never, ever admit it…)

Trump called them to the Capitol and they came.
Trump told them to “fight like hell” and they attacked.
Trump (finally) told them to go home and they went home.

I wish I had a dog that responded so well to commands.

“So go home. We love you. You’re very special.” Trump’s oh-so-comforting words to the assailants and only after hours of refusing to call them off (indicating that only he could call them off…)

Cases are moving forward in Colorado and Minnesota challenging Trump’s right to be on the ballot. If they win, other states will follow as quickly as possible. But in order to win, they have to get past the Roberts Supremely Kangaroo Criminal Court. The conservative majority doesn’t make rulings based on the law. They use their “feels” and I suspect they feel like they’d like to see Trump back in the Oval Office…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, so now Donny is out there telling his minions that we’re going to have a great country. “It’s going to be called the United States of America.” I’d like to think he was just trying to wax poetic but I suspect he thinks he came up with that great name – just like he’s the first, ever, to notice that a common abbreviation for our nation, U.S., also spells the word “us” if you take the little dots out.

This is the level of intelligence that impresses the crap out of his followers and that scares the crap out of me…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HBO, no HBO Max, wait, Max (I hope they settle on something, soon) has a documentary right now called ‘The Insurrectionist Next Door.’ It was made by Alexandra Pelosi. If the name sounds familiar, it should. She’s Nancy’s daughter. It’s a little over an hour long. It’s worth every minute.

She focuses on a handful of people who participated in J6. They’ve been arrested and charged (that’s how she found them), some had been tried already and were awaiting sentencing. A couple still faced trial. She spoke with them before their sentencing and after they were released from jail. She put human faces to people who did some pretty terrible things.

A common thread from many of them was that they didn’t go intending to breach the Capitol. THEY thought they were going to go down and shout at the building from outside but when “somebody” – Proud Boys and Oath Keepers working for Trump – started going in, they followed along. When Pelosi asked them WHY they followed, they said they didn’t know, they just got caught up in the moment.

Mob mentality. I found myself thinking of ‘Lord of the Flies’ when the boys were chasing Piggy, intent on killing him. (Oh, yeah, spoiler alert.) When Piggy stumbled and fell at the feet of a British Navel Officer, they all, immediately, became little boys again, instantly responsive to perceived authority. Pretty stunning in the book. More so in real life. Even after prison, only ONE realized he’d been duped by Donny and reconsidered his loyalty.

One kid was even a little heartbreaking. When his interview started, he seemed like just a normal guy who lived with his sister. As the interview progress, it became clear he lives with his sister because he is mentally challenged and needs supervision. SHE, on the other hand, got caught up with the Proud Boys and knew exactly what she was doing. She tricked her brother into going to the rally with her. He just thought it was a spontaneous road trip that happened to end up in DC on J6. She took armor with her. Then she took him to the Capitol where he, too, got “caught up in the moment.” He ended up assaulting a police officer and now faces something like 36 years in prison.

The last thing he told Pelosi was that, no, he didn’t think the election was stolen and that he had voted for Biden. Overall, it was quite intriguing. I recommend ‘The Insurrectionist Next Door’ wholeheartedly. It’s worth (about an hour and fifteen minutes of) your time…