Naivete Is Cute. Unless It Gets You Killed.

Think about the upcoming inauguration. Think hard.

Access to the podium will be limited due to the pandemic, which makes all kinds of sense. So members of Congress get just one spare ticket each, instead of a bunch of them (which they have, in the past, offered to supporters).

Being the historical event that it is, past presidents are always invited. 45 has said he's not going. Biden agrees that that's a good idea.

That's irrelevant. 45 doesn't want to get anywhere near that podium, and it isn't because he'd have to admit, at long last, that he lost. Nope. Got nothing to do with it.

That podium will be attacked by right-wing saboteurs. Count on it. And 45 knows it. It would be an act of pure vengeance.

What form could it take? A sudden automatic weapon charge like the one that eliminated Egypt's Anwar Sadat in 1981. Or an explosive device designed to go off just before 12 Noon, when Biden's supposed to be sworn in. Or a suicide bomber; yes, there are people that crazy.

Or maybe a simple wrecking of the newly constructed fence around the Capitol grounds. I don't know about you, but watching people put it up, I'm thinking that enough people applying force at a particular spot wouldn't make breaching it too challenging. 

And there will be a lot of would-be saboteurs in Washington next week. They've been spurred on by the probe performed by some of them already. They got inside the Capitol and wrecked significant parts of it. And there were no automatic weapons among them.

There will unquestionably be a showdown. 15,000 national guardsmen are supposed to be there. I'm not sure that will be enough.

They say that these people will also make armed demonstrations at each of the 50 state capitals between now and the inauguration. Within each of those collections of state troopers, there may be 45 sympathizers. This could be big trouble. Kidnappings are possible, even worse. Remember they tried to kidnap Gretchen Widmer, the governor of Michigan? Only an informer stopped them.

There is such a thing as self-proclaimed 'constitutional sheriffs,' too, who think they're the only law, the personal law, in their county jurisdictions. If they have to brush the Constitution aside to take care of what they believe to be appropriate 'justice', they do so. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to have them join the so-called law enforcement at state capitols, and be enablers for those who break the law and threaten the population.

Anybody who thinks that this can't happen in Washington, or in Madison, Wisconsin is terribly naive. Normally, being naive's cute. Unless it gets you killed. In a creepy anticipatory set, they are boarding up windows at street level in our state capitol.

If fighting breaks out, the live media will have to decide whether they will televise it. Cell phones will be alive. And if I was a member of CNN or MSNBC, I'd be pretty careful. The insurrectionists have already been ginned up by 45, who keeps condemning them. It's chilling to consider that they might be victimized as well.

The rioters were excellent forecasters: They were looking, really looking, for Nancy Pelosi and Mike Pence. They were in a lethal mood. They put up a scaffold and noose outside. "Hang Mike Pence!" they kept shouting. There was blood lust in those voices. They meant it.

Notice any black people among them? Hispanics? Asians? Natives? I didn't, either. This is the face of white supremacy, the mentality. The only thing that counts is force.

The courts failed them. 45 struck out 61 of 62 times. He knew he would. But he had to establish a scenario in which everybody was against him. Victims do that, especially manipulative ones.

Had not a quick-thinking Capitol Police officer been at the right place at the right moment, the mobsters might easily have raided and wrecked the Senate, after the Senators had returned. Think about that carnage. Think about the danger.

Think of who'll be at the inauguration: exactly the people 45 wants to eliminate, exactly the people who, if they suddenly died at once, would create a constitutional crisis--The Bidens; Kamala Harris and husband; the Obamas (oh, he really wants him dead); Pence, the outgoing vice-president; the Clintons (so, too, with Hillary, who he insists should have been jailed); and Pelosi.

If someone else gets in the way, well, too bad. But a guy's gotta do what he has to do, you know?

There you have it: the president, vice-president, Speaker of the House, and the ex-presidents he can't stand. If he goes, then they have to go. Somehow, in his twisted, sick mind, it might result in the country begging him to continue as president. Fat chance of that, but it might spark armed conflict--conflict that he'd be happy to take advantage of, but not participate in. He'll let someone else be brave for him.

All this because enough people honestly believe that their lives can't possibly be better without the existence of one person. That the republic can't possibly improve unless he's in power. Because power, raw power, is all they think can make them feel better, so much better that the Constitution is now meaningless.

I saw this when I taught. They were bullies, and no one wanted much to do with them. Given the chance, given what looks like empowerment, they have returned. Charlottesville, back in 2017, was a trial balloon. That momentum built. Some of them are at the point at which their very lives will be given for someone who doesn't care one bit about them. How did they lose that much self-esteem? How did they come to be so blind?

It happened to Mike Pence, too. "After all I've done for him," he was heard to mutter in the middle of this mess. Yes, that's right: You don't matter, either, Mike. All the lying you did before, all the lapdog covering up you did, matters not one bit. You must also be an absolute sycophant, obedient every single time, or you're useless, too. Even the Vice-President.

That's why it's worthless to try the 25th Amendment, which would be a quick and decisive way to remove 45 from any vestige of power. The Cabinet members are resigning--Transportation (the wife of Mitch McConnell), Education, and Homeland Security so far--so they wouldn't have to vote to enact the Amendment. Whether they're resigning in disgust or loyalty is irrelevant; they're making it more difficult for Pence to gather the Cabinet and get a majority of them to sign off on removing 45's power anyhow.

The poison is everywhere. Right now, federal authorities are checking within the FBI, National Guard, and Capitol Police for 45's sympathizers. Finally, they get it. May they be thorough and swift in their perusal.

But I wouldn't do any of this in the open. I'd do it behind closed doors with TV cameras there to film it, because you know the crazies will claim it never happened. Then deliver the Inaugural Address there and get it online. The pandemic is certainly a good enough excuse.

The insurrectionists have created protocols to capture or kill Democratic members of Congress. I'm sure they figure that, with the numbers close to a 50-50 split--especially in the Senate--taking out the right one or ones will give the balance back to the Republicans. Which means that our democracy will have become a dictatorship of force of arms: in other words, it will have ended. 

That's what's at stake here. The idea of the loyal opposition has worn out. Democrats didn't resist with weapons or riots at the Capitol when the Republicans took over in 2017. Nobody liked it, but they waited to get another crack at holding power the old fashioned way: through elections. It worked. No reason it can't work again. Always does. History has revealed it.

But 45 has convinced the minions of apocalyptic results if they don't take control this very minute. They lost, though. And much of it's his doing. There was no election fraud. He simply lost.

Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue have conceded their Senate campaign losses in Georgia, so there will be no recounts. It would allow Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff to come to Washington and take their new positions, and actually give the Democrats working control. It would make sense to get them sworn in ASAP, and elect a new Senate Pro-Tem quickly (who must belong to the majority party). Then hide him or her during the inauguration, because if the worst happens to Biden, Harris and Pelosi, he or she would be next in line to become president. (The present President Pro-Tem is Chuck Grassley, Republican Senator from Iowa.)  Cabinet members come next, in the order in which their positions were created (State, Treasury, and Attorney General are the first three), but none of those nominated have been approved by the Senate. And the Senate must convene to make that happen.

But the Senate isn't scheduled to meet until after the inauguration. Its arcane rules say that it takes unanimous consent to change its schedule. So that isn't going to happen: Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, the ultimate enablers of this fracas, are still there. 

That's why having the inauguration in public isn't a good idea. As of now, the complete succession to the presidency can't be arranged until after January 20, when the Cabinet positions are approved. New Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is looking into an exception established in 2004, ostensibly to at least begin an impeachment trial anticipated by House action. I hope he finds it. But time's running out.

Normally, that wouldn't be a big deal. Does this look normal?

If I'm wrong about all this, I'll gladly admit it. But the signs are too ominous. We cannot be naive any longer. We cannot assume that major opposing actors will find a conscience. Put to the test so far, they have failed.

Even if they can't penetrate the Capitol this time, the insurrectionists can find plenty of other shrines to our country nearby: the Supreme Court, literally across the street; the Lincoln Memorial; the Smithsonian Institution's several buildings; all the Cabinet departments and FBI building. Lots of stuff to wreck. The national guard can't protect everything. In frustration, in a frenzy, rioters are capable of anything.

The bullies will be back with their weapons, whether they actually use them or not in the next eight days. They will have to be dealt with. That will take much longer, because it's hard-wired in certain places in this country now. We have a long, hard road ahead, perhaps an even more bloody one.

Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. One day closer to a vaccine. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.

Mister Mark