Version 2.248

I started the week by reading and thinking about Joan Didion's Vogue piece "On Self-Respect." Perhaps the most striking passage is

"However long we post-pone it, we eventually lie down alone in that notoriously un-comfortable bed, the one we make ourselves. Whether or not we sleep in it depends, of course, on whether or not we respect ourselves."
~ Joan Didion, Vogue, 1961

The time has come for Republicans to sleep in the bed that they have made and many are walking away. It is utterly naïve to think that you'd rile up the crowd, the same one that lives and breathes by the Second Ammendment right to bear arms, and not think that it would lead to today's fatal confrontation at the Capitol, in Washington, D.C., while Congress attempted to certify the Electoral College count of the election. A woman died a senseless death and these people that incite violence don't even have the courage to assume the consequences of their actions. Now they walk their rhetoric back in cowardice and lack of conviction.

The President's Twitter account has been blocked temporarily and a ban threat is pending, if he does not retract some of his tweets. Trump's political career seems to be over. The chances of him running for office again are nil; he may also have cost his daughter her political career. It is doubtful that he will be able to make a living in the United States after this debacle. He has destroyed his brand. I do not see it possible for him to start a news channel, as some people have mentioned: he has no money, anyone that sponsors him will be doomed, and anyone who works for such an outfit will be turned into an outcast.

We have 13 days until inauguration, but people want him gone before then, mostly as a way of giving closure to the country. In that time, he will likely either be impeached or resign, but we can rule out the latter as he is not smart enough to realize that resigning would be the most advantageous for him. Using the 25th Ammendment would be too time-consuming and require two-thirds majority of House and Senate. Republicans have lost the Senate majority, as the two Georgia seats went to Democrats, but Pence still breaks a tie; however, impeaching Trump requires a two-thirds majority in the Senate. McConnell, the Senate majority leader, seems to be amenable to holding most of the Senate against Trump. Maybe Pence will be President for a few days.