“We should not be surprised by any of this.” – Stephen Colbert
Seriously, not only could this be predicted, but it was predicted… by lots of people when Trump was a candidate in 2016. It was made worse by all the politicians who coddled his worse instincts for the past four years: supporting his despicable nonsense, explaining away all his abhorrent behavior, normalizing actions that should be considered disgustingly abnormal by any decent person. Throughout his presidency, Trump continued to demonstrate, time and time again, that he was not only unfit to be president in a myriad of ways, but that he was also a foul, childish, and pathetic excuse for a human being. Still, Republican politicians and other high-level government officials didn’t just look the other way. They actively supported him. They encouraged him. They bear responsibility for Wednesday’s riot just as Trump does.
Some of them hypocritically went from vehemently denouncing him in the early 2016 primaries to endorsing him with full-throated enthusiasm once he became president. This wasn’t a case of “I campaigned against you but now we have to be united” which is fairly normal in politics. These were people (like Lindsey Graham, for example) who despised Trump and knew that he would be a dumpster fire of a president. But then they decided that morals, ethics, and honor weren’t things they cared about, so they did an about face and defended him with red-faced righteousness and holy anger against anyone who would dare call attention to Trump’s self-serving and dangerous actions or to his repeated (and repeated and repeated and repeated) lies. Hypocrites.
His supporters have wholeheartedly joined what can easily and accurately be termed a cult. It’s the Cult of Trump. They believe his lies. They cheer his xenophobia. They laugh at his sexism. They dismiss and mock his critics. Trump, aided and abetted by Republican politicians who have shamelessly fawned over him during his term, has created a cult of personality that he keeps alive by peppering it with lies, absurd promises, and conspiracy theories.
This man is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a “law and order” president. Anyone who thinks otherwise is deluding themselves… and was from the beginning.
If you’ve supported this man in 2016, supported him throughout his clusterfuck of a presidency, or continue to support him now, your moral compass isn’t just broken, it’s gone.