Can We Just Fast-Forward to the Part Where the Democrats Kill the Filibuster?

5 min readApr 4, 2021

Over 300 people who participated in the insurrection on January 6 are in now in custody. Removed from the influences of Trump and the conservative media, they are coming to their senses and realizing how serious their actions were.

Many who posted photos of themselves on social media and bragged about their actions at the time are issuing public apologies and asking for leniency from the courts.

There has been some question whether the apologies are real or just a ploy for lighter sentences. I believe that the apologies are sincere.

Before you start losing your shit and blowing up the comments section, just listen for a moment.

There are two things at work here. The first one is a very common behavior known as the psychology of crowds. What happens is that individuals in a crowd situation lose their own sense of identity and get caught up in the collective actions of the crowds. They lose their judgement and do and say whatever everyone else is doing and saying even if it is something that is illegal.

In this case, the individuals in the crowd that marched on the Capitol followed everyone else when they battled the police and violently entered the building. They were so caught up in the moment, that they didn’t stop to think if what they were doing was right or wrong.

Several of the apologies by rioters mention this. That they were caught up in the moment and just went with crowd, mimicking their thoughts and actions.

Their individual identity became subsumed in the identity of the crowd. They literally lost themselves for several hours.

Most of the blame for the actions of both the individuals and the crowd rests squarely on Trump’s shoulders. People have been parsing his words that day arguing over whether or not he specifically ordered the crowd to march to the Capitol and commit violence.

This is wrong. It’s not just what Trump said that day. It was an accumulation of what he had been saying since the election.

Trump reminds me a lot of P. T. Barnum. Long before he had a circus, Barnum was a classic huckster. He owned first a theater, then a “museum” filled with fake curiosities. He saw nothing wrong with his lies and fakes justifying them as long as customers thought they had gotten their money’s worth.

His critics claimed that his sole aim was to put money in his own pocket.

Remind you of anyone?

America has been in a downward spiral for decades. The rich have steadily gotten richer. The poor have steadily gotten poorer. And the middle class no longer exists. Good paying union jobs have been shipped overseas leaving Americans scrabbling to make a living in minimum wage jobs with no benefits.

People have become increasingly desperate. Then along came a classic huckster who told them that he could help them, that he could bring back their jobs and their dignity if they elected him to the highest office in the land.

And they did.

The thing about Trump is that if you are willing to suspend belief, he can be a mesmerizing speaker. Almost hypnotic. For four years he has lied to his supporters. He got away with it with the help of the conservative media who reinforced his lies.

His supporters became immersed in this conservative eco-system and, with Trump’s encouragement, cut themselves off from the rest of society. They believed only what Trump and his media lapdogs told them. Essentially, they had joined a cult.

When Trump lost the election, he told his supporters that he had won. And they believed him. He told them that the election had been stolen. And they believed him. He told them that ballots had been faked. And they believed him. He told them that ballots had been thrown out. And they believed him. He told them that voting machines had been tampered with. And they believed him.

January 6 rolled around, the day that the vote would be finalized, and Trump called his supporters to DC, gave them one last pep talk and then unleashed them on the Capitol.

It didn’t matter what he said that day. He had been priming them for months for this moment. The insurrection was going to happen no matter what.

Don’t believe me? The FBI has filed charges against members of the Proud Boys for pre-planning the attack on the Capitol. And this was Trump’s doing. By calling for a rally on that particular day, he was indirectly telling his supporters that he expected them to come to his defense, stop the electoral vote count and give him a second term.

So, yes, I believe that the apologies from people who participated in the riot and are now in custody are real. They have been forcibly removed from their cult. They have been forcibly reminded of what life is like outside of their cult.

It’s like a fog has been lifted and they can clearly see their actions. They can clearly distinguish between right and wrong. And they know that they were wrong. Very wrong.

While I believe that their apologies are real, I don’t believe that they should not be prosecuted. They should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. They attempted to overthrow the government and put a fascist dictator in power. They should pay for that.

Whether you are a Democrat, Republican or an independent voter, you should be encouraging the moderate Republicans who are standing up to Trump. Initially it is by backing incumbents that Trump is trying to get rid of, but there are plans to run their own candidates in some races in the future.

There is even talk of breaking away from the GOP and forming a new party. This would isolate Trump and his cult members. It would allow them to continue to live in their own little world while the rest of us move on and re-build our country that has been shattered by four years of Trump and a pandemic.

Okay, now you can blow up the comments section.

Can We Just Fast-Forward to the Part Where the Democrats Kill the Filibuster?

Written by Sevencheese