Clown Car Headed for Washington, D.C. Wednesday

Clown Car Headed for Washington, D.C. Wednesday

– By Ed Kociela –

When I was a kid, my dad worked hard to provide for our family, often hustling between two jobs to make sure our needs were met.

There wasn’t a lot of room in the budget for extravagance, but somehow, he and my mom would find a way to put together the pennies to take us to the circus every year when the big top came to town.

My folks didn’t know it at the time, but I was never very fond of the clowns and never got the humor of a bunch of them spilling out of a little car in the center ring. And, when they ventured out into the crowd, most of them reeked of bad whiskey and stale cigarette smoke as if they had just regained consciousness after passing out on the urine-soaked floor of a honky-tonk dive just outside of Houston. I’ve seen those places where the parking lot is behind a 10-foot high chain-link fence and chicken wire protects the band from flying beer bottles. Not my idea of fun, by any means.

But, you can bet I will spend Wednesday watching as the clown cars arrive in Washington, D.C. where protests are planned to lay waste to the Constitution and the essence of American liberty when a bunch of thugs plan to rally around the president in one last lunge at another four years under the misanthrope-in-chief. These simian sociopaths will participate in what is being billed as “March for Trump” protests as inside the Capitol, Congress will be tasked with certifying the Electoral College votes in what, normally, is a very subdued, very reverent moment in American politics as one of the crucial steps in the peaceful transition of power.

Except, the 2020 hangover has not cured and we still must clean up some of the leftovers from what was, most certainly, not a normal year.

The protesters plan to congregate at the Capitol, the Washington Monument, and Freedom Plaza to try to overthrow the election, which the president lost by a wide margin back in November. The Proud Boys, a radical group of over-the-edge-right wing loonies, have promised to be there, along with other MAGA-duped lost souls, delusional conservative meat puppets, and conspiracy buffs who make up the core of the grocery store tabloid newspapers.

The president, in all his ego-stroking glory, has taken to Twitter, begging for attendees to attend “the biggest event in Washington, D.C. history,” urging them to “be there…it will be wild.”

George Papadopoulos and Roger Stone, a couple of jailbirds recently set free by presidential pardon, are scheduled as guest speakers.

The Proud Boys, two hysterical ex-cons, and a desperate wannabe despot trying to cling to power by his fingernails, who could ask for anything more? Except, just as the circus has more than one spotlight, members of Congress will be packed into the Capitol where they are charged to do the people’s work, which is to certify the Electoral College votes. During saner times, this is pretty much a done deal with little fanfare as the Congress simply affirms the voice of the people.

This time, however, promises to be different because despite the dozens of lost court filings, the refusal of the United States Supreme Court to get involved in the charade of false accusations, and the public will to move on to a smooth and peaceful transition of power, there are still Congressional members who will climb out of the clown car Wednesday morning and try to overturn the will of the voters.

It won’t happen, of course, because these guys do not own the House, which must go along with any denial of Electoral College votes. All these clowns can do is grandstand, posture themselves in front of the Trump base to ensure continued campaign fund contributions from dumb fat cats, and bray like wild burros on the pampas.

Look, I’m good with the idea of protests and the like, but I am worried about this one considering the violence that occurred the last time the Proud Boys took to the streets. I’ve got a bad feeling about this in my bones. The last time these guys took to the streets people were stabbed, people were beaten. The Proud Boys and other White Nationalists have not gotten religion in the weeks since then. In fact, I imagine they will come heavily armed. I also believe the thrust of the protest will occur on the steps to the Capitol, where Congress will formalize the certification.

The whole thing is fruitless, however, because both the House and Senate must vote to overturn the election, something that simply will not play out given that Democrats handily control the House.

The issue has split Republicans, with even Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell saying it would not be in the nation’s interest to further pursue tossing out the election results. Others in the GOP agree.

According to a report in USA Today, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., posted a comment on Facebook telling why he will not join in objecting to the election results, saying that Trump and his allies are “playing with fire” and now “calling on federal officeholders to invalidate millions and millions of votes” after unsuccessfully calling on judges to do so.

“Let’s be clear what is happening here: We have a bunch of ambitious politicians who think there’s a quick way to tap into the president’s populist base without doing any real, long-term damage,” Sasse said. “But they’re wrong – and this issue is bigger than anyone’s personal ambitions. Adults don’t point a loaded gun at the heart of legitimate self-government.”

Yet, that is exactly what the president and his minions are doing.

While it is doomed to fail, somewhere, I guarantee, some redneck is packing his duffle bag in his car, holstering his locked and loaded sidearm, kissing his wife goodbye and telling her he is off to Washington, D.C. to “take back our country.”

All I can say is save your time and energy, cowboy.

The voters already did that on Nov.3, 2020.

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