The events of the recent past in our country were anything but what an American wanted to witness. It was a disgrace brought on us directly under the influence and encouragement of our president. He performed the most degrading action that could ever be committed by an official of a nation. He clearly showed the world the weakest side of our democracy and of how fragile it can be. The current events resurfaced the fractures in our political system and the lack of true patriotism among many of our elected officials. The world came to recognize that we did not possess what we were pretending to be a master of.
At least five lost their lives due (directly or indirectly) to the mob’s action and the incendiary encouragement of our President by inciting his followers to break the law and act as hoodlums. I, like many other citizens, consider the Congress and parliaments of any nation as guarded institutions. In a civilized world, it is a place where its duly elected representatives hold meetings to design the future of the country and its citizens. What a disgrace that our President could not understand this simple fact.
The heads of every single democratic nation in Europe and Asia objected vehemently Mr. Trump’s actions. This is a moment in history that no American shall ever forget or be proud of.
Senator Mitch McConnell’s speech and his criticism of Mr. Trump’s action was too little and came much too late. The Senator is smart enough to have recognized what was in store for our country and our nation. Our congress failed its responsibilities. Several members of the administration resigned following what transpired in Washington. The resignation of a few members of Mr. Trump’s cabinet amounts to nothing but a process of jumping ship. Mrs. Elaine Lan Chao (Senator McConnell’s wife), Secretary of transportation, just a couple of weeks before the new President’s inauguration, realizes that her boss was pursuing the wrong path! Madam Secretary, only fools consider the world is full of the likes of them. Playing a game cannot clear ones’ guilt if that is what worries you.
Together with Mrs. Chao, the Secretary of Education, Mrs. Betsy DeVos also submitted her resignation, so did several others of Trump’s disciples. Where were they for the preceding four years? How come that, all of a sudden, they realized that the President was breaking the law? If you guessed that they knew all along what was going on, in my view, you have guessed correctly.
What I have seen in the news, showing thugs and hoodlums entering the Capitol by force, destroying and stealing what they could get on their way, reminded me of what transpired in August 1953, in my country of birth. It was a disaster that resulted from a coup d’état engineered by Mr. Eisenhower’s administration to remove a duly elected prime minister of the country.
Looking at the hooligans, happily displaying the stolen goods from the offices of members of the congress revived my memory of ruffians ransacking our Prime Minister’s home.
Many citizens and some members of Congress asked for the President’s removal from office. They are requesting this through either the 25th amendment or impeachment. I feel that these requests will never materialize. Our representatives’ allegiance to their parties overrides their duties to the nation, the country, and our constitution. I will be surprised if the incoming administration attempts to bring the guilty parties to trial and or justice. At most, a few low-ranking individuals may be prosecuted. To substantiate what I said, let us take a look at the events of a few years past, when the administration that replaced George W. Bush never followed through on its promises to evaluate the disaster that the Bush administration brought the nation by attacking Iraq without justification.
In an article of mine, published in the Fall Issue of 2020, in the Journal of Persian Heritage, entitled “An Immigrant’s Reflection,” I alluded to this point and remarked of our elected officials: “Holding on to power overrides their duties to the nation and the country. They are more a servant to their party than a subject to the Motherland (Fatherland).”
I hope to God that I am wrong in my assumption about the present mishap, but let us see what will happen.
Guils of Guilan 