| Rabbi Abraham Joshua Herschel believed that “Auschwitz was built not with stones, but words.” As most scholarly studies have noted, violence that leads to murder or genocide is possible only if the “victim group” has been portrayed “as worthless, outside the web of mutual obligations, a threat to the people, immoral sinners, and/or sub-human.” (1) The Capitol insurrection was no genocide, but CNN’s Anderson Cooper was right to compare the feelings of Trump’s supporters to the dehumanizing beliefs which triggered events in Europe and Africa. Those “otherizing” of people, or the perpetration of an “us versus them” mentality, came directly from Donald Trump. (2) Both viewed opponents as “criminals” and “enemies of the state.” MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough compared the insurrection to Adolf Hitler’s orders to destroy German infrastructure out of spite for losing World War II. As the attacks were going on for two hours, the president’s allies begged him to call off the terrorists. Instead, he continued to turn his mob against the Capitol because he knew he was losing power and the end was near. (3) Words in their context is important to understanding the Holocaust, Bosnia and Rwanda, and the Capitol insurrection. For four years, Trump repeatedly (hundreds of times) dehumanized and otherized opponents with the derogatory labels and threats of violence. He moreover threatened and traumatized them with similar words and ideas found in the Jewish Holocaust and genocides. Trump and the Capitol Insurrection Trump’s rhetoric and finances inspired supporters to storm the Capitol, resulting in more than 100 Capitol Police officers injured and four deaths. Two Capitol Police officers took their own lives in the days immediately following the assault, spurred by trauma and/or guilt. The death of Officer Brian Sicknick, who was bludgeoned to death, added gravity to the event. Words like “fight like hell” before the insurrection might have even included the murders of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, then Vice President Mike Pence, and dozens of others. Trump was not only elated with the violence that he was watching inside the Capitol building, but he refused to call off the rioters who were loyal to him even as he learned Pence’s life was in danger. (4) Explicit evidence revealed that Trump had tried to leverage the attack in his efforts to overturn the Electoral College votes and election. At the very same moment rioters were breaking into windows and offices, a detailed call shows him talking to lawmakers. Even as he was notified that Pence was in physical danger and being evacuated, he shared a real shot at Pence. (5) Trump did not call for reinforcements to protect Pence or the other lawmakers but rather tried to inflame the mob against his vice president even more for his role. Earlier, Trump had escalated his efforts to overthrow the election by trying to force Pence to stop President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, falsely asserting that Pence had the power to unilaterally throw out the electoral votes. 9/11 Commission and Murder Charges? Despite the Senate’s acquittal of Trump, with only 7 Republicans siding with 50 Democrats, there are other ways to hold the former president accountable. To the extent that most Americans wanted to impeach the president but was then sabotaged by a minority party of enablers, it is possible to hold a 9/11-style commission with subpoena power to call witnesses. Another venue is what Former US Army prosecutor Glenn Kirschner proposed. It is entirely possible that Trump could be arrested and then charged by a grand jury for the death of Sicknick. He thinks that the impeachment trial is also a murder trial in his view. “Donald Trump, he set that angry mob on the Capitol, told them to do one thing, fight, stop the steal and fight,” said Kirshner. “Those words, the natural and probable consequences of those words…, was that the mob would go down there and fight to stop the stead. Of course, there was no steal, which means he launched the attack from a platform of fraud. Here’s the thing, it is a murder trial. Brian Sicknick was killed by the angry mob.” Kirshner defended his argument by saying that in a court of law there is a something called the felony murder rule. “I contend Donald Trump committed the felony of inciting an insurrection and the legal consequences that flow from that is Donald Trump would be held criminally liable for any crimes that resulted like the murder of Brian Sicknick.” (6) A Dangerous Precedent The stakes were high during the impeachment to make sure Trump accounted for his seditious acts that incited the mob and possible murder. The Republicans, which failed to convict him, has set a dangerous precedent that will allow future leaders to incite mob violence and murder and behave with total impunity long after. Creating such a precedent will be a recipe for tyranny. It could also lead to the kind of words that built Auschwitz and incited other genocides. It is not that the impeachment mechanisms in the Constitution do not work, but because too many people charged with carrying them out lacked courage, principle, and conviction. Next time, America may have neither: A Constitution, or the very few people that kept Trump in check. Despite his acquittal, Americans should pursue other ways to hold Trump accountable for the Capitol insurrection and possible murder of officer Sicknick. (1) Stone, Dan. Historiography of Genocide. New York, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010., p. 276. (2) See here. (3) See here. (4) See here. (5) See here. (6) See here. |