The Capitol Riots, and, oh yeah, the Pandemic

The successes of Warnock and Ossoff in Georgia, as consequential as they were, were obscured in the news cycle by the riots and siege of the Capitol building. The chaos and destructive actions were magnets for coverage, and this was both inevitable and necessary. The Trump-inspired attacks were terrible, and it was fair to say that democracy itself was under siege.

That being said, let’s not forget, even for a moment, the disaster in our midst.

Last time I checked, over 360,000 of our compatriots had died from this disease. Many more have been hospitalized, and more than that are ill. The infections are surging, and much of this can be quite plausibly laid at the feet of the same administration that caused yesterday’s riots. Through both action and inaction, the president in particular caused both disasters. Repeatedly hinting at possible violence (while covering himself with the plausible deniability of more neutral statements), and failing to intervene decisively when things were starting to go south at the Capitol (a fitting metaphor given the Confederate flags being shown there), T**** bears huge responsibility for the mayhem. And through refusing to take the pandemic seriously, for not aggressively establishing Federal policy, by not setting a strong example and even mocking those who did, many more died than would have with effective leadership in place.

There is also a more direct association between the riots and the pandemic — from the news photos, it appears that most of the rioters were maskless, closely packed, with lots of yelling. As with many other events inspired or organized by the president and his supporters, this is likely to be another superspreader, coming at a time when the disease is surging.

Even now, by obstructing the sharing of information with the transition team, by not taking any decisive action as vaccine distribution stutters, and more generally, paying little attention to the national emergency, the current president (for only 13 days, yay!) is going to cause more disease and death.

Finally, let’s also not forget the role of those in government who knew better, but supported every destructive act of this president. We, the voters, need to hold them appropriately accountable — at the ballot box.