Thread by @jahimes

Catching my breath after the attack on the Capitol, I’m reflecting on all that we have to do. First, everyone involved in the insurrection, from the President to Josh Hawley to the Lectern Guy must be held accountable. That appears to be happening. But... 1/9

Long after Lectern and Viking Guy are in jail, and ex-President Trump is wrestling with various prosecutors, we will be struggling with the toxic apocalyptic violent hate religion that is their legacy. 2/9

Second, this isn’t just Lectern and Viking Guy and a deranged President. This letter was sent by a parent in New Canaan whose child’s teacher had offered suggestions on how to talk to kids about the attack. Every sentence is provably untrue and filled with hate and violence. 3/9

For context, New Canaan is an enormously affluent, educated center-right town. It’s GOP, but old-school New England Republican. I actually won the town for the first time in 2020, thank you Donald Trump.

And yet, one of it’s citizens produces a screed worthy of Alex Jones 4/9

Speaking of Alex Jones, here’s a video of him at DC’s pre-insurrection MAGA rally: grievance, rage, incitement of violence. IMO, it’s this stuff, not the wokeness of Professors of Semiotics at Middlebury that put 1A at risk. The professors have never tried to kill me. 5/9

Third, there’s religion. I was overwhelmed by the intensity of the “Christianity” that pervaded the MAGA rally. In case you haven’t seen it all, here’s Roger Stone at the MAGA rally telling us about his relationship with God. 6/9

Here’s more. You don’t need to know a lot of history to know the mayhem that comes from mixing religion with violent political movements. BTW, “Deus Vult” is a crusader thing: “God wills it”. 7/9

Like all religions, Christianity is fragmented and diverse, but as an Elder in the Presbyterian church, I will say that no branch should consider itself exempt from self-reflection. 8/9

Like I said, WE have work to do. All of us. We the people. Government can’t solve this. If we don’t start taking our obligations to be careful and humble stewards of our democracy seriously, it will go away. It almost did. Here’s what I saw in its heart last week. 9/9