An update

   It has been a whirlwind 24 hours. Yesterday afternoon, the United States Congress which consists of both the Senate and the House of Representatives convened for the Joint Session of Congress that occurs every four years after a presidential election. Normally, this is only a ceremonial step in the transfer from one presidential administration to the next but this year was different. To recap, President Trump lost the November 3rd election to former Vice President Joe Biden. However, the president refused fo believe that he lost and therefore refused to concede. He instead began a slew of legal challenges against key states including Pennsylvania and Georgia. His legal team was headed up by his personal attorney Rudy Guliani who thought it was a great idea to hold a press conference at Four Season’s Total Landscaping which just so you know was between a crematorium and an adult bookstore. What a great way to make this effort seem totally legit and professional.
   Earlier in the morning on January 6th, hundreds of thousands of Trump supporters gathered for a rally called the “Save America March”. Headline speakers included an attorney who tends to melt like the wicked witch of the west, a son who has major anger issues, and a president who acts more like a tyrant or ruthless dictator rather than the leader of the free world. It was during his speech at this rally that Trump encouraged his supporters to march to the capitol as a way to protest the electoral college count happening on the senate floor. He even told them that he’d be there with them! Fun Fact: No member of the Trump family was present in any of those riot crowds. They did what they do best. Peacing out before anything got dicey so they can say they never encouraged the actions of the people who follow them.
   Inside the United States capitol, the Senate and the House of Representatives had just retreated to their separate chambers for a two-hour debate on the objection to the electoral votes in Arizona. This is allowed and was expected after many republicans said they would be objecting to up to six states’ results. An effort that was spearheaded by Senators Hawley and Cruz, both republicans. All was going smoothly until about 2:15 pm ET when all members of both chambers were escorted to undisclosed, secure locations within the capitol complex after word was received that the building was surrounded and had been breached by a massive group of Trump supporters. Over the next couple of hours, the capitol was overtaken by rioters who somehow saw themselves as doing something patriotic. They let themselves into lawmakers offices, destroyed/vandalized property, and some people actually made it into the senate chamber onto the dias where the Vice President had just been sitting in his capacity as President of the Senate. We were seeing reactions from nearly everyone from the president-elect to congresspeople to senators to celebrities to entertainers to everyday people. The one person we didn’t hear from? The president. Instead of speaking out and using his platform to tell these people to go home, to stop the act of terrorism they were committing, he holed himself up in the West Wing watching the chaos he has encouraged unfold on television. He posted a few tweets as well as a video telling these rioters to go home and that they were special and he loved them. These posts were later removed from his twitter account before it was put on a 12-hour lock. He and his family members, including a now deleted tweet by Ivanka Trump, repeatedly called these rioters and terrorists, “patriots”. His aides actually had to convince him to call in the DC national guard because he was enthusiastic about the whole thing.
   Eventually, the capitol was declared secure at about 6:00 pm ET and a short while later the Joint Session of Congress continued. However, something major happened after they reconvened. Members of both chambers on both sides of the aisle stood up and delivered speeches condemning the violence. Many even said they would cease to object the states’ electoral results. Now things could proceed as normal. There were still objections but not as many and the amount of support had dwindled so some were shot down after it went to vote; see the Arizona objections being voted 93-6. The proceedings continued well into the morning but shortly before 4:00 am ET this morning it was made official by Mike Pence himself that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris had been elected by the people as the next President and Vice President of the United States. This is a big deal because throughout the last week President Trump had been putting pressure on the vice president to change the results of the electoral college in his favor. To clarify, Mike Pence cannot change the results if he doesn’t like them. It is written out in the constitution what exactly is supposed to happen. His role is strictly ceremonial when it comes to the process of the certification. This was just another attempt by a president with a damaged ego to try and undermine a totally legitimate election and in fact, the entire democratic process. I mean, don’t even get me started on that call with the Georgia Secretary of State.
   So what happens now? Within the White House there is a mass exodus happening. Every hour delivers another letter of resignation. These resignations include the First Lady’s chief of staff, the deputy national security advisor, the special envoy to Northern Ireland, and at least two cabinet secretaries so far. The sargent-at-arms in the senate and the house is also being pressured to leave after yesterday’s security failure allowed things to escalate. The president’s social media accounts have been locked by the platforms and it’s unknown when or if they will be given back to the president for use. We did hear from him through an emissary on twitter this morning where he stated that there would be a peaceful transition of power over the next thirteen days. Don’t celebrate just yet because within this statement, the president still reiterated the false claim of election fraud. Talk of invoking the 25th amendment is being discussed among staffers in the White House and other major players on Capitol Hill. The 25th amendment was added to the constitution in 1961 after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. There are four sections to this amendment and they are specifically focused on section four. This section allows for the Vice President to assume the office if they gather enough signatures from the cabinet. Many senators and representatives are calling on Pence to invoke the 25th and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is also calling for this action. If not, she says Congress will look at beginning the process of the president’s impeachment. Sources close to the president have said that he is, “out of his mind” and is still only concerned with getting even with those he feel betrayed him instead of taking command of the country which is why many are fearful that he is unable to lead and is a potential danger if he continues to remain in office. Let’s also not forget who has all the nuclear codes.
   Inauguration Day is in approximately thirteen days and it will take place on those same capitol steps. Security is being increased around the capitol and large walls are also being erected around the complex. The time left in this administration makes many uneasy about the use of the 25th amendment or another impeachment trial but many are concerned that these last thirteen days may get increasingly worse without any action taken to prevent it.
   Like I said at the beginning. It has been a whirlwind 24 hours with chaos, strife, and major division within the legislature of this country but here’s what we do know. The president’s entire platform is currently inactive for the next two weeks (At least for facebook and instagram, twitter has only suspended it for a couple hours so far but we’ll see what happens as the day(s) go on). As we all know, twitter is his favorite way to communicate so we may not hear from the president for quite some time. Take that whichever way you please. Congress has officially certified the electoral college votes which is the last step in the formal election process. This means that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be inaugurated on January 20th. Officially their power begins at 12:01 pm ET and President Trump will cease to be commander-in-chief.
   Thanks for heading into the trenches with me as I did my best to unravel all the chaos and upheaval currently taking place in the US capitol. I’m still in shock as more information continues to come out and the fallout for this unprecedented attack on democracy continues to unfold. Stay tuned here. I’ll probably be back tonight to delve more into today’s events and break down the more complex aspects of what’s happening in the government.