A Shocking Day

We've spent the entire day and evening watching on our computers today's unprecedented and shocking events unfold. I hope we never see a day like this again.

We had good news this morning from the Georgia election of senators -- both of the Democratic candidates, Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, won their races. I was born in Georgia and had been supporting their campaigns, so I was delighted at their wins.

We then began watching the coverage of the process in which the House of Representatives and Vice President Pence would certify Trump's defeat in the presidential election. It was interesting to hear from a number of the representatives, but then it became apparent that something significant was happening outside the large meeting room.

Trump's rally of right-wing extremists outside The White House had sent a mob to the U.S. Capitol. They broke into the building and proceeded to infiltrate the very chamber where our government officials had been working only a few minutes before, as well as many other areas of the stately building, including the office of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. The photo of a lout sprawled in her office chair, one of his feet on her desk, and an American flag thrown across another piece of office furniture, is disgusting. You can see it, and many others, in this New York Times article.

I couldn't help thinking about my father, who at age 13, in July 1920, toured the U.S. Capitol as part of a trip he had with his maternal uncle. In this letter to his parents in Missouri, he described some of the magnificent rooms and statues that the mob today saw. He would have been appalled that U.S. citizens would treat this iconic building with so little respect.

I fervently hope that Trump will be impeached for this horrific day -- and so much more.

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