The U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Committee on the Attack on the United States Capitol has proven that United States Attorney General Merrick Garland must indict Donald Trump on multiple charges, the most serious being seditious conspiracy. A failure by the Attorney General to act will make a mockery of our criminal justice system and the United States Constitution. Inaction by Mr. Garland will also open the country up to treasonous White supremacist violence and threaten democratic institutions, domestic and abroad. Nothing less than the preservation of the Union is at stake, and during this critical moment the Attorney General must represent the interests of the people of the United States and the rule of law.

The hearings have revealed a United States president self-absorbed and drunk with power, surrounded by willing sycophants determined to cling to power. We have been painted a picture of a man who willfully lies and manipulates his supporters, knowing full well that he lost the 2020 election. These claims are not being made by Democratic partisans or left-wing radicals, but Republicans from within the Trump presidential administration. Knowing he had lost the election to Joe Biden, and lost by a large margin, Donald Trump plotted a violent disruption of the congressional certification of the election in a desperate attempt to stay in power. Trump had no concern for the safety of members of Congress, Capitol Hill police, or his own Vice President, and encouraged a hateful mob to descend on the United States Capitol, willing to kill if necessary to prevent Joe Biden from being certified as the 46th President. How ironic that supporters of a United States President would gleefully wave a Confederate flag in the ’People’s House.’

Through the testimony of witnesses, we see a man who is unhinged, prone to childish tantrums and willing to go to any extreme to stay in power. He was aware of armed supporters on January 6th but was unconcerned because he knew their target – Congress. He encouraged them to come to the nation’s capital and create mayhem, promising the day would be wild. Trump and his cheerleaders – Rudy Giuliani and Mike Flynn – stood by his side that day and exhorted the mob to violence. Even when it was clear members of Congress were in danger, and his own Vice President was escorted to a safe hiding place in the bowels of the Capitol, Donald Trump ignored the urging of the White House counsel, other staff, and his own daughter to call of the riotous mob. As was the case in his coddling of racists in Charlottesville, Virginia, Trump took pleasure in witnessing the violence from afar, glorifying in the adoration of his dictatorial aspirations.

Donald Trump is a traitor. Worse, he is a lying, conniving White supremacist who casts himself as a deity to his supporters who are easily manipulated by social media dribble. Every court challenge to the results of the 2020 election has been rebuffed, even in cases before Trump appointed federal judges, and every investigation of widespread voter fraud has come up empty. So much so that former Attorney General Bob Barr, under oath, called claims of voter fraud bullshit. Still, Trump and his minions, aided by the talking anuses of the Fox News Channel have stirred the pot of misinformation for one singular purpose – to install a White authoritarian government in the United States.

This is no time for the Attorney General of the United States to get cold feet. Trump is a danger to this nation’s security, and he must be held accountable for his attempt to subvert the democratic process and overthrow the legitimate votes of Americans. Now is the time to make true the adage that ‘no one is above the law.’ Donald Trump can never again be allowed to run for public office. Donald Trump must be charged, tried, convicted, and jailed. There is no middle ground, there can be no compromise. The lives of Americans and our friends around the world will be in danger if this hateful despot is allowed to walk away from the carnage he encouraged. The fate of this nation now rests in the hands of Attorney General Merrick Garland, and he must not fail.