The scenes of fanatic rightist mobs desecrating the U.S. Capitol building was a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer appropriately compared Jan. 6, 2021 to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s description of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 as “a date which will live in infamy.”

Roosevelt was responding to a direct and dire attack on our democracy. By contrast, President Donald Trump’s inflammatory remarks led directly to the crazed insurrectionist mob attack on the Capitol, the iconic temple of our democracy. In secular terms the desecration of the Capitol was a violent attempt to stop the certification of Joe Biden as president-elect and Kamala Harris as vice president-elect. After the orgy of violence was finally subdued — hours too late —- both houses of Congress returned to their vandalized chambers to complete their sacred work. 

Vice President Mike Pence earned comparison to heroes in JFK’s “Profiles in Courage” for having the backbone to stand up to Trump’s attempt to bully him into violating the constitutional limits of his office.

Trump’s speech to his throng of supporters urged them to “fight back” to block the certification while his rabid attorney, Rudy Giuliani, exhorted them to engage in a “trial by combat.” 

How sad it is that the former mayor of New York who showed leadership in the aftermath of 9/11 has become a bloviating buffoon who has lost over 60 attempts to overturn the election results.

Trump has no one to blame for his downfall but himself. He has stabbed many of his closest allies in the back, including Pence and former Attorney General William Barr, who blunted the release of the Mueller Report. 

Trump had to have been warned that a fired-up group of rally attendees intended to take violent action to block the certification of the election. Now Trump faces—at this writing—several possible paths at the end his term: removal from office under terms of 25th Amendment (unlikely); a censure from Congress or impeachment. At the very least, Trump should be censured for “incitement to insurrection.”

Again Trump brought his downfall on himself and now will be the first president since 1869 to boycott his successor’s inauguration. The president, who has a morbid dread of being a “loser,” will leave office as the biggest loser of them all.

Robert A. Cohn is Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of the St. Louis Jewish Light.