Trump’s Capital Insurrection was our Fort Sumpter, the first shot in this new Civil War.  The mob crashed through the Capitol with Trump as their Jesus, if only for the moment.  I’m guessing the rioters a diverse group, but you’d be blind not to notice that White Nationalism was a core belief.  For all the American flag waving, the crowd was lousy with Confederate and revolutionary symbols. God, I hate revolutionary rhetoric.

Even threatened with death, Republicans do nothing. Sure, they mouth off a lot, but it’s empty stuff. “It’s too early for any conclusions.”  “I don’t want to politicize this tragedy.” They tell us how offended they are, but offer not the smallest action. “Any investigation would be too divisive.” “Prosecutions are only political revenge.”  “It’s too late to change anything.”  “We shouldn’t re-legislate the past.”  It’s the same brainless diversion, chaff, and dog-whistles as they spout after every other massacre they’ve fomented.

So, for the rest of us, did we see what happened?  Do we know where this is going?  We’ve seen the naked threat of White National terrorism for more than a century now. It’s too late to pretend we don’t recognize it.  And now the mob overran the Capitol building, hoping to overturn a fair election and install their leader. Except it’s not about Trump. He’s just riding a wave. They’re calling for the race war: a new Civil War.

Don’t shrug off the underwhelming Republican response. It’s matters. I read Nathan’s post, and I agree with his terms. Breaking into the center of American democracy to block an election? Insurrection. Promoting that violence is sedition. And while everyone wasn’t exactly armed, add up the pointed flagpoles, bear spray, riot shields, knives, sticks, explosives, and (yes) guns, and you have a whole lot of people waving the Virginia Battle Flag who just took up arms against our nation. Again.

I mean Lordy! They brought FlexiCuffs!  Does anyone misunderstand the implication?  They wanted prisoners or hostages. We only got lucky.

Polls say most respondents blame Trump for inciting the insurrection. In a Huffington Post poll, 75% disapproved of the riots, and a plurality want Trump impeached and removed.

But in that same poll, 34% of Republicans approved of the rioter’s actions. And when HuffPo asked if the mob actions were right or wrong, 93 percent of Biden voters said the riot was wrong, while only 14 percent of Trump voters thought so. I didn’t think that was a trick question.

Finally, do people think this one riot is the end of it? Polls report that most of us — across gender, race, age, income, or politics — think the Capitol Insurrection is part of a broader movement. Me, too.

We’ve been fighting the new Civil War for longer than most people acknowledge. Most of us white people, anyway. Whether it’s BLM or Blue Lives, March for our Lives or any Second Amendment gas attack, there’s an underlying thread of racism. I’m only now seeing the bigger parts, but it’s hard to see massacre after mass-shooting and not see the race war come up repeatedly.

The scariest part? Look how many of our institutions are already corrupted. I’ll talk about those more later, but this wasn’t just Trump, and it’s not just the local police. This is deeper than it appears.