I know I said yesterday that I didn't think I'd be able to post anything about current events today, but that was before the Democratic candidates won both their Senate races in Georgia. Buoyed by that, and then outraged by what has happened since, I wanted to capture just a sample of tweets since 9:00 p.m. last night in chronological order.
The first half or so of these are about last night's demonstration of how democracy is supposed to work.
The second half is about today's assault on democracy.
Black organizers delivered an election. Black people braved a pandemic to vote out a white supremacist administration and to curtail a fascist movement. Democrats, the ball is in your court. Prove you care about Black people as much as you care about Black votes.
Kirsten West Savali
For all the attention paid to the Georgia Senate races, don't think it's fully sunk in how wild it is that the candidates for the party that *is* becoming more working-class in orientation are the former CEO of Dollar General and wife of the billionaire head of NY Stock Exchange.
Alec MacGillis
Black people just want the world to show up for us like we show up for everyone else.
Jamira Burley
Well we ran a pair of hastily embalmed country club ghouls on a platform of The 14 Words and a full slate of the least popular, least effective political ideas in human history. Got to assume any loss would be the result of some sort of malfeasance.
David Roth
Folks don’t understand this is more than voter suppression. My mother remembers a mass lynching from her central Georgia girlhood. How long have we have waited?
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers @BlkLibraryGirl
The fate of the Senate and power in the United States came down to people of color who want systemic change and white people who prefer divided government and gridlocked government. That’s your story. That’s your trajectory.
Jared Yates Sexton
Exactly 40 years ago, Ronald Reagan was sworn in. Ideologically speaking, he never left office. Every successive administration has played within his stadium, whether on the left or right side of the field. The duty of this hour is to raze that stadium and construct a new one.
Anand Giridharadas
My 86-year-old Aunt just called me and said that she saw me on CNN and she wanted to share w/me that this is the first time in her life that she feels like her vote actually matters. She said, “Tosha you make me feel like Black people can win.” Y’all I’m moved beyond words.
LaTosha Brown
every Republican-controlled state legislature is going to go on a voter suppression blitz of unbelievable proportions starting.... yesterday, scorched earth, one party rule forever. invest in the local orgs fighting state by state
Talia Lavin @chick_in_kiev
See ya, John C. Calhoun: Soon-to-be Senate President Kamala Harris is going to crush the record books for all-time number of tie-breaking votes cast.
Charlie Savage
Everyone is joking about showering West Virginia with pork but we really should figure out how to make them whole in this energy transition.
Angie Schmitt (referring to the way Joe Manchin D-WV will have a lot of power among the now-majority Democrats in the Senate)
Black people have never been the problem, but the solution. No one values freedom more than those who’ve never had it. Saved this democracy from itself once again. Now, when will this country give Black Americans what they’re owed?
Ida Bae Wells @nhannahjones
People keep pointing out that Warnock is the first black senator from the state of Georgia, but for black people it’s bigger that that. He is the first black senator in American history elected by black people, meaning black people were the MAJORITY of the coalition that swept him into office.
Charles M. Blow
Imagine what this nation could be if it uplifted Black women the way Black women uplift democracy.
Renée Graham
At this point, I slept. And then in the morning I read the newspaper and did some work. There I was, being productive around 2:00 p.m., when Daughter Number Three-Point-One called me to see if I knew what was happening in Washington, D.C. And there went the afternoon and one more bit of my faltering faith in the institutions of this country.
The Law and Order folks parking all over the Mall at the Tidal Basin:
Robert Pohl @RSP_DC
Can’t believe the creators of the monster have lost control of the monster, is there any precedent for this in books or film
Dan Amira
Republicans in congress cowering under their desks as violent men roam the hallways finally understand what they've put every school kid in America through.
Mikel Jollett
Police officers are holding them steps away from the Senate chamber, which is locked. Senators are inside. I see a few confederate flags:
Igor Bobic
It's a small but telling thing as you can see so many "responsible" GOP electeds today describing the assault on the Capitol as a kind of crime against the police, rather than against American democracy.
Matthew Yglesias
I am safe, but heartbroken about what we are enduring at our nation’s Capitol. Running for our lives as Members of Congress in the United States is really devastating and totally shocking.
Ilhan Omar
A friend just said to me "Are we supposed to be working during the coup?" and honestly it was the most American thing I've ever heard.
@thequeengeek
From this day forward, fuck EVERY SINGLE news anchor and journalist who tries to whitewash and "All-Sides" what is happening in DC.
@Neomischa
"Participation trophy":
@mollypeonies
Please remember that every amazing photo and video of these upsetting events unfolding is brought to you by a journalist putting themselves in harm’s way so you may witness history.
Tal Kopan
reminder that they did this in Michigan and saw there weren't any consequences
Saladin Ahmed
Before anyone calls this unprecedented, please don’t. White supremacists have attempted to (and succeeded in) overthrowing elections previously. Especially when they believe black people have too much political power. Start with the Wilmington coup in 1898.
jelani cobb
And you thought "Taking A Knee" was too much!?!
NAACP
The crazy thing is this guy probably thinks that teens who break into a Foot Locker during a BLM protest should get 30 years, but clearly thinks he's gonna get away with this:
Will Wilkinson
In 2017, conservatives called for me to be arrested for treason, other trolls called for me to be hanged/shot for using a word in a speech they took out of context. Yes, a word. Where are they now?
Linda Sarsour
They call in the National Guard and forcefully remove indigenous people when we stand on our own lands in our own power, but they won’t call in the national guard on the white supremacist who just stormed the capitol.
Nick Tilsen
Reminder they have invaded the capitol during a pandemic, with a deadly airborne virus.
WhiteNonsenseRoundup
This is exactly what Trump meant when he said "stand by."
Chasten Buttigieg
When protestors tried to take the Capitol steps during the Kavanaugh nomination, Every. Single. Person was arrested. Today, Trumpists occupied the Capitol steps for HOURS. I just watched an officer in riot gear hold one of their hands and gingerly walk them slowly down the steps.
Alexis Goldstein
They were planning to take hostages:
Rebexem
This is the day that Vladimir Putin has waited for since he had to leave East Germany as a young KGB officer at the end of the Cold War.
Ben Rhodes
The only thing Trump got wrong was the avenue. He got someone shot today, on Pennsylvania Avenue, and again nothing will happen to him.
Anand Giridharadas
Republicans today successfully did what the insurrectionist slavers couldn’t: raise the confederate flag in the US Capitol.
john r stanton @dcbigjohn
None of this is surprising or unexpected, but that doesn't make it any less disgusting.
Nnedi Okorafor, PhD
Dear citizens: We are unable to put down this insurrection against democracy because the armored vehicles that we used to try to bring “democracy” to Iraq are now in small towns across America, trying to deter teenagers from purchasing marijuana.
Anand Giridharadas
Today has shown police don’t need de-escalation training, they choose who to escalate on, that’s not a training issue. Police don’t need unconscious bias training, they are conscious of their bias.
blackness everdeen @traceyecorder
I’m always interested in who the “we” is when people say “this is not who we are”
Clint Smith
That's all for the night. There will be more, of course, but it will have to wait.
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