Bob Schwartz

After historic tragedies and debacles, those complicit by participation or silence try by various degrees to distance themselves from responsibility. Most infamously in modern history, leaders and citizens in Nazi Germany characterized themselves as bystanders or as “just following orders.”

The Trump administration has not been a Nazi regime and the tragedy is not as deep and dark. On the other hand, it has been far from benign, and its malignancy has been glaring and obvious from the start. Yesterday’s storming of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters is just one instance, but it is one that finally got the attention of even the most ardent enablers.

So we saw one after another trying to say, in essence, this is not the man, the fearless leader that I know and love, so respectfully, I am maintaining my distance. Lindsay Graham offered this:

“Trump and I, we had a hell of a journey. I hate it being this way. All I can say is, count me out. Enough is enough. I tried to be helpful.”

Believing that this, or Mike Pence’s attempt to suddenly look like a responsible and trustworthy American leader, is enough to erase four years of American hell is a ludicrous idea. These people are free to repent and make their peace with their God; we hope they do. But if they believe we will allow them a seat at the table of public wise men, they will have to be satisfied to stand on the sidelines with the other miscreants and fools. Or in their own hell. Again, that is up to them and their God.

No, these people were not just bystanders or following orders. They made deals with the devil. Now it is time for them to pay up.