From: Ronald Wilkinson
Edinburgh
Had it not been for the grace of God, Vice President Mike Pence’s life might have ended tragically in front of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with his body dangling at the end of a rope; the mob sent by then-President Donald Trump would’ve cheered triumphantly. He almost suffered the same fate as did thousands of Blacks during and after slavery. Had the mob succeeded in stopping the counting of the votes and in hanging Pence, democracy would’ve died that day and civil war would’ve ensued, which we now know is what many of Trump’s supporters have been preparing for, based on findings by the Jan. 6 committee. If these people were patriots as many call themselves, their patriotism was to Trump, not the United States. True patriots don’t attack their own government.
Columbus, Indiana is widely known for its architectural landscape. Columbus became even more famous when presidential candidate Donald Trump chose Mike Pence, a Columbus native, to be his running mate. But after being the president’s “yes man” for four years, things went south pretty quickly for Pence on Jan. 6 when he refused do what Trump wanted him to do. Trump was so despised of Pence that, while he was hoping that “Pence would do the right thing” to keep him in power for four more years, he still couldn’t resist criticizing Pence as being weak even before Pence certified the votes. It only goes to show that you are only useful to some people if you let them use you. By putting country above Trump and self that day, Pence is credited with saving our democracy. It’s always the ones you least expect to come through in a crunch.
Had the mob been successful in finding Pence that day and carrying out their deadly plan, Columbus would once again become famous, but this time, because of a national tragedy.
Some of the people who approve of what Trump and the mob did live right here in Columbus, and that includes certain politicians. One “Onion” writer in the Republic wrote recently: “The representative who stands by his questions out where the trains don’t run.” The trains do run out there, and they are filled with passengers to the right and the far right. That’s why this representative and other like-minded politicians stand out there and say ridiculous things, which even they don’t believe, but it gets the passengers’ attention. And the first step to leading someone astray is to get their attention.
