An essay to my descendants about the January 6th Riots

Get the Point!

100 years from now, descendants of mine will sit in some teacher’s class and learn all about the 2020 election—and the post election events on January 6, 2021 that remain one of the ugliest moments in American history. 

Those descendants will likely know that their ancestor, Chuck Hobbs, was alive during that period and through his blog and other media spaces, analyzed both the historical and legal impacts of what the Bipartisan House Committee tasked with investigating the January 6th Riots concluded was an “attempted coup” on December 19, 2022.

Future Hobbs generations may dig into the digital archives to ascertain what their grandfather/great uncle/distant cousin "Hobbserved" in real time—to deduce whether their ancestor stood on the side of justice—or with the madding crowd who placed the rule of law in jeopardy. 

When they stumble across this blog in particular, I want them to know that from the very first, that I considered the events on January 6th to be a travesty of justice tinged with overt violence—events eerily reminiscent to that time when rebellious batteries in Charleston, South Carolina bombarded Fort Sumter in April 1861 to ignite the Civil War.

I want my descendants to know that I was “fair” and “balanced” two months earlier in November of 2020 when I took NO issue when then President Donald Trump exercised his legal right to challenge the election results in federal and state courts of law. Do know that my lack of issue with Trump exercising those rights stemmed from my own memory of the highly contested 2000 election between Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush, and how as a young lawyer at the time, I was able to sit in jury boxes and galleries in Tallahassee courtrooms and watch as those lower court decisions ultimately wound their way up to the Florida Supreme Court—before being heard in the United States Supreme Court—the highest in the land—and the venue that stopped the Florida recount and by so doing, granted Bush the victory over Gore.

Bush vs. Gore debate circa September 2000 

I want my descendants to know that in 2000, despite evidence that as many as 10,000 ballots in South Florida were partially or illegibly marked for Mr. Gore, that when the U.S. Supreme Court said "no more," that he called Mr. Bush and conceded the race—all to foment the peaceful transition of power. 

Do know, dear descendants, that Mr. Gore's 2000 graciousness stood in stark contrast to Mr. Trump's 2020 obstinant obstruction; the Trump campaign filed 62 lawsuits challenging the results between November 2020 and mid-December—and lost 61—including an 8-1 loss in a U.S. Supreme Court that was filled with six conservatives, including three of his own appointees, Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett, each of whom voted against his campaign's case!

I want my descendants to know that not only did Mr. Trump refuse to concede after all of his court options were lost, but that when his loyal lapdog, Attorney General Bill Barr, told him that there were no more legal pathways forward, that Trump then turned to "yes" lawyers, sycophants like former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who filed frivolous lawsuits after frivolous lawsuits that were summarily dismissed. Should you choose to search my blog’s archives, you will find that I did my best in real time to discuss the ramifications of Trump's legal frivolity in great detail!

I want you to know that with his court options non-existent, that Mr. Trump then began calling public officials, like Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, and pressured them to create slates of electors who would go against the popular vote for the true victor, Joe Biden. To our Republic's benefit, and to my praise in print and on-air, those Republican officials refused to play along with Trump's schemes—drawing his ire instead!

Do know, dear descendants, that Trump tried to install a new lapdog, Jeffrey Clark, as acting U.S. Attorney General so that the Justice Department could declare that the 2020 election was a fraud, but ultimately didn't do that when ALL of the senior Justice Department officials—each a Republican—threatened to resign! This, too, earned my praise for the Republicans who put legal process over party—and Trump's profanities!

But most crucially, dear descendants, do know know that Mr. Trump, upon realizing that his presidential days were numbered, then took to Twitter to encourage his followers to march on the Capitol in Washington, D.C. to "stop the steal," his Orwellian phrase for what really were his own efforts to steal the election from Joe Biden. In all candor, your ancestor Ol' Hobbs didn't take Trump’s Tweet seriously until January 6th, when thousands of his supporters rallied near the Capitol—before marching on the Capitol—in an effort to intimidate Congress and Trump's own Vice President, Mike Pence, from certifying the final election results. 

Dear descendants, do know that in my 48 years to that point, that I rarely got shocked by anything, but I was initially speechless that day as I listened to an unhinged Trump essentially call his own Vice President Pence a coward for following the law—while encouraging his minions to go and break the law by stopping the certification. Do know that I spent the rest of that day live blogging and speaking my disgust at the mob that tied nooses and erected a hangman's platform before literally breaking into the Capitol Complex—all the while beating and choking out police officers who were overwhelmed by the mob screaming "stop the steal" and "hang Mike Pence."

Do know that your ancestor watched in horror as one miserable miscreant strode through the Capitol Complex carrying the Confederate Battle Flag—an act that long dead Rebel generals Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and J.E.B. Stuart dreamed of—but never accomplished during the Civil War. 

Further, do know that nearly $70 million dollars of federal property was destroyed—and five lives lost—during the bloodiest day of insurrection since 1865.

Dear descendants, do know that while America's democracy was jeopardized that day, that text messages from conservatives like Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, popular entertainers for the Fox Network, begged Mr. Trump to call for his followers to stand down—to no avail! According to several aides, Trump, like the Roman Emperor Nero centuries before, stood in the White House watching the anarchy unfold—while shouting that they should hang VP Pence. Finally, after 187 minutes of terror in which many congress members of both parties feared that they would be killed, Trump finally called for his followers to go home…but the damage was done!

Dear descendants, do know that there were people of varying demographic backgrounds and political persuasions who loudly condemned Trump and his foolish followers on January 6th. Do know that despite Trump's pernicious scheme and wicked efforts, that democracy did not fall that day; two weeks later, Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States while Trump, breaking protocol that had existed for over two centuries, refused to attend the transfer of power like a spoiled little brat.

In conclusion, dear descendants, do know that despite all of the above mentioned illegalities and indignities, that at the time that I am writing this essay two years later, Mr. Trump still maintains millions of loyal followers who take a "see no evil, hear no evil"stance on January 6th and the days that followed. Blind followers, I submit, who are eager to vote for him again in 2024 because as another of your ancestors, my mother, often says, that after a drought, “water seeks its own level.”

Do know that instead of being cast aside as a political leper after January 6th, that those blind followers made Trump nearly a billion dollars by subscribing to his dubiously named "Truth Social" media network, his own platform that allows him to continue the "stop the steal" lie.

Do know that while the Bipartisan Congressional Committee ultimately recommended that the Justice Department file criminal charges for obstruction and insurrection against Mr. Trump for his deplorable acts, that the very idea that an indictment wasn't already sealed and ready to be opened against him reminds me that in America, one's power, one's pecuniary holdings and yes, one's wealthy white male status, inures some benefits in 2022 that people of color and white women still do not possess in the 21st Century. Maybe, and prayerfully, this wide dichotomy will not be so pronounced as you read this in the 22nd Century and beyond but if so, I pray that you use the courage that you inherited from your ancestors to fight for equal justice under the law—no matter who is the lawbreaker!