You promised you would. Remember you said during your pep rally, “We’re going to walk down—and I’ll be there with you—We’re going to walk down, we’re going to walk down. Anyone you want, but I think right here, we’re going to walk down to the Capitol and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women….’
You said “we” five times, and you promised to “be there with you.”
But you didn’t go, did you? You just turned them loose then and you strolled back to the warmth of the big white house.
Sure was a funny way to lead.
Kind of like Jimmy Doolittle. Remember how he watched fifteen B-25s take off from the security of the bridge of the Hornet?
And we’re all familiar with General Patton, commanding the Third Army from his bunker in London as his soldiers swept across France and into Germany.
George Washington, relaxing by the fireside at Mount Vernon, received regular reports on the fine living conditions at Valley Forge.
The examples are so numerous—-
Some of us are old enough to remember Martin Luther King telling his marchers who had traveled with him from Selma to Montgomery Alabama, “The battle is in our hands. And we can answer with creative nonviolence the call to higher ground to which the new directions of our struggle summons us. The road ahead is not altogether a smooth one. There are no broad highways that lead us easily and inevitably to quick solutions. But we must keep going.” And I’m sure you remember that Dr. King, after speaking words somewhat more eloquent than yours, got into his long black Cadillac and drove back to Selma where he waited for reports of what happened in Montgomery.
Actually, the leaders in these and other situations never said, “I’ll be with you.” But they were. They were with those they commanded.
What might have happened if you had been a man of your word that day? Could you have spoken to the crowd of “peaceful tourists” and urged them not to break windows, break down doors, assault security officers, vandalize offices, and force members of the House and the Senate to flee for their lives?
Would you have tolerated a noose and a sign that said, “Hang Mike Pence,” or would you have encouraged more respect for a man carrying out the constitutional duties of the Electoral College?
Could your calming presence have saved the life of Ashli Babbit?
Could you have prevented the arrests of more than 600 “tourists,” many of whom face significant time in prison or in jail while their families wonder what’s to happen to them if you had said as the crowd surged toward the doors and windows, “Wait! We’re just here to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women. Go back out behind the fence and demonstrate out there.”
Oh, if only you had kept your promise.
“I’ll be there with you,” you said.
You’re no Jimmy Doolittle. Or George S. Patton. Or Martin Luther King.
Or any number of other great leaders who led from the front instead of retreating inside their nice, warm, safe quarters where they could do as you did(according to some accounts), joyfully watch what you unleashed.
You expressed some concern a few days ago that the September 18h celebration of the January 6 insurrection was intended to make you look bad. What looked bad was the small number of people who gathered to celebrate the day,
Too bad you weren’t with them, either. Be comforted by the fact that you could not have looked worse on September 18th than you did on January 6.
But, once again, you weren’t in the front ranks. Others took all the risks and you watched it all on television. Again.
Once again you’re the man who wasn’t there.
Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn’t there.
He wasn’t there again today.
Oh, how I wish he’d go away.
—or maybe, walk away. You’re good at that.