In the light of subsequent events at the Capitol, yesterday's post is naive. Painful to read, even. Possibly I should erase it. On the other hand, one of the furies that beset me, as I watched the insurrection unfold, was the way in which Trump strangles joy--repeatedly, and with cruel pleasure.

So I am not going to forget my relief--the wash of optimism that enveloped me after the Georgia victory.

At the same time, we knew something terrible was coming. And by "we" I mean anyone with eyes open--not just regular Americans but most certainly members of Congress, the cabinet, his staff, his family. The man is a lunatic, a narcissist, a perpetual liar, a sadist. He has been inciting violence throughout his term in office, and has been grooming a cross-section of dregs to respond. And respond they did: stupidly, incompetently, hideously . . . a veritable reflection of their puppetmaster.

And so the Confederate flag waved in the Capitol yesterday. A man in an idiotic bull costume posed for a photo, revealing the Klan symbol tattooed on his stomach. A "protester" fell 30 feet off a scaffold. Another accidentally tased himself. A grinning fool stole a lectern. And a woman was shot in the chest and killed.

If black or brown people had dared to invade in such a way, hundreds would be dead, beaten, jailed. But the white guys get to post selfies to Instagram, get told that they're "loved," get to stop for a burger on their way home.

Of course Trump should be removed, immediately. He should have been removed years ago.

A message to Maine senator Susan Collins: why, no, it seems that he has not "learned his lesson." If you had possessed a spine during the impeachment proceedings, we wouldn't be in this position today.

Yesterday, when the news broke about the breaching of the Capitol, Paul was in our back room watching, of all things, a production of Shakespeare's Coriolanus. When I showed him the headline on my phone, I could see his mind start to jolt. Watching a play about insurrection during an insurrection . . . Maybe it's a strange coincidence. Maybe it's no surprise at all.

This is America, after all.