On 6 January 2001 then president Donald Trump clearly attempted to overthrow our Democracy.  The effort was inept, but still criminal.  In hindsight, after   all 10 living former Department of Defense secretaries published in the  Sunday, 3January2021, issue of the Washington Post a public letter , declaring that the U.S. presidential election was over, Trump should have realized that without the Department of Defense, there was no hope for a successful coup. The letter – signed by Dick Cheney, James Mattis, Mark Esper, Leon Panetta, Donald Rumsfeld, William Cohen, Chuck Hagel, Robert Gates, William Perry and Ashton Carter – amounts to a remarkable show of force against Trump’s subversion efforts just days before Congress is set to count Electoral College votes . Watch William Cohen explain on CNN their motivation for this extraordinary action. Okay, that was one Republican effort to destroy our Democracy, although I would argue that the culprit was Donald Trump, not the entire party. 

 The Lahaina Apocalypse is up to 96 deaths.  Read this NBC summary .   Watch Jeremy Greenberg , director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, describe disaster assistance to Maui Wildfire victims. Short  aerial video of the devastation . And a  longer one . By now 75% of Americans at least suspect Donald Trump of having attempted a coup to remain as president.  Only a third of Republicans actually believe Trump was right.  A small percentage of Independents and fewer Democrats likewise side with him.  Thus, only 25% of voters will stick with Trump into the 2024 presidential election year. What prevented The Donald from succeeding?  The list is a healthy indicator of the power of Democracy: Leading the list are the  10 living former U.S. defense secretaries  who on 3 January 2021 published in  The Washington Post  a forceful public letter declaring the U.S. presidential election is over, and the contention of Trump that he was cheated has no merit. They are:  Dick Cheney, James M