Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries: a new captain has arisen

The second anniversary of January 6 was desecrated upon the floor of the US House of Representatives by a violent altercation between two of the extremists who sought to topple American democracy.

The disgraced Donald Trump who incited the insurrection alongside his treacherous and disloyal agents burned up the phone lines engineering McCarthy’s Potemkin speakership in name only. The dim-witted and hollow demagogue from Bakersfield, California, whose talent for debasement is only equaled by his capacity for abasement, glowed as extremists chanted “USA! USA! USA!” at the hour of his empty triumph through appeasement that would beggar the imaginations of his 54 predecessors. If John Quincy Adams was known as the “great sage” during his service in the US House then Kevin McCarthy should be considered its “tiniest fool.”

Two years before Kevin McCarthy lost the 14th ballot on the floor of the US House, the US House and US Senate chambers were invaded by a criminal horde that defecated and urinated in America’s most sacrosanct space. Hours after order was restored, Kevin McCarthy joined in voting to end democracy in America, along with 148 other Members of Congress. They denied the indisputable results of a presidential election to balm Trump’s wounded ego and make him a tyrant, so that he would be sated. The vote will endure throughout the ages as a singular act of perfidy and treachery. With the destruction of the political careers of the last remnants of honorable republicanism and the departure from the House of Representatives Kitzinger and Cheney, there is no opposition within the Republican Party to the extremist threat. The McCarthy/MAGA Congress is the threat. It represents a grave danger to America’s domestic tranquility, prosperity and security.

Yet, like all days, time expired on January 6, 2023. It yielded to a new day that would preface a new dawn of light breaking off the East coast of Maine, heralding a new American morning where anything is possible.

It was during the early hours of January 7, 2023, when a great thunderclap boomed over the United States. It marked the beginning of a new era, and drew a red line through which patriotic Americans can rally together in solidarity against extremism — and for America. It marked a moment of renewal and reform that is just now beginning, but will lead to something much better if we remain determined and committed to the obligations of citizenship.

It marked the rise of a new American leader — a 52-year-old man from Brooklyn named Hakeem. The thunderclap was the magnificence of his voice rising in defense of the American creed, and his taking his place in a long line of liberty’s defenders. Like his patriot predecessors, his rise was not preordained or even predictable, but rather somewhat providential. It is that providential manner that is part of the miracle of America. We are a resilient country because all around us are the reminders that ordinary people rise and do extraordinary things. During each hour of crisis in which despondency and hopelessness creeps, there has arisen the people — as if from nowhere — who would lead the United States through the storm.

Sometimes they were women like Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Tubman and Rosa Parks. They prefaced great conflagrations and tumult where the tectonic plates of justice and liberty moved towards their final destinations — towards the just society that Martin Luther King foresaw from the mountain top on the eve of his American martyrdom.

Hakeem Jeffries reminded me of two men last night, both Americans, both part of the beautiful American mosaic, white men who belonged to the Republican Party.

The first man was 49 years old in 1940. He had been a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army since 1936 after spending 16 years at the mid-level rank of major. He was a mid-level Army officer at middle age. It was humanity’s greatest crisis and the deadliest war in human history that would make him world famous. His life would change a great deal over the 12 years between 1940 and 1952. Lieutenant Colonel Eisenhower became commander-in-chief in that year.

The second man had a troubled life. He suffered from self-doubt, alcoholism and failure. When the New Year began in 1859 he was known as “captain” from his Army service. He had failed as a farmer and a merchant. He was nearly destitute, and unable to provide for his family. He split and delivered firewood for a living. The man’s name was Ulysses Grant.

This is the story of America. Over and over again, liberty has been defended by what seems like this nation’s infinite capacity to produce the right men and women at precisely the right moment — not a second too soon, and not an instant too late.

America’s foreign and domestic enemies have always been blind to this. They are nothing if not predictable. Trump and McCarthy are among them. Their great deficit is they can’t see this aspect of American character. They certainly couldn’t hear the thunderclap last night, so another American stepped forward and inspired courage with words at the edge of more difficult times — before we can cross the horizon into better times.

Because MAGA Kevin is a moral simpleton he doesn’t understand that he is an apostate in a moral business. He doesn’t understand what happened last night. He doesn’t understand that a new American leader stepped forward last night.

He is a dangerous man for the MAGA extremists and the McCarthy Congress. His name is Hakeem Jeffries. The distinguished gentleman from New York, the leader of the Democratic opposition has arrived, and it is a very good thing.

John Lewis is an American founding father, and amongst them, he stands out as a moral giant. Leader Jeffries quoted him on Saturday morning, reminding the country of his grace and wisdom. John‘s wisdom said that “we all came here in different ships, but now we’re all in the same boat.” Indeed.

A new captain has arisen. Let us wish him luck as he fulfills his duty and destiny.

Good luck, Mr. Leader.