On January 6, 2021 there was an attempted coup at the U.S. Capitol. On January 13, 2021 the House of Representatives impeached the now-former President for inciting the insurrection. On February 13, 2021 a majority of the Senate voted 57-43 to convict the disgraced former President, although the vote fell short of the needed 2/3 majority.
Further reading: The massive GOP betrayal of our democracy requires a forceful Democratic response (Washington Post Feb. 13, 2021)
Even though we are now in a new era with a new administration, we must hold the insurrectionists accountable. This includes the members of Congress who were complicit in the coup attempt and those who voted not to certify the electoral votes from Arizona and Pennsylvania despite there being no evidence of election fraud.
Our democracy is under attack, and we cannot let anyone sweep this under the rug with hypocritical calls for unity. Unity comes after accountability, and reconciliation comes after the traitors have been expelled from our government’s legislative branch.
What You Can Do: Call your Representative and Senators (if you have them*). We should all be making their phones ring off the hook demanding that they take some very specific actions.
Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. It’s best if you ask to speak to the Representative and Senators who represent you, so make sure you know whose district you’re in. Elected officials listen to their constituents.
Look up your members of Congress by state and district, including maps, here.
What should you say? It depends who you’re talking to:
- Democratic Representatives: Urge them to move fast on impeachment and to move to expel members of Congress who helped to plan, incite and encourage the terrorist takeover of the Capitol.
Update 2/15/2021: since the House impeached the now-former President, continue to urge the Democratic members of the House to expel other members who planned, incited and encouraged the January 6 attempted coup. - Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), who live-tweeted Speaker Pelosi’s location during the attempted coup: Tell her you’re disgusted with her actions and urge her to resign immediately.
- Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who has espoused dangerous and false conspiracy theories and promulgated inflammatory rhetoric that incited the mob to violence: Tell her you’re disgusted with her actions and urge her to resign immediately.
- The 3 Republican Reps who allegedly helped plan and promote the rally that prompted the Capitol attack (Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL): Tell them you’re disgusted with their seditious actions and urge them to repudiate domestic terrorism. And to apologize. And to resign immediately.
- The 139 Republican Representatives and 8 Republican Senators who voted to reject the electoral votes even AFTER the armed invasion of the Capitol: Tell them you’re disgusted with their vote. Urge them to tell the truth: that President Biden won the election and there was no election fraud. Then urge them to resign.
- The 6 Republican Representatives who refused to wear masks while spending several hours in a secure but confined location during the Capitol invasion and created a superspreader event: Tell them you have utter disdain for their lack of respect for their fellow elected officials. Urge them to resign.
- Any Republican Rep who didn’t vote to reject the electoral vote results: Urge them to expel their Republican colleagues who did vote against certifying the election results from the party and from the House.
- All other Senators (besides the terrible 8): For Republican Senators, urge them to expel the 8 Senators who voted against certifying the electoral votes from the party and from the Senate. For all Senators, urge them to convict when they hold an impeachment trial.
Update 2/15/2021: since the impeachment trial has concluded, urge them to expel the 8 Senators who voted against certifying the electoral results.
*If you live in DC, a territory or outside the USA, please share this page with your friends who live in the States.
Don’t let anyone normalize what happened. It was not normal. It was a serious threat to our democracy and to the lawmakers who represent we the people. We the people must demand accountability and consequences.
Fascist movements don’t just fade away – they must be repudiated and rejected.
Sign up for the Raise HECK email list
