Cavalier: Connecting Capitol insurrection to British Civil War and to pandemic

Being a history buff, I tend to look things in historical perspective.  While the Capitol was being seized by the White House-incited mobs, Oliver Cromwell and Charles I came to my mind.

While visiting London 5-6 years ago, I noticed there were only two statues in the yard of the Parliament; one is Henry II, the other is Oliver Cromwell (see photo right).  The fact/design that he still needs a lion to protect him tells a lot.

I know it is inappropriate to liken Trump’s White  House to Charles I royalist and Nancy Pelosi’s Congress/Capitol to Oliver Cromwell’s Parliament.  But . . .

I hold the view that the Capitol insurrection and America being the worst in the whole world when it comes to pandemic control are related, the two manifestations of the same thing（一體兩面）.

The word “cavalier” (lack of proper concern, disregard of others’ interest, high-handed, arrogant, supercilious) connects these two things and events.

Cromwell’s Roundheads (Parliamentarians) first used “Cavaliers” to describe the wealthier supporters (knights) of Charles I, with a negative tone of contempt.  The term was later adopted by Royalists themselves.

Chris Christie

After spending seven days in an intensive unit before recovering from COVID-19, the former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie implored Americans to wear masks and take the pandemic very seriously.  "The ramifications are wildly random and potentially deadly.  No one should be happy to get the virus and no one should be cavalier about being infected or infecting others."  He said.

Christie used “cavalier” to describe those so-called pandemic deniers, treating it with indifference or even with contempt.  The cult is led by Trump, and unfortunately many Republicans “follow the leader” blindly or as Chinese say 被牽著鼻子走。

So everything comes into place. The mobs that seized the Capitol are Trump’s people who, like their leader, take cavalier attitude toward the pandemic, so they are the Royalists, the Cavaliers. The price we pay is America being the worst when it comes to the pandemic control. Trump indeed achieved the “America First” which is not only a slogan but a reality.  America, the “shining City upon the Hill”, its storied democracy was once marveled, envied and emulated by the world, now scorned, mocked and mourned.

I firmly believe that most of the more than 74 millions that voted Trump did it for various reasons, political or otherwise, some of them I personally embrace, thus I treat them with respect and understanding.

My argument against Trump is entirely not political.  To paraphrase Fou Lei (傅雷）from the letter to his son, Fou Ts’ong (傅聰）:

First you must be a person, then a public servant, and then a politician, and only then can you be a President.

Fou Ts’ong said in one interview, “Even now, I believe in this order — that it should be this way and that I am this way.”

Not a thread of moral fiber can be found in Trump’s very being.  He failed the first step as a decent person.  His character fault lies in his narcissistic personality and lack of empathy and compassion. A powerful politician without morality is a dangerous thing.

Washington, DC, a besieged city: “Why don’t they come! Why don’t they come!” Lincoln exclaimed

I thought Washington DC is preparing for a presidential inauguration, but it looks more like preparing for a major attack.  Vice President Pence just came to inspect the troops just like a general did before the imminent battle.  If Lincoln could see the 21,000 (expects to be 26,000) troops (National Guard) amassed in Washington on April 23, 1861, he would be very pleased and relieved.

At the outset of the Civil War, Lincoln first called for troops to defend the Capital on April 15, 1861.  The following excerpts are from Carl Sandburg’s monumental work, Abraham Lincoln, from which one can see how anxious Lincolns were in those days.

On the afternoon of April 23 [1861] Lincoln was alone in his office in the White House—or believed he was alone, though John Hay, [Lincoln’s secretary] quiet and unobtrusive, was there.  And Hay saw Lincoln “after walking the floor alone in silent thought for nearly half an hour,” stop at a window and gaze long and wistfully down the Potomac in the direction of the expected ships.  And as he gazed he broke out with irrepressible anguish in the repeated exclamation “Why don’t they come!  Why don’t they come!”

The day of the President’s call for 75,000 troops had passed, and not a troop arrived in Washington.  And the next day and the next passed, and not a regiment nor a company came—not a corporal’s squad.

Mrs. Lincoln, a few nights since, heard whispering in the hall in front of her room; she rose from bed, dressed, and sat up the remainder of the night, watching for the Southern army to blow up the White House, as they are confidently expecting it.”

Our daughter bought me this four-volume set of Carl Sandburg's Abraham Lincoln: War Years some years ago.