Before And After

On the campaign trail in 2016, Donald Trump frequently resorted to verse to make his xenophobic case against immigrants and the supposed threat they bring. The poem “The Snake” is based on an old fable: An old woman takes a dying snake into her house and nurses it to health, only to be fatally bitten.

The president typically delivered the last two lines with gusto: “‘Oh, shut up, silly woman!’ said the reptile with a grin. ‘You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in.’”

The tale has new significance now, after. That’s the way January 6, 2021, will be viewed by history: a turning point. Before that moment, the populism that Donald Trump rode to power had plausible deniability of the undercurrents of anarchy and violence that most of the country could see clearly. After, there’s no hiding place: Supporting Donald Trump is opposing democracy, and embracing pure chaos.

As for Trump, he clearly telegraphed his inclinations from the start, continued through four years, and reached a crescendo in the weeks after losing the 2020 election, climaxing with a literal call to arms in the hours before the insurrectionist assault on Capitol Hill. It was no surprise. We knew damn well who he was before we let him in.

U.S. Representative Lee Zeldin took to the floor of the House of Representatives on Wednesday — with broken glass littering the carpet, a protester killed and a Capitol Police officer fatally wounded, and three others dead as a direct result of the pandemonium when rioters smashed into the seat of American democracy — and, mere hours after the bloodshed, amplified the same misinformation that fueled the violence. It was breathtaking, and nauseating.

Mr. Zeldin is a smart man, but he has never shown much depth of knowledge on any subject. He makes up for it by forcefully, even exasperatedly, repeating a series of talking points drafted for him. His tone, unfailingly, is that he sees something that everyone must be blind to miss. “Just stop,” he said, twice, in a snarky Sunday tweet.

His misguided, oblivious arrogance makes him kin to the deluded masses who stormed the Capitol, convinced they were “stopping a steal” of a fair election that wasn’t particularly close, driven by a man who insisted, in the alternate reality he sells, that he not only won but in a landslide.

Both on the floor and in statements afterward, Mr. Zeldin insisted he was actually defending democracy by raising “confirmed, evidence-filled issues” with the election conducted in several battleground states.

What Mr. Zeldin clearly doesn’t understand, painfully, is that he absolutely did have the right to raise the issues he did. The security of our elections is foundational. But these are not “evidence-filled issues” — they’ve all been vetted by courts, often by Trump-appointed judges, and not just dismissed but ridiculed. His House speech was a word salad of half-truths, internet memes and debunked nonsense, all meant to undermine the legitimacy of an incoming Democratic administration.

After the actions of a crowd fueled by such misinformation, it was horrific to see this region’s representative in the House pushing this dark fantasy, having seen, clearly, the threat it presents. Jack Holmes of Esquire labeled the legislators who pushed forward with the election challenge after the riots as “handmaidens to fascism.” It’s a startling statement, but it’s impossible to defend Mr. Zeldin from it. At best, he’s a dupe who’s been suckered by Mr. Trump. At worst, he’s cynically advancing a narrative he knows to be false, to demonstrate fealty to a man rather than the country. Either way, he’s unfit for office.

Mr. Zeldin will never resign — he’s a true believer who sees his cause, whatever it is, as constantly under unfair attack, and his critics as radicals who hate America. He is one with the mindless throng in the spotlight on Wednesday, fed by an echo chamber of nonsense.

This is not about politics. So many Republicans watched what happened in the Capitol on Wednesday with horror: It was a physical manifestation of stoking a fire again and again and again with lies and divisiveness, all for political gain. Many immediately decried the “cause” that was marching with a Trump flag in front.

Mr. Zeldin has not. He chose President Trump’s will over the will of the people, including constituents in his own very divided district, even as the president led an open revolt against democracy. Days afterward, he said not a word about an insurrectionist president’s role in the violence.

He is now a member of the military who has chosen the Trump flag over the American flag. An attorney who rejects the legitimacy of the court system. An elected representative of a divided district who has walled out half his constituents and their views.

Mr. Zeldin refused to do what was right for the country and certify a legitimate election. He has aligned with a president attacking American democracy. He continues the misinformation campaign that created the chaos at the Capitol. He will go down in history as an active part of a radical, discredited movement with blood on its hands.

He has a new two-year term to serve representing the 1st District. He won convincingly, fair and square, under many of the same voting policies he now challenges in other states. The 1st District deserves the shame of having Lee Zeldin represent us for two more years. Because we knew damn well who he is when we let him in.