In the midst of intense feelings of disgust and rage over the storming of the United States Capitol by insurrectionists on Wednesday, Jan. 6, I kept hearing the words that often pop into my head when preparing for Sunday-morning sermons: “Pay attention to the pronouns.”
That advice has helped me to interpret the Old and New Testaments for over three decades. Awareness of pronouns gives me clarity in stories and events by identifying all of the characters: the speaker, those whom the speaker represents, those to whom the speaker is directing the speech, and the persons of reference.
This kind of attentiveness also leads me to ask who else might be part of the story, whether they are explicitly mentioned in the text, assumed by context, or implied by suggestion.
Once I get a grasp on who all the players are, I can then begin to understand the meaning of the text in mind. After more than 30 years of engaging this important practice in order to understand what I consider to be sacred texts of my faith community, I think I have become better at it.
It occurred to me last week that this practice has also helped me in interpreting the news as I try to understand what is actually going on in the world.
It has been especially helpful during the last couple of days as I am doing my best to wrap my head around one of the most embarrassing and outrageous events in our nation’s history: the hostile attack at our nation’s Capitol by some of the followers of our current president.
Perhaps the most helpful thing for me has been the use of pronouns by the president himself. The repetitious, first-person pronouns point not only to his firm blessing and support of the insurrectionists, but also his promise to personally march to the Capitol and his rallying cry to join him.
Earlier in the day at the White House, the president said to his supporters: “WE are going to the Capitol… WE are going to try and give our Republicans, the weak ones…. WE are going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back OUR country. So let’s (contraction for ‘let US’) walk down Pennsylvania Avenue…. WE are going to walk down and I will be there with you… WE are gonna walk down. WE are gonna walk down…. WE are gonna walk down to the Capitol.”
As the leader of the MAGA crowd, the president himself assured them that he would be with them as they marched to the Capitol. They believed they had the president’s blessing as they violently broke through its doors and into its chambers, destroyed property, and boldly disrespected the legislative branch of our government. The president HIMSELF told these insurrectionists that he was leading them in this effort “to take back OUR country.”
His cowardice in not actually being present, after stoking the fires of an already-inflamed crowd, does not exonerate him from the violence that took place! If there is one thing that Donald J. Trump is really good at, it is knowing his crowd and fueling their emotions. He knows when the violent ones are present, as they clearly were on that day. He assured those violent insurrectionists that their president was with them in their effort “to take back OUR country.”
They believed he was with them because he told them he would be with them. They violently stormed the United States Capitol while Congress was in session, and believed that the president was not only supporting their efforts but actually present with them as they did so. Why? Because he told them so. Pay attention to the pronouns!
Later in the day, after members of Congress were moved to a bunker, government property was damaged and people died, the president said to the insurrectionists: “WE love you.” “YOU are very special.” Here the pronouns point to further culpability, as well as intentional quasi-ambiguity and just plain weirdness.
I have to first ask, who is he talking about besides himself when he says WE? Does he mean Melania and him? I seriously doubt that she wants anything to do with his politics. Does he mean multiple personalities or has he come to believe that he is now so big that he is some kind of pluralistic deity, even trinity — more than one person but one in substance?
Could be. Does he mean all of the rest of the MAGA “community?” Perhaps. One thing is clear: WE includes the speaker. Donald J. Trump loves the insurrectionists. HE considers them “very special.” HE supports them. HE is their leader.
The president later condemned the violent actions of the insurrectionists, as if he had nothing to do with them, as if he was shocked, as if they were going against his wishes.
However, the pronouns are clear: knowing that there were violent insurrectionists in the crowd, the president of the United States pointed them to the United States Capitol and led them to believe that they not only had his blessing “to take back OUR country,” but promised that he was right there alongside them. Paying attention to the pronouns points to undisputed evidence — the president’s words right out of his own mouth — that he is culpable for the actions of the violent mob against our nation’s Capitol and ought to be held accountable for his culpability.
On Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, the president of the United States led a violent insurrection against OUR country. If there ever was a time for the vice president and Cabinet to invoke the 25th amendment, that time is now. WE, the People, must hold our leaders accountable. WE who are Democrats, WE who are Republicans, WE who are independents, WE who are Americans.
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The Rev. Dr. Alan Akana is a
resident of Koloa.
