![]() a family is not best seen as a sequence of generations that just leaves the oldest ones behind but, rather, as an Amish quilt in which each of us is represented by a square, whether we happen to be alive or not, and no one ever loses his or her place in the quilt, but the whole quilt just keeps getting bigger and more beautiful over time." One of the most beautiful parts of the book was a passage where Jamie Raskin shares the Amish Quilt theory: And throughout this book is the lovely soul of Tommy and how he reacted to life from a very sensitive and vulnerable and all-embracing stance in this world. Instead, Jamie Raskin has lifted it to a level of the motivations and hardships that he endured as he was appointed impeachment manager at a time that he was still raw with the grief of losing his son just a month before. What is so beautiful about this book is that it is not about Donald Trump. And as he so poignantly stated that the meaning was now revealed. As we all watched in utter disbelief, Jamie Raskin flashed back to Donald Trump's Inaugural address that struck him were the two words: American carnage. But alas on that day violent insurrectionists, at the beckoning of President Donald Trump, stormed the capitol leaving all of us in horror as we saw those hallowed halls violated by such violence and hatred with little regard for the history of this country and the sacredness of our democracy. And then heroically seven days later Congressman Jamie Raskin returned to the House for the certification of the 2020 Presidential election results on January 6, 2021. Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy was a beautiful book by Jamie Raskin that is at its core, a tribute to his son, Tommy Raskin, who tragically lost his battle with mental illness and depression, taking his life on December 31, 2020. ![]() At turns, a moving story of a father coping with his pain and a revealing examination of holding President Trump accountable for the violence he fomented, this book is a vital reminder of the ongoing struggle for the soul of American democracy and the perseverance that our Constitution demands from us all. Through it all, he reckons with the loss of his brilliant, remarkable son, a Harvard Law student whose values and memory continually inspired the Congressman to confront the dark impulses unleashed by Donald Trump. With an inside account of leading the team prosecuting President Trump in the Senate, Congressman Raskin shares never before told stories of just how close we came to losing our democracy that fateful day and lays out the methodical prosecution that convinced Democrats and Republicans alike of Trump's responsibility for inciting insurrectionary violence against our government. And yet, on January 6, he faced the one thing he had failed to anticipate: mass political violence designed to block Biden's election. ![]() ![]() Going inside Congress on January 6, he recounts the horror of that day, a day that he and other Democrats had spent months preparing for under the correct assumption that they would encounter an attempted electoral coup-not against a President but for one. Now for the first time, Congressman Raskin discusses this unimaginable convergence of personal and public trauma, detailing how the painful loss of his son and the power of Tommy's convictions fueled the Congressman's work in the aftermath of modern democracy's darkest day. Together this nine-member team of House impeachment managers riveted a nation still in anguish, putting on an unprecedented Senate trial that produced the most bipartisan Presidential impeachment vote in American history. As our reeling nation mourned the deaths of numerous people and lamented the injuries of more than 140 police officers hurt in the attack, Congressman Raskin, a Constitutional law professor, was called upon to put aside his overwhelming grief-both personal and professional-and lead the impeachment effort against President Trump for inciting the violence. Capitol hoping to hand four more years of power to President Donald Trump. Seven days later on January 6, Congressman Raskin returned to Congress to help certify the 2020 Presidential election results, when violent insurrectionists led by right wing extremist groups stormed the U.S. On December 31, 2020, Tommy Raskin, the only son of Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin, tragically took his own life after a long struggle with depression. In this searing memoir, Congressman Jamie Raskin tells the story of the forty-five days at the start of 2021 that permanently changed his life-and his family's-as he confronted the painful loss of his son to suicide, lived through the violent insurrection in our nation's Capitol, and led the impeachment effort to hold President Trump accountable for inciting the political violence. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |