Brianna Keilar of CNN speaks here about the post-insurrection efforts to rewrite history by those who were complicit in nurturing the mob and amplifying their grievances.
For months before the election, Trump warned that it would be rigged. He said that if he lost, it was proof that it was rigged. The only “fair” election, he warned, was one that he won. You may recall that in 2016, he repeatedly predicted a “rigged” election, but since he won, it wasn’t rigged.
Since the election, he has been obsessed by the certainty that the election was “rigged,” “stolen,” and the greatest political crime in American history. His campaign team filed 60 or so lawsuits, which failed in state and federal courts, including twice at the U.S. Supreme Court. It didn’t matter whether the judges were appointed by Democrats or Republicans, even Trump himself. There was no evidence of widespread election fraud. Even Trump’s Attorney General Bill Barr said do.
But nothing could stop the slander against the election. Trump created a “Stop the Steal” movement of his most ardent cultists. His message was echoed by elected officials like Ted Cruz abd Josh Hawley, who hope to win the loyalty of the Trump base.
Trump summoned his cult to Washington in January 6 to rally them one more time to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s victory. He urged them to march to the Capitol, and he unleashed the Monster.
So far, five people have died because of the Trump-inspired insurrection. We can be grateful that the death toll was not greater and that the domestic terrorists did not set fire to the seat of our national government.
In the aftermath of the insurrection, some say “this is not who we are.” We are not haters, looters, thugs, and vandals. Sadly, this is who some of us are.
What do we do? We don’t appease the mob by holding hearings about blatant lies. As Mitt Romney said, what we owe the American people is the truth. They won’t get the truth from those who seek political gain by telling lies that stoke rage. When Trump’s hoax was twice tossed out by a Supreme Court dominated by six conservatives, including three he appointed, that should have ended the post-election battle. It didn’t because Trump and his enablers had an agenda that did not include the truth.
The deep divisions that Trump exploited won’t be healed anytime soon. As educators, we must remember that the first obligation of public schools is to develop good citizens. Not compliant citizen, not indoctrinated citizens, but citizens who are knowledgeable about our government and our institutions; citizens who can weigh evidence, listen to opposing views, and think critically about their decisions. We need citizens who can tell the difference between facts and propaganda. In rebuilding a functional democracy, we need education more than ever. Civic education is obviously not all that is needed for active participation in society, but it is crucial to sustain our democracy and strengthen it. As Ted Cruz and josh Hawley demonstrate, intellect is not enough when it becomes a tool of the unscrulous.
What matters most, I believe, is a combination of knowledge and character. People who knowingly lie do not have it. People who are driven by greed and ambition do not have it. Our Founding Fathers understood full well that men are not angels, and they created a Constitution of elaborate checks and balances to protest us from the predators who seek power by any means necessary. We have been reminded during these past four years that our democracy must be renewed in every generation. Its promise of equal justice for all is far from real and for too many, a false promise.
We must continue to work towards a better, fairer society. That work begins with truth-telling. We must demand it from our elected officials and practice it in our daily lives. That’s a start.
Putin is laughing for Putin was involved in this coup.
Yes, indeed. Putin’s ENORMOUS investment in his Agent Orange paid off handsomely. In the short term. . . .
Eloquent and inspiring, thank you.
Shared this with many friends yesterday. The best summation I’ve seen yet.
I live in a very Trumpy area and what people need to understand is many of the President’s most ardent supporters actually believed they would succeed in overturning an election. Not all of them! But enough of them.
I had a conversation with one where I asked him “and then what? You install Trump and then what? We never have another election? He’s ruler for life?” He had no response.
The local Republican Party knew this. They had to have known it. Their loudest supporters were proclaiming it publicly, for months. Still, knowing that, they arranged transportation to DC, encouraged people to go, KNOWING that people were going with the stated belief that they would overturn an election.
A LOT of people are responsible for this, all the way down to the county level. They knew they were risking a riot. They simply didn’t care.
One especially vile far right wing prevaricator (there are so many of them) in the House is Matt Gaetz. From msndotcom: Yet later that night, as a Congress returned to work, Republican U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz attempted to sow doubt.
Citing a loosely sourced report from the Washington Times, a conservative news outlet based in the nation’s capital, Gaetz pronounced from the House floor that there was “pretty compelling evidence from a facial recognition company showing that some of the people who breached the Capitol today were not Trump supporters, they were masquerading as Trump supporters, and in fact were members of the violent terrorist group Antifa.”
By Thursday morning, however, the account Gaetz shared with his colleagues and viewers had completely unraveled. XRVision, the facial recognition company cited in the Times story, told multiple news outlets that it was untrue.
The company’s technology had actually identified two members of neo-Nazi organizations and a QAnon supporter among the pro-Trump mob, XRVision told Buzzfeed. Company representatives asked the Times to retract and apologize for the story. By Thursday afternoon, it was removed from the web.
By then, the damage was done. Gaetz’s five-minute floor speech, posted to his Facebook page, was shared 6,600 times on Facebook. Conservative news outlets published Gaetz’s remarks as fact. Fox News commentator Lou Dobbs tweeted it out to his audience, adding, “I certainly hope and pray Congressman Matt Gaetz will be recognized by his party for the leader he is.” It continues to circulate online. end quote
Matt Gaetz and the other GOP liars and insurrectionists should be censured at the least but preferably should be forced to resign. Their lies led directly to the assault on the Capitol building by their neo-Nazi supporters.
The Hill:
Quote from the article: Republican senators say they feel a sense of growing regret over not standing up to President Trump sooner — a day after a violent mob ransacked the Capitol building in one of the darkest and most humiliating days in U.S. history.
My comment online:
There is no excusing any Republican for not standing up to Trump for ALL the damage he has done to this country over the last 4 years. Regret at this point is a meaningless ploy to regain some respect. Won’t work for the majority of people.
Why not speak out against the far R media that still is saying that Trump supporters were justified for being angry at not having their voices heard? They KNOW that Trump really won the elections. These amoral people are now blaming the riots on Antifa or the lefties who ‘wore their MAGA hats backwards” and caused all the destruction.
Here is a comment that I got back:
You, as a died-in-the-wool liar, do what liars do.
Peace.
Sadly, Gaetz is my representative. He tried to claim that Antifa sympathizers were part of the chaos at the Capitol building so as to share the blame with “both sides.” Most of the conservatives here are laughing at him, but a few of the delusional ones are still on his side. Last year Democrats presented a former Republican military officer that ran against Gaetz. People in north Florida could have rid themselves of Gaetz, but they gave him another term instead.
Gaetz is ghoul. Remember when he made fun of COVID by wearing a gas mask. So many dead, and he thinks it’s a joke.
These reps like Gaetz should have consequences beyond not winning re-election. Also many of the attendees from Wed should be arrested for the appropriate charges, including criminal trespass. We should also have the capacity to add their names and SS numbers to a list, flagged for future RFPs and applications for Military and/or government jobs and government supported jobs.
Charter school curricula need to be combed over in the near future. If you are running a madrassa the funds should be cut.
The Constitution provides for expulsion of members of Congress. This needs to be applied.
“They put up a poster saying we earn more than you
When we’re working for the clampdown”
The Clash
Imagine if congressional Republicans had gotten their way and the certification had been delayed for 10 days.
That would have given the Trump Administration time to assemble and orchestrate riot after riot, each one larger than the last. Complete collapse.
It was always preposterous to think that Congress could have “audited” the vote in the states Trump lost, in 10 days. All of those states had already audited, recounted and certified their vote.
And it was all, Constitutionally, a done deal. The states had certified their election results and presented them to Congress, as the Constitution requires. Done. The Constitution doesn’t say, but then the VP will decide whether to accept those results. Even Pence the Dense understood that.
The VP doesn’t “decide” whether to accept the state’s electors. He opens the envelopes and reads the certified count from each state. He has no decision making role. Trump wanted him to take the power to decide but the Constitution does not give him the power to overrule the voters of each state.
This is what happens when Social Studies and the arts are viewed as unimportant, the basis for civics education to develop “citizens who are knowledgeable about our government and our institutions; citizens who can weigh evidence, listen to opposing views, and think critically about their decisions. We need citizens who can tell the difference between facts and propaganda.”
You mention Ted Cruz, so ambitious he twists the Constitution to his own ends. He thinks he qualifies to be president though born in Calgary, Canada, under the jurisdiction of Canadian, not US, sovereignty. When you visit another country you better be aware that you are not in the US system. When I coached and judged high school debate, I had debaters who could take any issue, and convince you they had the better argument in the debate even regardless as to how egregious their side was, even if they didn’t agree with their position. When the league expanded to middle schools, 4th graders could do it. Sides are picked with a coin toss.
The lesson of this for me personally is if Republicans ever control both chambers of Congress and there’s a Presidential election the winner of that election will only be certified if Republicans win the election. If a Democrat wins they will simply refuse to hand over power.
The only thing that saved us was the fact that Republicans didn’t have a majority in the House in November, December and January.
We were that close to losing it all.
Scary thought
We were that close to losing it all.
Exactly.
A somber warning for the future.
There are lots and lots of pics and videos of the insurrectionists, egged on by Trump, who on this now infamous morning, spewed lies about a fraudulent election and told these terrorists to storm the Capitol Building. These people were, furthermore, stoked by Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, 14 other Senators, and 140 members of the House who cravenly spread the BIG LIE about election fraud, hoping to pick up some of Trump’s base base.
A police officer has now died from his injuries during this attempted insurrection, bringing the death toll to 4. All these people need to be arrested and charged with breaking and entering, threatening government officials, and first degree murder. Yes, murder. Here’s the definition of the felony murder doctrine given at Law.com:
felony murder doctrine. n. a rule of criminal statutes that any death which occurs during the commission of a felony is first degree murder, and all participants in that felony or attempted felony can be charged with and found guilty of murder. A typical example is a robbery involving more than one criminal, in which one of them shoots, beats to death or runs over a store clerk, killing the clerk. Even if the death were accidental, all of the participants can be found guilty of felony murder, including those who did no harm, had no gun, and/or did not intend to hurt anyone. In a bizarre situation, if one of the holdup men or women is killed, his/her fellow robbers can be charged with murder.
Just heard that the death count is up to 5 and that the police officer was hit over the head with a fire extinguisher which led to his death. Can you imagine what would have happened if those Trump goons had kidnapped Nancy Pelosi or AOC?!
Meanwhile, the crazy media, like Parler, is experiencing split personality disorder. Half the posts are claiming that the insurrection was staged by Antifa, and the other half are posts of selfies by Trumpling terrorists taken inside the Capitol Building.
But hey, in doing this, the cultists are just following Glorious Leader Who Shines More Orange than Does the Sun. Self contradiction isn’t a mistake to these people. It’s the MO.
With respect, your first sentence is absurd.
JB, if you will look below, I corrected the syntax error in that sentence.
Oops. Guess I didn’t correct it on this page. The opening should read
There are lots and lots of pics and videos of the insurrectionists. They were, of course, egged on by Trump, who on this now infamous morning, spewed lies about a fraudulent election and told these terrorists to storm the Capitol Building.
“Donald J. Trump
To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.”
The whole Trump Administration are going to just slink off in shame. They’re all tainted by the fact that they all cowed before this ridiculous person. They get smaller and more pathetic every day.
I mean, if you’re going to blindly follow an authoritarian leader can you at least pick one who isn’t a sad joke? I can’t imagine following this clown to the corner store let alone into an effort to overthrow the US government.
Thank goodness this gargoyle won’t be at Biden’s inauguration, I am so sick and tired of his face. He should just retire to some island never to be heard from again. Is Elba available? Oops, never mind, the Elbanians don’t want their island polluted with such a disreputable figure.
There are a couple of islands off the coast of Crimea where Trump may be welcome.
Or Alcatraz.
In a delicious irony, most of the countries that don’t have extradition treaties with the US are majority Islamic or African–places whose citizens were banned by Trump from travel to the US or that the racist in chief called “s–hole” countries.
can you at least pick one who isn’t a sad joke? Well said, Chiara, light bringer!
The next one will also be a joke, but the joke will not be at all funny.
Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) Tweeted:
“Though it saddens me deeply, it must be clearly admitted: yesterday’s atrocity was in large part brought to us by the white, evangelical church in America.” @Tish_H_Warren writes: https://t.co/3r3TofAZDX
No question about this.
Can Trump be prevented from presenting the Medal of Freedom to Devin Nunes and Jim Jordan, two men that encouraged his lies?
Will Jabba slither out of his bunker long enough to do this? Won’t he be busy arranging his flight to some country without an extradition treaty with the United States?
Iran and Iraq have called for his arrest. Putin is done with him. N Korea wouldn’t be up to his lifestyle expectations. Scotland doesn’t want him to even visit his losing golf resorts and most other European nations don’t want him either. Where would he go? DJT…..A man without an island.
Maybe he could buy Little Saint James Island (Pedophile Island) from the estate of the late Jeffrey Epstein.
NYC Trump has soiled that honor forever. Remember Rush Limbaugh? Will we ever get it back. CBK
A caution for all: we are not post-insurrection. The coup did not begin on Wednesday and it has not ended. It is on-going.
The perpertrators have not been rounded up – they were allowed to walk out of the Capitol building.
Our elected representatives, while in hiding, called for help and were told none was coming.
Yes, there were people cosplaying in furs and MAGA hats, but there were also men in military gear and bullet proof vests carrying zipties to take hostages.
A gallows was erected on the Capitol grounds.
There were calls to assasinate Pence.
Some were well enough funded to take private jets to DC.
We are still in the middle of a coup.
This man is an elected official – New Mexico Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin
Well observed, as usual, Christine! And very important! There are already calls on Parler for a Million Maggot March on Washington on the 19th and 20th.
And many of those folks on the extremist right-wing media platforms are calling for all-out Civil War. If it were people on the left doing this, the FBI would be arresting them for sedition.
We must do more than just work to rebuild a more honest society. We must also hunt down and punish every one of Trump’s fascist loyalists that took part in storming the capital. They must be tried as traitors and if found guilty lose their citizenship.
They must be identified and hunted down just like Bonney and Clyde were hunted down and shot dead if they resist arrest.
And if these traitorous fascists lay down their firearms and surrender, they must be treated like someone in the military that earned a dishonorable discharge.
That list of Trump’s fascist loyalists must include every elected official that supported the spread of Trump’s lies.
That list must also include every individual that spread those lies as if they were the truth through media or social media such as Hannity at FOX.
I am astonished that I’m not seeing any articles in the mainstream press about the felony murder doctrine. When people are committing a felony and some of them, or others, die in the commission of that, even at the hands of police, those involved in the felony have committed first-degree murder and can be charged for that. Prosecutors never fail to invoke this principle in the law when there is a black or brown person involved in the felony.
Those who broke into the Capitol, and those who egged them on can be charged with first-degree murder under the felony murder doctrine.
Perhaps there is something I’m missing here. I am not a lawyer. Maybe FLERP or another of the lawyers who post here regularly could comment.
But clearly, those who broke into the Capitol building were committing multiple felonies.
Setting foot in the Capitol without permission is a crime.
I think it’s too chaotic right now and the officer just died late last night. I think once things settle down a bit and some arrests get made, charges will be filed. We are just starting to see video/photos of the person of interest in the placing of the pipe bombs. Maybe they are trying to find video of the incident that would make for a positive ID? I think this will be a long and drawn out process as more widespread violence is likely on the horizon (Jan 19th-21st).
What I find most outrageous in the aftermath of the insurrection is the assertion that the National Guard was not activated because there were so many complaints about their presence during the aftermath of the George Floyd murder. So the Pentagon or Trump decided to let the vandals rampage through the U.S. Capitol without hindrance for two hours. Governor Hogan of Maryland offered to send the Maryland National Guard but the Pentagon refused permission fir one hour and 45 minutes.
!!!!
Pelosi called Hogan as she and the others in the line of succession were in hiding. That she then held the vote on certifying the election was an act of bravery.
Bob, I read something earlier today about that. I’ll try to find the article again.
That is what I thought too. If a young person gets in a car during a crime, and the driver runs someone over, everyone in the car is responsible for the driver’s actions. Not that I agree with that, but it does seem to be an accepted and applied principle in US law.
That’s a crazy application of the law. But it is typically invoked in cases where a death results from breaking and entering, which is what happened here.
Good thing the FBI has declared the Insane Clown Posse a criminal organization, but the people on Wednesday went unchallenged.
There are enough criminals in the immediate Trump family to take up a quarter of a federal cell block.
Bellingcat.com has posted this video. It is chilling, but I am certain educators on Diane’s blog understand it is the duty of citizens to be informed.
Here’s more on bellingcat, if you don’t know their work.
About
Bellingcat is an independent international collective of researchers, investigators and citizen journalists using open source and social media investigation to probe a variety of subjects – from Mexican drug lords and crimes against humanity, to tracking the use of chemical weapons and conflicts worldwide. With staff and contributors in more than 20 countries around the world, we operate in a unique field where advanced technology, forensic research, journalism, investigations, transparency and accountability come together.
https://www.bellingcat.com/about/
I do not believe that Trump should ONCE AGAIN go scot free. He has been teflon-Don too many times. The next ‘Trump’ may be smarter.That person needs to know that he is not above the law and cannot do anything he wishes. There has to be some type of penalty for encouraging MAGAt’s to enter the capital building without permission… causing damage and deaths.
………………………
Pelosi says the House will move to impeach Trump if he doesn’t resign ‘immediately.’
…An aide to Ms. Pelosi said that she still had not heard from Mr. Pence, despite putting intense public pressure on him to act. But Mr. Pence was said to be opposed to doing so, and she was making plans to move ahead.
Democrats were rushing to begin the expedited proceeding two days after the president rallied his supporters near the White House, urging them to go to the Capitol to protest his election defeat, then continuing to stoke their grievances as they stormed the edifice — with Mr. Pence and the entire Congress meeting inside to formalize Mr. Biden’s victory — in a rampage that left an officer and a member of the mob dead. (Three others died, including one woman who was crushed in the crowd, and two others who had medical emergencies on the Capitol grounds.)
The prospect of forcing Mr. Trump from office in less than two weeks appeared remote given the logistical and political challenges involved, given that a two-thirds majority in the Senate would be required.
Just a day after he voted twice to overturn Mr. Biden’s legitimate victory in key swing states, Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the Republican leader, urged both parties to “lower the temperature” and said he would reach out to Mr. Biden about uniting the country. Though he did not defend Mr. Trump, he argued that seeking to remove him would not help.
“Impeaching the president with just 12 days left in his term will only divide our country more,” he said…
Our allies are calling it a coup still in progress.
“The supporters of President Donald Trump who stormed the Capitol on Wednesday to stop the ratification of President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory were attempting a violent coup that multiple European security officials said appeared to have at least tacit support from aspects of the US federal agencies responsible for securing the Capitol complex.
“Insider spoke with three officials on Thursday morning: a French police official responsible for public security in a key section of central Paris, and two intelligence officials from NATO countries who directly work in counterterrorism and counterintelligence operations involving the US, terrorism, and Russia.
“They said the circumstantial evidence available pointed to what would be openly called a coup attempt in any other nation. None were willing to speak on the record because of the dire nature of the subject.”
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-attempted-coup-federal-law-enforcement-capitol-police-2021-1
That slimy West Virginia “politician” who participated in the insurrection will face charges. From cnbcdotcom: A Republican member of the West Virginia House of Delegates has been charged in connection with being part of a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters who invaded the U.S. Capitol earlier this week, the Justice Department said Friday.
Del. Derrick Evans had filmed himself and others going into the Capitol on Wednesday. “We’re in! Keep it moving, baby!,” Evans has said on a video posted on social media.
Evans was charged with illegally entering the Capitol.
[snip]
Evans’ lawyer said Thursday that Evans “committed no criminal act that day,” and that he will not resign from office. end quote
This weaselly coward is now claiming that he was part of the media just recording the events. What a liar, he was part of the mob and he encouraged the insurrection. Throw the book at this scum. He should be thrown out of the WV legislature posthaste.
I wonder if any of these terrorists were paid to attend or given perks such as free or discounted lodging and food, lists of local spots where they could buy amo or gear with their favorite swag and membership identity.
I think also some may have had some online maps or architectural drawings to make good bets on how to get in and where to go.
If I had much more time, I would look as the swag worn by Trump’s supporters during this terrorist attack. The iconography is often rooted in history, particularly the holocaust.
Thanks to digital editors who precisely illustrated what Trump told the loyalist before the march and takeover versus his belated denial that he had any responsibility for the damage.
Thanks to digital editors who precisely illustrated what Trump told the loyalist before the march and takeover versus his belated denial that he had any responsibility for the damage.
YES!!!
I was watching NBC news coverage and the following clip shocked me the most, as a sole police officer runs up the stairs chased by the mob. That’s how unprepared the security in the Capitol was. It’s simultaneously sad, embarrassing, disturbing and frightening to watch.
I think Noam Chomsky is not know known for overdramatizing a situation. He says
And Trump is not gone, far from it. A large majority of the Republican voting base regards him as their leader, if not savior. They can be whipped up to threaten any Republican office holder who dares to depart from Trump-McConnell malevolence.
…
To repeat briefly, there have been three prongs to the assault against the world by this miserable creature:
The first one alone suffices to establish him as arguably the most dangerous political figure in human history, a truism that has been hard for many to contemplate.
https://truthout.org/articles/chomsky-and-pollin-a-global-green-new-deal-is-the-only-way-to-avert-disaster/