A very long post here today but one that needs to be made. This comes from many media sources.
It is a pretty scary topic for any fair and open
minded person to see and understand. Plus, it is a call for action but NOT violent action
however – just good old-fashioned civic action:
“Republicans Largely Want to Move On From January
6. The Rest of the Country Doesn’t”
Nearly six months
later, partisan gaps on culpability, motivation and severity of Capitol attack
have widened
One
day before the January 6 Capitol attack and in the days before that
violent mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol his political
apparatus worked behind the scenes with groups to plan and promote events of
that horrible day with the attack on Congress inside the National Capitol doing their
sworn duty to certify the 2020 election.
Trump speaking at the “March to Save America” rally at the Ellipse in President's Park on that day, urged a sea of supporters to march to the Capitol in protest of the Electoral College vote count (e.g., Stop the Steal their battle cry) and telling them he'd join them (but ultimately he did not).
After delivering his speech pushing his baseless and unfounded claims that the election was rigged and stolen, he told the rowdy crowd: “You'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength.”
Those words was the signal pure and
simple that lit the fuze for the assault to begin, and it did.
This historical look from an excellent Washington Post article:
The seed that led to the violence at the Capitol six months
ago was planted a few hours after polls closed on November 3, 2020.
In the middle of the night, even as Election Day votes were still being counted, Trump tried to frame the contest in terms favorable to the idea that he would emerge victorious saying then and now ever since: “This is a fraud on the American public.”
(Note: Even as the vote totals in a number of
states were shifting away from him exactly as it had been repeatedly
predicted and that was based on a massive voter turnout).
Trump continued: “This is an embarrassment to our country.
We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election.
So our goal now is to ensure the integrity, for the good of this nation. This
is a very big moment. This is a major fraud on our nation.”
Trump's reaction that way was predicted as Axios reported that, in an effort to establish himself as the victor, he planned days before to announce that he had won on the night of the election, even if it was apparent that he probably wouldn’t.
It was all maneuvering and marketing, as had been his months-long effort to gin up uncertainty about the reliability of the eventual results.
Trump could have come out and offered a cautious wait-and-see of the results, but he chose not to.
Two months and three days
later, his supporters, animated by that decision stormed the Capitol.
They sought to confront and stop legislators led by Vice President Mike Pence who was overseeing the final election certification, as many of the rioters shouted: “Hang Mike Pence.”
Now, in the aftermath of that violence,
Trump still remains the focus and blame.
The House quickly
impeached him a second time, but he again escaped conviction and removal by the GOP Senate through the
power of partisanship, and not through the salvation of innocence.
Even as Senate Republicans
chose to give Trump a second pass on removal, though, the GOP leader in the
chamber, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), laid the blame for the day at Trump’s
feet, when he clearly said, immediately
before the vote to acquit was taken: “There’s no question — none — that
President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events
of the day. No question about it. The people who stormed this building believed
they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president. The leader
of the free world cannot spend weeks thundering that shadowy forces are
stealing our country and then feign surprise when people believe him and do
reckless things.”
As the late great Paul Harvey
used to say: “Now you know the rest of the story” and that begins with
this statement from FBI Director
Christopher Wray testifying before congress when he referred to
the January 6 riot as: “An act of domestic terrorism that has no place in our
democracy.”
Other key statements vis-à-vis
the January 6 riot.
From Trump:
Recall that he told his supporters at the Capitol in a video afterward the riot: “We love you; you’re very special. Now it’s time to go home.”
But, then in light of the talk of an
independent 9/11 type commission to examine January 6, Trump called for an immediate
end to the debate over any commission just before the House expected to vote and
approve the plan, saying:
“Republicans in the House and Senate should not approve the Democrat trap of the January 6 Commission. It is just more partisan unfairness and unless the murders, riots, and fire bombings in Portland, Minneapolis, Seattle, Chicago, and New York are also going to be studied, this discussion should be ended immediately. Republicans must get much tougher and much smarter, and stop being used by the Radical Left. Hopefully, Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy are listening!”
Statements from
GOP members in Congress:
GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) accused of
provoking the riot at the Capitol saying in part: “The mob was fed lies. They
were provoked by the president and other powerful people.”
GOP House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) vs. Trump on that day: In an expletive-laced phone call with House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy while the Capitol was under attack, then-President Donald Trump told him that the rioters cared more about the election results than McCarthy did, saying: “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.”
(Some others who were briefed on the call afterward by McCarthy himself as he said the rioters were Trump supporters and he begged Trump to call them off) in a shouting match between the two men.
McCarthy told Trump the rioters were breaking into his office through the windows, and he asked Trump: “Who the f--k do you think you are talking to?”
(Note: One day later after visiting
Mar-a-Lago with Trump McCarthy changed his tune and is now firmly back in Trump’s
corner).
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) described the
riot as a largely “Peaceful protest, and calling it an insurrection, it wasn't.”
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), previously described the rioters
as peaceful
patriots, and later claimed that
Ashli Babbitt was “executed by Capitol police” as she tried to breach a window in the Capitol.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) said: “The events of January 6th should be
responsibly investigated. But to say that this bill is a responsible and proper
way to do that is demonstrably false. We have an entire federal government with
multiple, overlapping investigatory bodies that are designed for this purpose.
The proposed commission does not have powers that existing law enforcement and
existing congressional committees don’t already have; however, it does have an
unlimited budget and a vague mandate.”
Then this list of seven Republicans who opposed the January 6 certification and those who opposed it with their joint statement: “Our job on January 6th is to determine whether these are the electors the states sent us, not whether these are the electors the states should have sent us.”
Those 7
are GOP Representatives are: Thomas Massie (KY); Ken Buck (CO); Chip Roy (TX); Kelly
Armstrong (ND); Mike Gallagher (WI); Tom McClintock (CA); and Nancy Mace (SC).
This reminder: Hardnosed Republicans wanted and demanded
10-day delay and an emergency audit of the 2020 election that despite multiple counts,
recounts, and audits having already been carried out in battleground states and
dozens of court challenges all overturned.
Republican Senators Mitt Romney (UT); Lisa Murkowski (AK);
Susan Collins (ME); and Bill Cassidy (LA) all said that the efforts by Ted
Cruz, Josh Hawley, and other Republicans “Only will undermine voter's confidence in elections.”
Democratic Senators Joe Manchin (WV); Jeanne Shaheen (NH); Maggie Hassan (NH); Dick Durbin (IL); and, Mark Warner (VA) joined in signing that bi-partisan statement as did Independent Senator Angus King (ME). Their statement reads: “The 2020 election is over. All challenges through recounts and appeals have been exhausted. At this point, further attempts to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the 2020 Presidential election are contrary to the clearly expressed will of the American people and only serve to undermine Americans' confidence in the already determined election results. The voters have spoken, and Congress must now fulfill its responsibility to certify the election results. In two weeks, we will begin working with our colleagues and the new Administration on bipartisan, common sense solutions to the enormous challenges facing our country. It is time to move forward.”
My 2 Cents: Yes, it is true that we need to move forward – only one problem with that truism:
Republicans have road blocks, land mines, and IED’s all over the landscape to
stop any movement forward except on their terms.
That is a serious problem
and worse, all the while they blame others just like Trump does: Can’t win,
change the rules, keep losing, never admit it, need to keep supporters in tow,
keep lying and spreading more and more misinformation and worse disinformation just as Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) said
in this video clip: “Let’s curtail governing for a year and a half,
create chaos, and make sure Congress can't get stuff done so we can to slow all
of that down to get to December of 2022, and then get in there and lead.”
Yep that’s the “new” Trump
owned and operated GOP.
The question is: What will
Mr. and Mrs. Voter do to help stop that?
Simple I think: We must all work to help get out the vote and get new voters. That is how America works.
It’s a tough nut to crack, but we can and must. Too much is at stake –
our future and that of generations yet unborn.
Thanks for stopping by.
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