An excellent historical reminder for the nation to review of
a firsthand account that every American saw and heard live on TV (September 23,
2020); or at least many millions did see it. Many believed it then hopefully now
again with the reminder of that event as the reporter involved retells it.
The White House press room event did happen and it is laid out clearly in this Salon article. The key parts follow (boxed off for my emphasis) that are aimed at drawing attention to that day’s event as it happened.
The story headline:
“Exactly a year ago, Donald
Trump told us exactly who he was and how far he would go”
Background: Trump
has never admitted that he lost the election and he threatens our democracy
daily.
No one should be surprised.
Everyone should be outraged.
But some, including high-ranking members of the Republican
Party, continue to defend Trump and millions of Americans still believe him —
no matter what they saw on television, no matter what they were told in news
reports, and no matter what the reality is.
Kellyanne Conway described this phenomenon as “alternative facts” and that is where millions of Americans, courtesy of a consummate con man, dwell today.
That's in the gray nether regions of fiction where Trump and his minions believe: (1) he won; (2) where
taking a de-worming drug designed by scientists for horses is preferable to
taking a vaccine designed by scientists for humans; (3) where Trump is
universally respected and/or feared by the leaders of the rest of the world; and, (4) where only he can save us.
Trump came closer than most of us know to staging a coup, even after he warned us about that in his September 23 remarks.
Recent and almost
daily news plus a new book by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa which highlights a six-point plan for Vice President
Mike Pence to follow and overturn the 2020 election results are all very startling.
Other news reports show that Trump and his team knew shortly after the election that there was no basis for challenging its results.
Where Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) apparently thought the arguments proposed to challenge the election results amounted to “the logic of a third grader.”
Still they lied to us.
Now we know what Trump
meant when he was asked last year if he would “commit to a peaceful transferal
of power after the election.”
This is precisely what he said: “We're going to have to see
what happens. I've been complaining very strongly about the ballots and the
ballots are a disaster . . . get rid of the ballots . . . and there won't be a
transfer, frankly, they'll be a continuation. The ballots are out of control.
You know it. ”
“No I don't,” the Salon article reporter replied.
Trump's traitorous, convoluted and muddy thinking, his flash
over substance, his obfuscation of facts and his total disregard for the truth
and decency was horrifying then and have largely overwhelmed American politics
now.
There are those so convinced that Trump got screwed in the
2020 election that they'll defend the treasonous actions of the
insurrectionists on January 6, while at the same time denying that Trump
whipped them into a frenzy, or that they were in a frenzy at all.
With the same breath, there are those who will say the insurrection was a peaceful protest, an FBI, Black Lives Matter, or Antifa violent action, that it did not occur or was justified or — shudder — was even “like normal patriotic tourists.” The actions of that day were the actions of domestic terrorists.
Look where we are now. Division. Denial of facts.
It
was all there in the statement Trump made. He provided the roadmap to an
insurrection on September 23, 2020.
People followed it. People died.
A year later, the United
States looks even more lost than it was a year ago. Donald Trump doesn't care.
He wants to bring it all down and is trying to run a shadow presidency as he
ridicules everything Joe Biden does.
Make no mistake. Biden has
his faults: (1) His handling of the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, (2) the
Haitian problem on the border, and (3) the alliance with Australia and the
U.K., which has created major friction with France – are all wounds that have
been self-inflicted and damaging.
But Biden respects the
Constitution, and anyone with a modicum of intelligence can see he is trying to
work for all of us, not just himself.
He has rallied to get
Congress and the country to unify — working hard to get a bipartisan
infrastructure package passed and constantly urging Americans to come together
as he pushes hard for voting rights and increased taxes on the rich.
Trump never did that and
never could.
A year after he fanned the flame of insurrection in a White House briefing, we can clearly see the consequences of those actions.
The
threat of a coup was real — spurred by Trump's disregard for truth, an
obsession with being branded a loser and a narcissistic view of the universe
that boils down to this: For Donald Trump, we don't matter. Only his own
desires matter.
As Kurt Bardella wrote recently in USA Today: “We cannot
let our guard down. … Today's GOP has patterned itself after extreme and
radical factions. Despots who are intent on normalizing violence to achieve
their political objectives.”
These actions in the GOP are rooted in Donald Trump's words.
After he became president, Trump found levers to pull that
sated his twisted needs for self-glory and adulation. He is addicted to that.
His putrid, warped sense of self cannot permit him to let go and he continues
to try and pull us down into the toilet with him.
My earlier related posts here
(Trump’s “Big Lie” debunked); here (the Eastman 6-point
memo for Pence); and here (change USA to United States of
Trump).
My 2 Cents: You must read
the full article at the link Salon link – I only posted what I believe to be
the heart of the matter: Donald J. Trump must be prosecuted and put in prison
and the sooner the better.
There are mountains of hard,
compelling evidence against him to do that ASAP. We read and watch and hear
more and about Trump, from him, and from his loyalists almost daily – yet, as
the 1984 Wendy’s Ad slogan was expressed by Grandma (then actress)
Clara Peller said: “Where’s the beef?”
I ask: “Where’s the justice?”
We need closure and a
legally sound outcome that benefits the country as a whole and not for one man
and only one man.
That is the only paramount political issue at the moment on top of this horrible pandemic.
I strongly
believe that and I suspect that millions of other Americans also believe that,
too – at least I hope so.
Thanks for stopping by.
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