Lets Take A Time Machine Back To Jan 7th 2021
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/01/dont-let-anyone-pretend-this-didnt-happen/617588/
Don’t Let Them Pretend This Didn’t Happen
The violence at the Capitol was incited, encouraged, and condoned by the president of the United States. Don’t forget it.
Remember what yesterday’s attempted coup at the U.S. Capitol was like. Very soon, someone might try to convince you that it was different. Maybe someone already has.
This has been a leitmotif of the Trump administration: Donald Trump does something outrageous and inappropriate, maybe even illegal. Immediately, there are horrified reactions from across the political spectrum, but pretty quickly, the anger fades. Republican officials test the political winds and decide to keep their heads down. Maybe they even say that what Trump did was just fine. Democratic officials rage but shrug and say there’s just not much they can do.
Don’t let the events of January 6 get memory-holed or excused in the same way. The health of the republic depends both on what swift consequences come—for Trump and for others—and also on how people remember the participants’ actions later on.
As horrifying as the insurrection was, the immediate response was heartening. Republicans who have consistently criticized Trump, such as Senator Mitt Romney and Representative Adam Kinzinger, were quick to pin responsibility on the president. But so were others who are usually more quiescent, like Senator Richard Burr. Several outlets reported that Cabinet-level officials were discussing the prospect of using the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to remove Trump from office. A handful of administration officials resigned. Some Democrats announced plans to introduce articles of impeachment right away, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that Congress should impeach Trump if Vice President Pence and others don’t invoke the Twenty-Fifth Amendment.
But already, the moment to act could be slipping away. After all, Congress certified Joe Biden as president-elect early this morning. Trump even issued a statement—through aide Dan Scavino on Twitter, after the president’s own account was locked—promising “an orderly transition on January 20th.” There are whispers of more resignations, but so far, few prominent officials have stepped down. (The most notable to do so are Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao; the first lady’s chief of staff, Stephanie Grisham; and Mick Mulvaney, an envoy to Northern Ireland who formerly served as acting White House chief of staff.) We’ve heard rumblings about the Twenty-Fifth Amendment before, and they’ve never resulted in anything.
As I wrote earlier this week, even before violence erupted, the Senate’s failure to convict Trump and remove him from office after his impeachment last year paved the way for the president to try to overturn the 2020 election. If the nation moves on without punishing Trump, he will have two more weeks to act with impunity.
Nothing indicates that Trump is chastened by yesterday’s experience. He published both a video and a tweet yesterday in which he called on the mob to go home peacefully, but he did not condemn its actions, and he repeated the incitements that drove it to riot in the first place. Even his faux–concession statement falls well short. Its mention of a “first term” leaves space for him to continue to contest the race, and besides, we’re past the point of an “orderly transition.” A Trump-incited violent insurrection swept through the Capitol less than 24 hours ago!
Meanwhile, the least scrupulous Trump allies, like Representatives Matt Gaetz and Mo Brooks, are already trying to shift the blame for the riot, claiming that it was the work of left-wing provocateurs. This is preposterous—as the journalist Molly Ball points out, “Trump literally summoned these people to DC, spoke at their event, offered to walk them over to the Capitol and then praised them afterward.”
Others, like Senator Ted Cruz, are trying to split the baby. “The attack at the Capitol was a despicable act of terrorism and a shocking assault on our democratic system,” he said in a statement. “The Department of Justice should vigorously prosecute everyone who was involved in these brazen acts of violence.” If Cruz were serious, he might be calling for prosecution of the president and also himself—after all, as the mob approached the Capitol, Cruz was inside offering frivolous objections to the certification, after weeks of spreading the false rumors that incited the crowd. Cruz is, as usual, not serious.
Over and over again, we’ve seen political leaders downgrade the most horrifying episodes of Trump’s political career from crises to wacky and unfortunate moments. There are several points in time from which to begin tracing this history, including his June 2015 campaign launch or his suggestion of registering Muslims, but the ideal example is the October 2016 release of the Access Hollywood tape, in which he boasted about sexually assaulting women. The remarks were despicable, and many Republican rightly condemned them and said they would not vote for him. Then their resolve faded. By Election Day, a month later, some had already reverted to backing him. Once he’d won, others reasoned that he was the president and they might as well work with him. Despite having apologized, Trump later reportedly claimed that it wasn’t even him on the tape. When Senator Kelly Loeffler was asked about it on the campaign trail last year, she pretended not to know what the reporter was talking about.
The same pattern manifested after a white-supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. Trump initially declined to condemn the marchers—after all, they supported him! When he finally did condemn the violence, he did so on both sides, and he said, “You also had people that were very fine people, on both sides.” Republicans were horrified by his coddling of neo-Nazis. But within a few days, most of the controversy died down. It’s now common to hear people insist that Trump said something other than what he said.
A year later, Trump went to Helsinki, Finland, for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. During a press conference after the meeting, Trump said that despite a strong consensus among American intelligence agencies that Russia had hacked emails to interfere in the 2016 election, he believed Putin’s denials over the conclusions of his own government. Once again, Republicans were horrified and condemned Trump’s remarks. But the issue blew over, and no high-profile officials resigned from the administration.
The following year, Special Counsel Robert Mueller released his report on Russian interference in the election. Mueller declined to recommend prosecution, because of Justice Department guidance against indicting a president, and he declined to use the word collusion. Nonetheless, Mueller laid out extensive evidence that people close to Trump and members of his campaign had colluded with Russia. Yet Republican officials will routinely argue that there was no collusion, because Mueller said so. Democratic leaders declined to launch an impeachment inquiry against Trump.
A few months later, the revelation that Trump had tried to extort Ukraine for election assistance using congressionally appropriated funds created the biggest crisis of the presidency. This time, Democrats could not find any way to avoid impeachment. Republicans, however, went through the familiar process. First, they were appalled; then they were merely disappointed; by the end, some were agreeing with Trump’s insistence that his actions had been “perfect.”
Senator Lindsey Graham, for example, said, “If you’re looking for a circumstance where the president of the United States was threatening the Ukraine with cutting off aid unless they investigated his political opponent, you’d be very disappointed. That does not exist.” Once testimony emerged showing that is precisely what happened, Graham demanded full transcripts. Once he got those, he announced that he would not read the transcripts and had “written the whole process off.”
Even after Trump rejected the results of the 2020 presidential election, making bogus claims of fraud, aides insisted that he knew he’d lost and just needed to process it.
Without real work to remember and focus on what happened yesterday, that could all happen again. If Trump is not impeached and barred from serving, he could run (and win) again in 2024. He’s already hinted that he might do so.
With a little distance, January 6 could begin to seem like a bad dream or hallucination—or just another eye-roll-inducing weird moment in a weird presidency. It was not. It was an attempted coup, incited, encouraged, and condoned by the president of the United States. Don’t forget it.
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Don’t Let Them Pretend This Didn’t Happen
Better luck next time.
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The news this morning reported how the certification went down but without all the violence from 4 years ago. They kept repeating it and even my local news reported it and named the criminals from Arkansas who were convicted
It’s now common to hear people insist that Trump said something other than what he said.
100%. You still have people claiming Trump called neo-Nazis and white supremacists "very fine people"
MAGAs now act like Cassidy Hutchinsons "disputed" testimony to the committee is the be all and end all of the whole shebang. First of all, she has not been refuted, and secondly even if she were her testimony is a tiny part of the election interference case against Trump.
We all know Trump tried to steal the election, and yet millions of people believe that because he said "be peaceful" one time to the mob that he is absolved from all his mountains of guilt. Its disgusting and makes the US a lesser place.
As far as Charlottesville goes, there were no "fine people on both sides". Trump either knew that or should have as president. Everything he said over those three days was a sham.
Of course her testimony has.
Its disgusting and makes the US a lesser place.
Say the same people who justify claiming the elections were stolen in 2000, 2004 and 2016 (not to mention the Georgia gubernatorial election) and didn't care when Democrats tried to steal those elections.
rump either knew that or should have as president. E
Just keep justifying the lies and pretending it's really different when Trump does it.
Well, she has...
Three Denials of Cassidy Hutchinson's Explosive Trump Testimony - Newsweek
Is Newsweek a far right publication now?
That in no way decreases the horror that he put our country through. Talk about terrorism. He should be behind bars now. not taking over the US. Shame on us, for we have wronged our country by not following up with the prosecutions of Trump.
It is something to watch people justify their side acting exactly how they accuse Trump of destroying the country.
What I am saying is a hell of a lot closer to fact than the fiction that Trump is pushing.
I did not say anything about "sides", you did, and for that matter, constantly claiming "both sides do it" is just a sniveling non-answer. Everybody watched him continuously lie to the country, tell his supporters to come to Washington on January 6th, "It'll be wild," tell them they had to fight like hell, or they wouldn't have a country, knowing full well that this was his last chance to remain in power. The man is a traitor. Flat out. He tried to remain in power all the while knowing that he had lost the election.
What is worse is that Trump still stands there to this day and lies that he won the 2020 election, says that it was stolen from him, and will persecute those whom he does not like what they say once he is in power again.
The sky is not falling, but rather it has fallen. Twisted words that spew from people whose minds have been corrugated against the truth have brought this about. Lies, lies, and more lies somehow pasted together in a decoupage that they call the truth. I hope Trump used super glue on his simulacrum for the truth, because the people who were fooled are going to be pissed when they find out that they have been played for a patsy.
Like the right has been claiming Biden has done for the last 4 years? Really? LOL
So, it's your opinion.....
Not at all.
If you saw the attack you’d have to be brain dead to think it was anything else than what it was no matter what MAGA heads try and tell you.
Yes, Democrats and media should stop lying about cops being killed on January 6th.
It's a shame that our partian Attorney General and elected Senators like Klobuchar continue to lie.
The MAGA heads should quit telling us that it was tourists and how they avoid acknowledging the number of LEO’s injured by the tourists.
How many people died that day?
The AG and a ranking Democratic Senator are lying about fake deaths on 1/6 and people on the internet not specifying the number of LEO's injured is what bothers you? Speaks volumes.
The reality is fewer LEOs were injured on 1/6 than in random BLM riots that were immediately flushed down the memory hole and never get mentioned.
Based on cnn definition it was a mostly peaceful protest.
How many people died that day?
So remember boys and girls, if you are not dead, you are not hurt
What exactly is a fake death and what would lying about a fake death look like? And why do you frequently change the subject to strawman arguments?
So you're unable to answer?
The tourists didn’t kill anyone that day but well over 100 LEO’s were injured.
I also thought that the gallows was a nice touch considering that they were just tourists.
One tourist was killed named Ashley Babbitt.
Your standard response, but but, BLM riots, we are talking about the 1/6 and nothing else so stop with the same old straw man.
What speaks volumes is that you are unable to face the facts of what happened on 1/6 which speaks volumes about you, Sean.
Lol. I am talking about the AG and other partisan democrats lying about what happened on January 6th and you keep pivoting from that.
ace the facts of what happened on 1/6 which speaks volumes about you, Sean
A personal attack. Lol.
Despite your constant deflections, I have no problem talking about what happened and criticizing people who lie about it.
Do you really not understand that no police officers were killed on January 6th and numerous democrats made up claims that they did?
And why do you frequently change the subject to strawman arguments
Democrats are lying about police being killed on January 6th. That is the subject.
but but but
Ashley Babbett
You realize that you started with a personal attack, right?
no deflections on my part that is your bailiwick, Sean.
I feel the same way as you I have no problem calling out those that lie about and criticize them. Welcome to reality.
I wish that were possible there's a couple bits of information I would love to pass onto my old self
Like Sep 11, 2001 Americans should never forget and never forgive what happened on Jan 6, 2021
But as we (as a country) have done with 9-11, it is time to for the country and he citizens to get past (not get over, forget, or forgive) 1-6-2021
We need to focus on the present and the future and not dwell on the past if we want the nation to heal, to grow, to prosper and most of all come back together as Americans first and then Democrats or Republicans or Other or None of the above
Donald Trump posts things regularly on his social media pertaining to Jan 6th and how he was mistreated. Two days ago he had a party celebrating some of his co conspirators. Take your pleas for unity to him. I'm sure he will take your advice.
So I guess you are emulating the actions of Donald Trump and doing the same. I never figured you wanted to be "like Trump" but go for it.
I agree you and everyone else should pot whatever they like.
I merely pointed out the fact that it is more important to focus on the present and the future than to dwell on the past - I bet some psychologist somewhere has done a study that supports this conclusion.
Trump is the present and future of the country for the next four years. Your implication that he may be irrelevant or a bit player in the national story is , uh, misguided.
You want him to be relatively irrelevant but that is not reality. He's going to be in our face for the next 1260 days, and it is a tragedy.
John
That's crap!
I implied nothing of the sort.
I said nothing about Trump at all - the point I made was about the country needing to heal and look forward, using the present to build a better future rather than simply dwelling in the past.
You are the one fascinated with talking about Trump not me
You can't heal with people that want to see you gone, whether it's by death, deportation, or some other means. Personally, I have nothing to say to quite a few people here. I find them arrogant, distasteful, and woefully ignorant. How can the nation heal when there are many like me on both sides?
T G
The highlighted portion of the excerpt from your comment is the problem keeps the country swirling around the sewer drain rather than some from both sides striving to make things better
Well said
I would like to make things better and I'm willing to compromise but I don't see that on the other side. They're rigid and see everything in black and white. You can't reason or compromise with that mindset
I have removed the rest of this thread as a present. The personal comments between 2 members (you know who you are) must stop. Only warning
yes ma'am
I don't think it would have been as easy to "get past" 9/11 if nearly half the country was saying "Those men weren't terrorists, they're heroes for taking a stand and trying to tear down the unjust and immoral towers of Babel because that's what the twin towers really were!". When you have nearly half the nation refusing to acknowledge that the actions of the insurrectionists were wrong it makes it pretty tough to just "get past". Or at least it doesn't feel right to just "get past" it when we still have bottom feeding scum bags saying "January 6th was just a bunch of patriotic conservative Americans exercising their rights! It's time to just move on!" because for actual patriotic Americans, that would feel like either giving in to those fucking useless piece of shit bigots or at a minimum capitulating and giving in to the fuckwad Trump supporters who supported his attempted insurrection. If we diminish and ignore the seriousness of what January 6th was for our nation it will only make it easier for those same fuckwads, or perhaps a new flavor of fuckwad, to repeat their actions and perhaps next time they'll succeed in destroying OUR America and turning it into THEIR racist rightwing fascist Christian hellhole.
Wow there's a lot of hate and anger in that paragraph
First off - I agree with the underlying point of your tirade - 9/11 served as a unifying event of the hearts and minds of the vast majority of the population
Conversely, 1/6 served to rip the country into two factions loathing and hating the other and seeing no path to reconciliation.
My point stands
Focus on the present and future and while never forgetting, work together to put the past in the rear view mirror and strive for better for our country.
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups Commercial (1972)
"Mmmm, Constitutional Republic..."
"Mmmm, rightwing religious fascism..."
"You got Constitutional Republic on my rightwing religious fascism!"
"Well, you got rightwing religious fascism on my Constitutional Republic!"
"Bravissimo!"
Personally, I wouldn't want any rightwing fascism on my constitutional Republic. I find it difficult to accept working together when apparently our goals couldn't be further apart.
While we all claim to want the same things, safe neighborhoods, good schools, access to quality health care, education and job markets, it seems our belief on how best to reach those goals conflicts.
One side wants to ban books in schools that deal with any gender or "My two Dad's" discussions while the other side believes children need to be exposed to the reality we exist in and not some unrealistic religious bubble of conformity.
One side wants to round up 11 million undocumented immigrants and send them "home" without recognizing the logistical nightmare and immense cost that would create while the other side wants comprehensive immigration reform and a pathway to citizenship for those immigrants who are escaping violence or extreme poverty. To give them a chance to earn their place in America as the vast majority of our own ancestors who were once immigrants did before us.
well said
D P
To sum up your comment
You are on the left (you occupy the high ground) and those on the right are the enemy to be abhorred and destroyed.
And you have no interest in trying to make things better if it means having to work towards the middle on solutions and pathways forward.
A very enlightened approach to society and politics
I think a more accurate interpretation of DPs comment is that there are certain factors of 'the left' (which he enumerated) that he finds to be genuinely good and that there are certain factors of 'the right' (which he enumerated) that he finds genuinely bad.
Some specific factors ≠ All factors.
You interpreted his comment in the extreme as: left=all good and right=all bad. You then accuse him of being unwilling to find middle ground (on anything ... by implication). And then criticize him based on your rather extreme translation of his post.
T.G.
My summary of the position expressed by Dismayed's comment is much more accurate than your summary.
And that is ok, he wants to hate the other side of the aisle rather than compromise to make things better in the country and it is his right to have that position.
I have to agree
It is not the job of commenters on social media platforms to "compromise" with someone who tried to overthrow the US government. Make peace with that Robert because that is reality. Trump will be attacked by patriotic Americans for the next four years, and for as long as he lives.
Elected officials tasked with furthering needed legislation can "compromise" with the asshole. That is an element of their job description.
It is rare for a summary that takes sentiments to the extreme to be more accurate than one that does not exaggerate what was written.
Well you got to see it right here
It is not the job of commenters on social media platform
What is that "job"
Do you actually think "a commenter on social media" is a paid position of regular employment; a task or piece of work, especially one that is paid. because that is what a job is?
What I see is doubling-down on an exaggeration.
Please dont join the dissemblers here any more than you already have.
All this shows is that you know how to cut and paste.
You failed to answer the question I posed (as usual)
Gallows at the capitol is where the "tea party" ended up. Right wing propaganda has never been about "tea party" issues like taxes, fiscal responsibility, law and order, or "civility". It's all childish grievances even when they win. They constantly go on about the map being all " red states". However they completely ignore every single red state that has been Republican for a quarter or even half a century and never blame the very Republicans they voted for who FAILED on all these issues. Republicans have directly and deliberately avoided dealing with immigration especially in "red" border states.
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removed for context by charger