Thursday, January 06, 2022

Sedition: One Year Later

On January 6, 2021, Donald Trump enjoyed the deadly insurrection so much that he rewound the coverage and watched it twice. Former press secretary Stephanie Grisham told CNN: "He was in the dining room gleefully watching on his TV, as he often did, [saying] 'Look at all the people fighting for me,' hitting rewind, watching it again . . ."

Grisham criticized Trump for abandoning his MAGA supporters as soon as the insurrection failed.
He cares about no one but himself. The people who have been rightfully punished for their role in the insurrection . . . where is he? All I know is he's sitting at Mar-A-Lago, apparently getting his legal bills paid by the RNC.
The former president's callousness toward his real and perceived enemies is standard fare for Trump, who frequently revels in their pain and misfortune in public and in private.
Asawin Suebsaeng and Will Sommer, The Daily Beast, January 6, 2022
There are a number of things that make Donald Trump happy when he thinks of Jan. 6, and the long-term consequences of the riot. But it's the anguish and trauma that has really sparked his joy.

In the full year since the deadly, Trump-inspired assault on the U.S. Capitol, several lawmakers, police officers, and reporters who were there have publicly opened up about the lingering distress they still feel stemming from the anti-democratic violence and body count of the day.

According to three people with direct knowledge of the matter . . . [some] have become targets of mockery and casual hilarity for him.

In several conversations with close allies over the past 12 months, Trump has repeatedly made fun of the idea that certain legislators, police, or journalists were traumatized by the violent events of the day, according to these sources. There are moments when the ex-president has speculated that his critics are "faking" their trauma and anxiety, for attention. Other times, he's done poor, whining impersonations of perceived enemy lawmakers crying about the riot.

Trump's callousness toward his real and perceived enemies, no matter the level of trauma inflicted, is standard fare for Trump: a man who built much of his political legacy and appeal by demagoguing and viciously smearing those who speak out against him. For example, despite his frequent claims about "backing the blue," Trump privately referred to some of the police officers who were at the Capitol that day as "pussies" . . .

He spent the past year hardening and broadening his lies about that day. Through press releases, rallies and interviews with allies, he's excused and lionized the violent rioters, called for further election and voting-rights crackdowns across the nation, and in doing so cemented far-right Jan. 6 revisionism and "the Big Lie" as pillars of modern conservative orthodoxy.

Trump had announced his public temper tantrum a few weeks ago, but he was somehow persuaded to CANCEL the press conference. Instead, he will "discuss" many "important topics" (i.e., the same shit he has been whining about for the past 14 months) at a super-spreader event ("will be a big crowd") in Arizona on January 15.

Trump claimed he cancelled the January 6 event because of "the total bias and dishonesty of the January 6th Unselect Committee of Democrats, two failed Republicans, and the Fake News Media" -- which, strangely, were the exact same reasons he announced the event in the first place.

One of the real reasons was the media's lack of interest in covering his unhinged rant live. Also, his advisors were worried he might admit to even more crimes. The Washington Post reported:

According to a person familiar with the matter, Trump wanted to make a scene and deride reporters at the event but had been told repeatedly by his advisers that it could be the kind of coverage he doesn't want. Trump also did not know exactly what he wanted his message to be, and his team was taken aback by how many reporters were planning on attending, according to the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

"It was going to be awful, awful press," a Trump adviser said. The adviser, who was not authorized to speak publicly about deliberations surrounding the event, said Trump had originally announced the news conference on a lark and without a plan in place.

Axios reported that several of Trump's allies, including Nazi sympathizer Laura Ingraham and Trump Bootlicker Lindsey Graham, told him they thought it was a bad idea. But other loony tunes, like Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, were angry at the cancellation, suggesting that Trump is surrounded by "insufficiently pro-MAGA individuals", as The Daily Beast's Zachary Petrizzo wrote.

"There are still too many people around Donald John Trump that are not Trumpers," Navarro complained Wednesday morning on Bannon's WarRoom: Pandemic podcast. "Bad personnel is bad policy is bad politics," he continued. "He is surrounded by people who just go against his gut, and he just doesn't trust his gut." . . .

"The person who should be holding a press conference tomorrow, above anybody, pounding on the frickin' table—particularly given [the] cesspool in Georgia, the cesspool of Arizona—is Donald John Trump," Navarro complained, referring to the surreptitiously filmed videos that fueled the baseless allegations of widespread fraud even in Republican-leaning states.

"Trump, Trump, Trump," Bannon interjected. 

"He needs to stand up for himself," Navarro continued. "And fire half the people down there, by the way!"

His continued grip on the party shows, once again, that the former president can outlast almost any outrage cycle, no matter how intensely it burns.
Shane Goldmacher and Maggie Haberman, New York Times, January 5, 2022

Republican activists are planning rallies, vigils and other events in more than a dozen states for Jan. 6 participants they depict as "patriots" or "political prisoners."
David Siders, Politico, January 6, 2022
Stars of the party's right-wing are lining up to appear on conservative media in a day of counter programming designed to downplay the seriousness of the attack on the Capitol. Trump himself will be back behind a microphone next week in Arizona, where he will repeat his lie that the election was rigged.

Trump's baseless claims about the outcome — and the idea that the Jan. 6 riot was something other than a violent assault on the halls of government — are no longer fringe elements of the GOP, but part of its DNA.

Fully two-thirds of Republicans say they don't view the riot at the Capitol as an attack on government, according to a Quinnipiac University poll.
Survey suggests that millions of Americans would support an "armed revolt" to put Trump back in the White House.
Tom Hogan, The Bulwark, January 6, 2022
The survey of 1,000 American voters was conducted online and by phone between Christmas and New Year's by political scientist David B. Hill of Hill Research Consultants. Respondents were asked a battery of 21 agree-or-disagree questions—indicators of possible support for or opposition to authoritarianism. . . .

[N]early half the respondents (49 percent) agreed with the assertion that "Once our leaders give us the go-ahead, it will be the duty of every patriotic citizen to help stomp out the decay that is poisoning our country from within."

More than half (56 percent) agreed with the sentiment that the "only way our country can get through the crisis ahead is to get back to our traditional values, put a tough leader in power, and silence the troublemakers spreading radical ideas."
 
Half (50 percent) agreed that it is more important for a leader to "stir the deep passions of the common man than to offer intellectual advice about policies."

And more than half (53 percent) agreed that the country will be great if we "honor the ways of our forefathers, do what the authorities tell us to do, and get rid of the rotten apples who are ruining everything." . . .

When presented with the claim that "We might have to make America a little less democratic in order to protect and preserve the most important American values, traditions and principles," more than a third of the respondents agreed (34 percent, including 12 percent saying they "strongly" agree).

More than a fifth of the respondents (21 percent) consider democracy "so corrupted" that "we need new revolution to reestablish order." And nearly as many (18 percent) say that the Constitution "gets in the way of things too much nowadays and should just be ignored when it interferes with taking action on some issues."

[One-]third of the respondents (33 percent) say they believe the 2020 election was "stolen" from [Trump]. Out of that third, a majority considers the participants in the Jan. 6th attack on the Capitol to be "patriots" rather than "insurrectionists." A small minority of the Trump-supporting respondents (13 percent, or nearly 5 percent of the overall sample) believe the ex-president should "reinstated by all means possible, including armed revolt," including a small number (just under 2 percent of the overall sample) who say they themselves would be willing even to "take up arms" to see Trump reinstated.
How revisionist histories of Jan. 6 picked up where the "stop the steal" campaign left off, warping beliefs about what transpired at the Capitol.
Matthew Rosenberg, Jim Rutenberg and Michael M. Grynbaum, New York Times, January 6, 2022
It was mere hours after a mob spurred on by the "stop the steal" lies of President Donald J. Trump had attacked the United States Capitol, and already new lies were taking hold in the nearby streets.
The police had pushed the few dozen remaining protesters off the Capitol grounds, but some continued to hurl threats and obscenities at a line of officers in riot gear. "Traitors get the rope," a man shouted. "Wait until we come back with rifles."

Only yards away, though, others were spinning fictions about what they had just witnessed, even joined.

"They're calling us violent Trump mobs," bemoaned a woman shortly before 8 p.m. . . .

Another man chimed in to say that he had been inside the Capitol, and that it had been peaceful. "We didn't do a thing," he said. "We were there for the Constitution — to make sure democracy was followed."  . . .

The reimagining of Jan. 6 has not so much evolved as it has splintered into rival, but often complementary, false narratives with a common goal — to shift blame away from Mr. Trump, his supporters and a Republican Party maneuvering to win back control of government. The riot was a "false flag" operation by antifa, the loose left-wing collective; the F.B.I. planted agents to stir up the crowd; the protesters were mere "tourists" wrongfully accused by a Democratic-led Justice Department and vilified by a biased mainstream media; police officers recounting their injuries and trauma were "crisis actors.'"

Andy Kim, Congressman for New Jersey's 3rd District and a former White House National Security Official: "Remember what Republican leaders said before amnesia set in."

Mitch McConnell (Jan 6): "The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people . . . They tried to disrupt our democracy, they failed…This failed insurrection." 

Kevin McCarthy (Jan 6): The violence, destruction, and chaos we saw earlier was unacceptable undemocratic and unamerican. It was the saddest day I've ever had as serving as a member of this institution…We saw the worst of America this afternoon…"

Kevin McCarthy on Jan 13: "last week's violent attack on the Capitol was undemocratic, un-American and criminal…those who are responsible for Wednesday's chaos will be brought to justice…The President bears responsibility for Wednesday's attack on Congress by mob rioters."

VP Pence on Jan 6: "Today was a dark day in the history of the United States capitol…We condemn the violence that took place here in the strongest possible terms…To those who wreaked havoc today, you did not win."

Rep Steve Scalise on Jan 6: "Once you start taking violent actions against law enforcement you're not a protestor anymore, you are an anarchist. Whether it's anarchy or terrorism, they were trying to storm the Capitol and stop our democracy from working."

Rep Stefanik (R) on Jan 6: "This has been a truly tragic day for America, and we all join together in fully condemning the dangerous violence and destruction…violence in any form is absolutely unacceptable, anti-American, and must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

Mike Gallagher (R) on Jan 6: "Mr. President. You have got to stop this. You are the only person who can call this off. Call it off. The election is over. Call it off. This is bigger than you. It is bigger than any member of Congress. It is about the United States of America"

Senator Lindsey Graham on Jan 7: "When it comes to accountability the president needs to understand that his actions were the problem not the solution"

Senator Rand Paul on Jan 6: "Chaos, anarchy. The violence today was wrong and un-American"

Rep Chip Roy (R) on Jan 6: "Today the people's house was attacked, which is an attack on the republic itself…People need to go to jail… and the president should never have spun up certain Americans to believe something that simply cannot be."

Senator Thune (R) on Jan 6: "I hope that the types of people who stormed the Capitol today got a clear message that they will not stop our democracy from moving forward…We need to get our work done and this kind of thuggery would not keep us from doing the people's work"

Rep Dan Crenshaw (R) on Jan 7: "On Wednesday the Capitol of the most powerful nation the world has ever known was stormed by an angry mob. Americans surely never thought they'd see such a scene…It was a display not of patriotism but of frenzy and anarchy."

Senator Ben Sasse (R) on Jan 6: "This building has been desecrated, blood has been spilled in the hallways…what happened today isn't what America is…There are some who are trying to burn it all down, and we met some of them today."

Senator Rob Portman (R) on Jan 6: "I condemn the violent and criminal acts that took place at the US Capitol today. These shameful actions to disrupt a session of Congress and vandalize the Capitol building should never happen in our great republic"

Senator Barrasso (R) on Jan 6: "The violence and destruction have no place in our republic."

Senator Roy Blunt (R) on Jan 6: "The events unfolding at the Capitol are shameful. There is no justification for violence and destruction. It has to stop now. This is not who we are as a nation. Thank you to the Capitol Police who are keeping us safe."

Senator Blackburn (R) on Jan 6: "These actions at the US Capitol by protestors are truly despicable and unacceptable. While I am safe and sheltering in place, these protests are prohibiting us from doing our constitutional duty. I condemn them in the strongest possible terms."

Senator Cynthia Lummis (R) on Jan 6: "Call it what it is: An attack on the Capitol is an attack on democracy"

Senator Rick Scott (R) on Jan 6:  "No one has a right to commit violence. What happened today at the Capitol is disgraceful and un-American. It is not what our country stands for."

Rep Cathy Rodgers (R) on Jan 6: "What we have seen today is unlawful and unacceptable…I have decided I will vote to uphold the Electoral College results and I encourage Donald Trump to condemn and put an end to this madness."

Senator Rubio on Jan 6: "There is nothing patriotic about what is occurring on Capitol Hill. This is 3rd world style anti-American anarchy"

Senator Rick Scott (R) on Jan 6: "No one has a right to commit violence. What happened today at the Capitol is disgraceful and in-American. It is not what this country stands for"

Senator McConnell: "Former President Trump's actions preceding the riot were a disgraceful, disgraceful dereliction of duty. There's no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day."

There are, of course, several others, including the recently-reported texts from various Trump sycophants at Fox Propaganda and one of Trump's idiot sons (not this one).

Of Course Donald Trump Bears Primary Blame For Jan. 6

Why Do So Many Try To Argue That He Doesn't?
Philip Bump, Washington Post, January 6, 2022
For most observers, it seems safe to say, this is a surreal assertion. That there had never before been a mob of outraged individuals who swarmed into the Capitol on any January 6, the day on which electoral votes had been counted for decades, was not a coincidence. Never before had the losing candidate in a presidential election repeatedly claimed that he had won, much less a losing candidate with an Internet-powered megaphone and a political base centered so squarely on his personal piques and interests. . . .

Jan. 6 happened because Donald Trump put into place the disinformation that it required and the call to action that energized it. Others bear blame, too, including law enforcement that was unprepared to prevent the attack despite myriad warnings, and Trump's allies, who took his claims and turned them into a marketplace of dishonesty. But it all follows from Trump.

If Trump had held a news conference on Nov. 7, 2020, and announced that he recognized Biden's win, there is no riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6. It is fundamentally Donald Trump's fault, and there is no rational way to dispute that point.
Tom Sullivan, Hullaballoo, January 6, 2022
One year ago today, thousands of President Donald Trump's supporters, "average" Americans by several surveys, overran thinly manned police lines, fought hand to hand with hundreds of U.S. Capitol police, broke windows and doors, entered the building chanting "Hang Mike Pence," and interrupted the electoral vote counting process for hours. Security teams evacuated members of the House and Senate to secure rooms. . . . Insurrectionists sacked the building as the world watched in horror on live television. At the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, the president watched it intently on TV for hours and resisted pleas from family, aides, and members of Congress to stop it. . . .

It was the first time in over 200 years that the building had been occupied, and then by foreign enemies. People died. Over a hundred police officers suffered injuries both minor and severe. Several officers later committed suicide. . . .

[According to a February 2021 poll from the] Survey Center on American Life: 
More than one in three (36 percent) Americans agree with the statement: "The traditional American way of life is disappearing so fast that we may have to use force to save it." Six in 10 (60 percent) Americans reject the idea that the use of force is necessary, but there is significant partisan disagreement on this question.

A majority (56 percent) of Republicans support the use of force as a way to arrest the decline of the traditional American way of life. Forty-three percent of Republicans express opposition to this idea. Significantly fewer independents (35 percent) and Democrats (22 percent) say the use of force is necessary to stop the disappearance of traditional American values and way of life.
. . . [W]hat do Trump's overwhelmingly white-Christian followers mean by traditional American way of life?  What America do they want to make great again? That is an open secret.

Did The January 6th Coup Fail?
By warping the Republican party, Trump made another coup attempt possible.
Mona Charen, The Bulwark, January 5, 2022

January 6th should have been the point of no return, the pivot point at which even the most blinkered sugarcoaters of Trumpism recoiled in disgust from what they had wrought. For a nanosecond, it seemed that it was. In the first days after the desecration of the Capitol, a number of previously timid Republicans found their voices. As I noted at the time, Sen. Pat Toomey said the president had committed impeachable offenses and was unfit to serve. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said, "I want him out." Sen. Lindsey Graham expressed his disgust on the Senate floor: "Trump and I, we had a hell of a journey . . . but today all I can say is: Count me out. Enough is enough." Rep. Kevin McCarthy said Trump was responsible for the storming of the Capitol, and warned Republican House members not to criticize those who voted for impeachment because it might endanger their lives.

For everyone who had convinced themselves that, whatever Trump's flaws, the true threat to the American way of life lay on the left and only on the left, January 6th was a blaring klaxon. Yes, Trump was a buffoon and incompetent and unfamiliar with the levers of power—and yet this clown nearly brought a 232-year-old democracy to its knees. Had it not been for 1) a half-dozen or so Republican officeholders at the state level who demonstrated basic integrity, and 2) the unwillingness of Mike Pence to perform as Trump had commanded, the outcome could have been very different. . . .

Even after the unleashing of medieval mob violence; even after the erection of a gallows; even after members had been forced to run for their lives; even after the deaths and injuries; even after all of that and more, 147 Republican members of Congress voted not to certify Joe Biden as the winner of the presidency. The transformation of the GOP from a political party into an authoritarian personality cult became official that day. McCarthy's bootlicking visit to Mar-a-Lago in late January 2021 merely provided the visual.

In the year since, most Republicans (with some extremely honorable exceptions) have descended further into cultishness.

The Vigilante Next Door

As distrust in the government and its elected officials rises, a growing number of Americans are taking the law into their own hands.
Dahlia Lithwick, Slate, January 4, 2022
It is widely understood that, among the many ways Jan. 6, 2021, changed everything, it served as a marker of how far America has traveled on the path to vigilantism. As Sam Tanenhaus so ably explained, the real hallmark of Jan. 6 wasn't insurrection, defined by Garry Wills as taking up arms "against the government because it is too repressive." No, Tanenhaus argues, Jan. 6 was an act of vigilantism, characterized as citizens who "take arms to do the government's work because the authorities are not repressive enough."
We reviewed all 733 criminal cases connected to the insurrection. Here is what we found.
Jeremy Stahl, Slate, January 6, 2022
Thursday marks one year since a violent mob stormed the Capitol in an attempt to stop the democratic transfer of power. As they tore through the building, the insurrectionists assaulted 140 police officers and caused $1.5 million in damage. At least five people were left dead in their wake, including at least one officer. Many Americans watched the unrest unfold in real time as the rioters captured their every move. After a year of investigating the largest mass criminal event in U.S. history, many are wondering: Is justice being served swiftly and forcefully?

As Chief Judge for the District of Columbia Beryl Howell put it during an October sentencing hearing for one of the Jan. 6 defendants, the Department of Justice's approach seemed "muddled" and "almost schizophrenic in some ways." It is no wonder that many Americans are confused about whether what happened on Jan. 6 "was simply a petty offense of trespassing with some disorderliness or shocking criminal conduct that represented a grave threat to our democratic norms," Howell added.

There's a good reason for the concern and confusion. Slate analyzed 733 total Capitol arrest cases by combining publicly available databases and reviewing hundreds of individual case files. The trend is clear: Jan. 6 defendants have been sent home to await trial at a far greater rate than the rest of the federal jail population in 2019, our analysis shows. And when it comes to sentencing, judges are generally handing out lighter sentences than what the government is requesting when suspects do plead guilty.
After the Capitol riot, Big Business promised to stop donating to the "Sedition Caucus." That vow didn't last long.
Jon Skolnik, Salon, January 6, 2022
In the immediate aftermath of the Capitol riot, a handful of major U.S. corporations pledged to stop funding the campaigns of Republicans who voted to overturn the 2020 election. One year later, campaign filings reveal that these companies have completely abandoned their promise, donating to countless members of the so-called Sedition Caucus.

According to a new report by political watchdog Accountable.US, the private sector poured $8.1 million into the coffers of 147 Republican lawmakers who voted to reject President Biden's victory. Among the most notable donors to the GOP objectors include Pfizer, Cigna, Boeing, General Motors, and ExxonMobil. . . .

Back in April, just after Georgia passed a sweeping restrictive voting bill, numerous Georgia-based corporations like Coca-Cola and Delta spoke out against the measure. But FEC documents show that these two companies donated heavily to the very state lawmaker who backed the bill.
Alan Rappeport, Madeleine Ngo and Kate Kelly, New York Times, January 6, 2022
At its annual summit on the state of American business last January, officials from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce expressed disgust at the siege of the Capitol that had unfolded days earlier, and declared that lawmakers who discredited the 2020 election would no longer receive the organization's financial backing. . . .

Less than two months later, the nation's biggest lobbying group reversed course. "We do not believe it is appropriate to judge members of Congress solely based on their votes on the electoral certification," Ashlee Rich Stephenson, the chamber's senior political strategist, wrote in a memo.

In the year since the riot at the Capitol, many corporate giants and trade groups have moved from making stern statements about the sanctity of democracy to reopening the financial spigot for lawmakers who undermined the election.
In a speech on Thursday marking the one-year anniversary of the seditious terrorist attack on the US Capitol, President Biden referred to "the former president" 16 times, but never mentioned his name.
We saw with our own eyes rioters menace these halls, threatening the life of the speaker of the house, literally erecting gallows to hang the vice president of the United States of America. What did we not see? We didn't see a former president, who had just rallied the mob to attack, sitting in the private dining room off the Oval office in the White House, watching it all on television and doing nothing for hours as police were assaulted, lives at risk, the nation's capitol under siege. This wasn't a group of tourists. This was an armed insurrection. . . .
Here's the truth: A former President of the United States of America has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election. . . . [H]e sees his own interest as more important than his country's interest . . . And because his bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy or our Constitution. He can't accept he lost even though that's what 93 United States senators, his own attorney general, his own vice president, governors and state officials in every battleground state have all said . . . He's done what no President in American history, the history of this country, has ever, ever done: He refused to accept the results of an election and the will of the American people.

Fox News Anchors Gripe That Biden Didn't Show Enough 'Gratitude' in 'Aggressive' Jan. 6 Speech
Justin Baragona, The Daily Beast, January 6, 2022

Fox News anchors Dana Perino and Bret Baier took aim at President Joe Biden on Thursday over the tone of his speech condemning the Jan. 6 insurrection, calling the president's remarks "aggressive" and "political." Additionally, Perino griped that the president didn't show enough "gratitude" that his 2020 election win was eventually certified.

Delivering a passionate 25-minute address to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Capitol riot, Biden blasted former President Donald Trump without once mentioning his predecessor by name. Repeatedly referring to the ex-president as "defeated" and "failed," Biden noted that Trump "can't accept he lost" while excoriating him for inciting the failed coup attempt. . . .

Perino lamented that the president's remarks were "quite political" and "divisive in many ways," adding that "everyone has a choice on how they want to communicate." She then turned to Baier, the network's chief political anchor, for his main takeaways.

"It was as forceful, aggressive, pointed—specifically at the former president—as we've seen in a speech from President Biden since taking office January 20 of last year," Baier said. "Saying that former President Trump values power versus principle. Talking about his bruised ego, about the situation with the election, and all that he said about it. That he refused to accept the results of the election and the will of the American people."

Also:

Jon Ward, Yahoo, January 5, 2022
For the last several months, Tucker Carlson has been arguing that the effort to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden's election victory, which culminated in the Jan. 6 insurrection, was "a setup," a trap set for ordinary patriots by shadowy forces in the government.

Carlson, the most popular primetime host on cable news, claims that the Biden administration is using the insurrection as a pretext to persecute, imprison and otherwise mistreat Americans who disagree with Democrats.

That's the central argument of Carlson's three-part "Patriot Purge" series on Fox Nation, the cable giant's streaming service. Carlson even says that the assault on the U.S. Capitol was probably concocted inside the federal government in order to justify a war on conservatives.
Justin Baragona, The Daily Beast, January 6, 2022

Sean Hannity's Texts Should Remind Everyone He Was Trump's "Shadow" Chief Of Staff — And Not A Journalist
Hannity strategized with Trump and top allies on damage control after January 6: "Guys, we have a clear path to land the plane in 9 days."
Republicans have a more effective strategy than storming the Capitol: They plan to destroy democracy state by state
Gaby Goldstein, Salon, January 6, 2022

Rosalind S. Helderman, Washington Post, January 5, 2022
The November 2020 election in Arizona's largest county was administered properly and not marred by fraud, the Republican-led local government concluded in a lengthy report released Wednesday. The 93-page document debunks, one by one, vague allegations of potential problems previously identified by the GOP-led state Senate and championed by former president Donald Trump and his allies.

CANCEL CULTURE!

Georgia Republicans planned a vigil for 'J6 Patriots' on Jan. 6.
One critic called it an 'homage to treason.'
Jonathan Edwards, Washington Post, January 6, 2022
Some Georgia Republicans planned to spend the anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Capitol praying — not just for those killed or hurt during the Jan. 6 riot but also or the "'J6 Prisoners" and "J6 Patriots" who stormed the building in a futile attempt to keep President Donald Trump in power.
But after bipartisan blowback, the Cobb County GOP on Wednesday canceled what it had been calling a "prayer vigil," citing "mischaracterization of the event."

Ted Cruz: Emasculated Jellyfish

Jon Skolnik, Salon, January 6, 2022
Fox News host Tucker Carlson tore into Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., on Wednesday for calling the Capitol riot a "violent terrorist attack," accusing the Texas Republican of "repeating the talking points that [Attorney General] Merrick Garland has written for him." . . .

"We are approaching a solemn anniversary this week," Cruz said. "And it is an anniversary of a violent terrorist attack on the Capitol, where we saw the men and women of law enforcement demonstrate incredible courage, incredible bravery, risk their lives for the Capitol."

Carlson, who has repeatedly downplayed the insurrection, did not take well to Cruz's off-brand remarks. . . .

"He described January 6th as a violent terrorist attack," Carlson said. "Of all the things January 6th was, it was definitely not a violent terrorist attack. It wasn't an insurrection. Was it a riot? Sure. It was not a violent terrorist attack. Sorry! So why are you telling us it was, Ted Cruz?"

"What the hell's going on here?" he added. "You're making us think, maybe the Republican Party is as worthless as we suspected it was. That can't be true. Reassure us, please, Ted Cruz."

Ted Cruz Grovels For Tucker Carlson's Approval And Forgiveness,
Then Debases Himself Even More When He Doesn't Get It

Twitter Bans Marjorie Nazi Greene's Personal Account; She Calls On All Republicans
To Leave Twitter; Everyone Ignores Her, So She Starts Using Her Govt. Twitter Account
Batshit Insanity

Monuments
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