I was trying to write a post about the anniversary of the events of January 6. Now, I had gathered tons of articles and video clips laying out why the events of a year ago were so awful. But isn’t that self-evident? Of COURSE NOT, because America.
I’m going to use the I word here. Right after the January 6 insurrection, all manner of persons, even Republicans in Congress, specifically denounced the then-sitting President for fomenting the violence. Then, not so much. Did It Even Happen?! Spoiler: Yes (feat. Chris Hayes and Jordan Klepper | The Daily Show).
Yeah, I know: “When asked to describe what happened at the Capitol, 85 percent of Democrats surveyed said it was an insurrection and an attempt to overthrow the government. By comparison, 21 percent of Republicans said the Capitol attack was an insurrection and 18 percent said it was an attempt to overthrow the government.”
Don’t use that word!
This Newsweek opinion piece by Markweaver bugged me. “Since January 6, a clanging chorus of commentators has standardized the language surrounding the event with the use of a few choice phrases including ‘insurrection,'[oops!] ‘assault on democracy,’ and—according to President Biden— ‘the worst attack on the Capitol since the Civil War.'”
Then he points to United flight 93, which WOULD have attacked DC on 9/11 but for the intervention of “citizen heroes.” He also mentions “a 1954 assault on Congress when terrorists fired indiscriminately from the gallery into the House chamber, wounding five congressmen.”
I would submit that January 6 is worse because it was, apparently, an inside job. The committee investigating the event is subpoenaing Republicans in Congress, including Jim Jordan. Yes, that Gym Jordan, who House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy wanted to put on that very committee. He and others will be asked about their role in planning the insurrection.
Not as smart as Chauncey Gardiner
Worse because the “leader of the free world” apparently watched the DC riots on TV, ignoring pleas to intervene. This despite pleas from Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham from FOX News, not to mention Trump’s own family. They all tried to pressure him and his Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, to “intervene to stop the insurrection (despite publicly downplaying and lying about it).”
Yes, this is worse because, even before the 2020 election, the incumbent made it clear that if he didn’t win, the system must have been rigged. And he repeated the Big Lie again and again, to the point where state Secretaries of State, county clerks, and even those folks who only work the polls were physically threatened.
This is worse because the intent was to stop the prosaic but required task of certifying the Presidential election. Will we ever be able to have an election that isn’t challenged for no good reason?
And this is worse because it could be the collapse of democracy in the US. Thomas Homer-Dixon, “the former head of a center on peace and conflict studies at the University of Toronto, warned that the ‘political and social landscape’ of the U.S.—a profoundly unequal and ideologically polarized nation that also happens to be ‘armed to the teeth’ —is ‘flashing with warning signals.'”
Vaguely related: Conspiracy Chart, from Detached from Reality to Grounded in Reality