I’ve been thinking most of the day about what to say regarding the events at the Capitol. Three things come to mind.
I’ve always been distrustful of “official narratives,” and the narrative coalescing around the events of Jan. 6 is no different.
Whether you like Donald Trump’s supporters or not, you can rely on the overwhelming majority of them to be law-and-order types. The ones who will dutifully do whatever a cop tells them to do. The ones who consistently support the military.
They may be angry about the election, and they may come out to protest within the parameters of what the First Amendment protects.
But that’s as far as most of them will go.
And that’s why I’m not convinced that the people causing mayhem at the Capitol were among his supporters.
“Oh, right, like Antifa would wear MAGA hats and carry around an American flag,” I’ve seen people saying today. Well, what would you expect infiltrators to do? Wear their BLM shirts? No. They’d dress up like Trump supporters to pin the blame on Trump supporters, in the same way the 9/11 hijackers shaved their beards to blend in.
“Then why did a Trumper get shot dead by the police? You can’t have it both ways.” What people seem to have a hard time grasping is that no one is saying the entire group of people was Antifa. What they’re saying is that Antifa could have infiltrated the group of Trump supporters to make them all look bad. This should not be hard to understand.
So is that what happened? I have no idea. I just know that violence isn’t the M.O. of most Trump supporters. I know them. I live around them. The overwhelming majority of them just want to live their lives in peace and be able to exercise their constitutional liberties.
Remember, they weren’t the ones burning down the country this summer. They were the ones asking why law enforcement wasn’t doing anything about it.
I couldn’t help thinking about the aftermath of the Reichstag fire today. When one German Communist set the parliament building on fire, Hitler, as chancellor, used it as an excuse to persuade the president to suspend civil liberties throughout the nation and conduct mass arrests of Communists, including their party delegates. The ensuing vacancies, combined with a relentless propaganda campaign against the Communists and a censorship blitz to ban all publications not sympathetic to the Nazis, allowed the Nazis to consolidate power. The people, manipulated by fear, demonized the Communists and coalesced around the Nazis as their saviors.
So let’s see. A public fear campaign, restrictions on freedoms, and mass censorship. An act of violence committed at the meeting place of the German legislature allows for a propaganda push to demonize a segment of the population.
Sound familiar?
First they came for the Communists…
Look, I don’t say any of this as a Trump fan. This is bigger than Trump. It’s about how one event can and probably will be used to demonize conservatives in America. Things were already going to be bad, but now, between a de facto majority in both chambers of Congress and control of the White House, the Left will use the events at the Capitol to justify a massive crackdown on conservatives in the name of “public safety.”
It doesn’t matter that the Woke Left torched the nation over the summer. They’re allowed to be violent, and even praised for doing it. But when people came out to protest the lockdowns, they were characterized as dangerous right-wing white supremacists even when they didn’t do anything. Now all the Left will have to do is say “remember the Capitol?”
In that regard, whether the events at the Capitol were a false flag operation or not, it really doesn’t matter. The result will be the same.
Online censorship will almost certainly increase dramatically; upstart alt-tech sites that value free speech will probably be targeted now as well, in the name of “rooting out extremists.” I imagine even the mask Nazis will be emboldened. “All those Trumpsters came into the Capitol without a mask. It was a superspreader event. Haven’t you done enough damage? Put your mask on or go to jail.”
They called today’s actions the work of a mob. But when the establishment media finishes adequately propagandizing the public with their smears against the Right, you’ll see what a mob really looks like.
God help us all.
2. It’s Time for Trump to Go
Let me reiterate up front that I didn’t vote for Trump, either in 2016 or 2020. I would have rather seen him win than Biden, but I also couldn’t bring myself to vote for him. I don’t like him and never have.
I think he’s done some good things during his time in office. I think he gave a voice to those who had none and were hurting.
I think the election was rigged to ensure he would lose. (As were the Georgia elections to swing control of the Senate.)
But I also think he doesn’t know when to stand down.
First, he asks Georgia’s secretary of state to “find” votes for him. Then he rips his own vice president for saying he’s going to follow legal and constitutional procedures in counting the Electoral College votes.
Look, challenging election fraud where you see it is one thing. But expecting others to bend the rules for you makes you no better than they are.
And boy, that taped speech from Trump — in which he simultaneously insists that he was robbed and orders those angry that he was robbed to go home — tells me that he’s in over his head, that he doesn’t want to think about the chaos he’s wrought, and that he’s probably ready to simply walk away from the mess he helped make to move on to his next grift.
I mean, seriously. You first encourage your followers to come to D.C. to protest, and then you tell them to go back home, all while asking them to meekly obey the same police that executed one of your followers in the Capitol building and tear-gassed the rest off the property outside? That’s all you can come up with?
Instead of pulling it down, Twitter and Facebook should have left the speech up, as testament to what kind of man Donald Trump really is.
I really think the best thing Trump can do right now is to resign immediately.
It doesn’t matter if there are only two weeks until Inauguration Day. It would be a healing gesture symbolizing his willingness to step out of the way to bring some calm to the nation. He could spin it as a self-pitying act of martyrdom if he wanted to, sacrificing himself for the good of the nation since he’s being railroaded out of office anyway.
At least then maybe we could see a peaceful transition of power, with Mike Pence, able to talk and act like a rational adult, ceremonially handing over the reins to Joe Biden on the 20th.
Whether Trump really was railroaded out of office, and whether Biden will be a terrible president with terrible policies, is irrelevant at this point. The optics of such a moment would surely be a balm for a lot of Americans, and it may help put Republicans and Democrats on less combative ground with each other as we head into a new administration, especially after the events at the Capitol.
Most importantly, it would be a deeply symbolic way of showing that America has put the narcissistic shitshow of the Trump years behind it, burying it once and for all.
Unfortunately for us all, Trump lacks the selflessness that such a gesture would require.
I can’t see Mike Pence invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office, either. So I suppose all we can do is hope things don’t boil over before Inauguration Day — or get even worse afterward.
Let me reiterate up front that I didn’t vote for Trump, either in 2016 or 2020. I would have rather seen him win than Biden, but I also couldn’t bring myself to vote for him. I don’t like him and never have.
I think he’s done some good things during his time in office. I think he gave a voice to those who had none and were hurting.
I think the election was rigged to ensure he would lose. (As were the Georgia elections to swing control of the Senate.)
But I also think he doesn’t know when to stand down.
First, he asks Georgia’s secretary of state to “find” votes for him. Then he rips his own vice president for saying he’s going to follow legal and constitutional procedures in counting the Electoral College votes.
Look, challenging election fraud where you see it is one thing. But expecting others to bend the rules for you makes you no better than they are.
And boy, that taped speech from Trump — in which he simultaneously insists that he was robbed and orders those angry that he was robbed to go home — tells me that he’s in over his head, that he doesn’t want to think about the chaos he’s wrought, and that he’s probably ready to simply walk away from the mess he helped make to move on to his next grift.
I mean, seriously. You first encourage your followers to come to D.C. to protest, and then you tell them to go back home, all while asking them to meekly obey the same police that executed one of your followers in the Capitol building and tear-gassed the rest off the property outside? That’s all you can come up with?
Instead of pulling it down, Twitter and Facebook should have left the speech up, as testament to what kind of man Donald Trump really is.
I really think the best thing Trump can do right now is to resign immediately.
It doesn’t matter if there are only two weeks until Inauguration Day. It would be a healing gesture symbolizing his willingness to step out of the way to bring some calm to the nation. He could spin it as a self-pitying act of martyrdom if he wanted to, sacrificing himself for the good of the nation since he’s being railroaded out of office anyway.
At least then maybe we could see a peaceful transition of power, with Mike Pence, able to talk and act like a rational adult, ceremonially handing over the reins to Joe Biden on the 20th.
Whether Trump really was railroaded out of office, and whether Biden will be a terrible president with terrible policies, is irrelevant at this point. The optics of such a moment would surely be a balm for a lot of Americans, and it may help put Republicans and Democrats on less combative ground with each other as we head into a new administration, especially after the events at the Capitol.
Most importantly, it would be a deeply symbolic way of showing that America has put the narcissistic shitshow of the Trump years behind it, burying it once and for all.
Unfortunately for us all, Trump lacks the selflessness that such a gesture would require.
I can’t see Mike Pence invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office, either. So I suppose all we can do is hope things don’t boil over before Inauguration Day — or get even worse afterward.
3. Rest in Peace, Ashli Babbitt
Nothing that the Trump supporter and Air Force veteran did today warranted the taking of her life. This is what all governments will do to you if you challenge their power and authority over you. It doesn’t matter what “side” you support. Government is force, brutality, and power. It knows nothing else.
Nothing that the Trump supporter and Air Force veteran did today warranted the taking of her life. This is what all governments will do to you if you challenge their power and authority over you. It doesn’t matter what “side” you support. Government is force, brutality, and power. It knows nothing else.
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