February 15, 2021

A Few Words About January 6

These words were spoken recently on The Senate floor:

January 6 was a disgrace. American citizens attacked their own government. They used terrorism to try to stop a specific piece of domestic business they did not like. Fellow Americans beat and bloodied our own police. They stormed the Senate floor, they tried to hunt down the Speaker of the House. They built a gallows and chanted about murdering the Vice President. They did this because they had been fed wild falsehoods by the most powerful man on Earth because he was angry he had lost an election. 

Former President Trump’s actions preceded the riot for a disgraceful — disgraceful dereliction of duty.

And: 

There’s no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. No question about it. The people that stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their President. And having that belief was a foreseeable consequence of the growing crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories and reckless hyperbole, which the defeated President kept shouting into the largest megaphone on planet Earth. 

The issue is not only the President’s intemperate language on January 6, it is not just his endorsement of remarks in which an associate urged "trial by combat." It was also the entire manufactured atmosphere of looming catastrophe, the increasingly wild myths — myths  about a reverse landslide election that was somehow being stolen, some secret coup by our now-President.

And:

This was an intensifying crescendo of conspiracy theories, orchestrated by an outgoing President  who seemed determined to either overturn the voters’ decision or else torch our institutions on the way out. The unconscionable behavior did not end when the violence actually began. Whatever our ex-President claims he thought might happen that day, whatever reaction he says he meant to produce by that afternoon, we know he was watching the same live television as the rest of us. A mob was assaulting the Capitol in his name. 

And:

These criminals were carrying his banners, hanging his flags, and screaming their loyalty to him. It was obvious that only President Trump could end this. He was the only one who could. Former aides publicly begged him to do so. Loyal  allies frantically called the administration. The President did not act swiftly. He did not do his job. He didn’t take steps so Federal law could be faithfully executed and order be restored. No. Instead, according to  public reports, he watched television happily — happily as the chaos unfolded. He kept pressing his scheme to overturn the election. Now even after it was clear to any reasonable  observer that Vice President Pence was in serious danger, even as the mob carrying Trump banners was beating cops and breaching perimeters, the President sent a further tweet  attacking his own Vice President. 

So who said all this? A House impeachment manager? Keith Olbermann? AOC???

No. It was Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell after he voted to acquit Donald Trump for all the actions he described.

He said that The Senate had no authority to "disqualify or convict" a former President, when he was the one who delayed the Senate trial until after Biden's inauguration.

Feel free to quote McConnell at any of your MAGA friends/colleagues when they spit the "it was all a hoax" line at you.