There is a lot of unpleasantness being broadcast on national television and streamed live online these days. It is painful to watch and hear the testimony of those closest to the January 6 riot in Washington. The first episode featured those who defended the Capitol and did all they could to keep Congressmen, Senators and their staffs safe on that day. Many of them have not yet recovered from the beatings they took on January 6. None will ever forget it.
Subsequent testimony is mostly provided by people who voted for, worked to elect, and supported the Trump administration until well after Election Day. Others actually were part of his administration, others were officials elected to the House and Senate, many of whom feared for their lives. All of this testimony, both live and taped, was given under oath subject to penalty of perjury. Every witness, every snippet of taped interviews, is salted with graphic insights that represent the odd details and emotions that people under great stress would recall.
This is terribly credible and sadly but emphatically believable television.
Kat and I watched the January 6 attack on the Capitol unfold on TV and followed the attempt to disrupt the Electoral Count and possibly maim or kill certain people present. I seriously doubt that the Secret Service would have let the mob take Pence, let alone carry him off for execution, but Congress and the Senate relied on the overwhelmed Capitol Police. Yet they held.
Trump’s rally speech at the Ellipse served to rile up the crowd, and telling them to fight like hell or you won’t have a country added fuel. Then he told them to go the Capitol, and that he’d go with them. That right there feels to me like incitement to riot, but given his penchant for bluster and bombast, perhaps legally it falls just short.
Whether you love, detest, or somehow remain neutral on the past president, it seems extremely unlikely that all of his people behind that attack and/or who did nothing to stop it will escape trial and possible criminal convictions. His Chief of Staff Meadows is in deep. Giuliani, John Eastman, General Flynn, and the others who asked for pardons for their January 6 involvement, are in serious jeopardy. And so is the former president. You owe it to yourself to become a more informed citizen by watching some or all of this televised testimony.
Half the questions are being posed by Republican Congresspeople Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. There is not a single liberal bone in either’s body, but both have spines of steel and stood up against all attempts to excuse the riot, the Big Lie called Stop the Steal, and for an orderly exchange of power. And I almost forgot: they honored their oath to protect the US Constitution.
As Kinzinger put it, “The only reason I know to ask for a pardon is because you think you’ve committed a crime.” And further, “We ask soldiers to sacrifice their lives for their country; then politicians should be able to sacrifice their jobs to honor their oath.”
Cheney’s summary was even stronger: “In these hearings so far, you have heard from more than a dozen Republicans who have told you what actually happened in the weeks before January 6th,” she said. “It can be difficult to accept that President Trump abused your trust. That he deceived you. Many will invent excuses to ignore that fact. But that is a fact. I wish it was not true. But it is.”
Here are links to each of the six televised evidence summaries so far.
June 9, 1st Televised Summary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAYUj3iwqLY
June 13, 2nd Televised Summary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr5QUInmGI8
June 16, 3rd Televised Summary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBjUWVKuDj0
June 21, 4th Televised Summary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xa43_z_82Og
June 23, 5th Televised Summary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4535-VW-bY
June 28, 6th Televised Summary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeQNV-aQ_jU
Life on the Blue Highways 
With every televised summary there is a further sadness at the diminished level of character of those directly involved. There will always be the ‘say it ain’t so’ crowd but with every new layer of info there is enlightenment of just how deep the conspiracy runs.
There may be a deeper rift in the mindset of the public caused but I hope they throw the book at everyone of the perpetrators, not least of which should be The Don. He will get his deserved comeuppance & hopefully it breaks that smirk of being untouchable. A felony conviction should be the minimum for fraud & seditious conspiracy…..
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Perhaps I was preaching to the choir, but I am having difficulty in coming to grips with the fact that so many people seem to feel that this assault on democracy was justified.
I really, I really wanted to learn that this was the work of a cult leader who won his sheep over on the sheer force of his personality. But he appears to have had dozens of acolytes who made this possible.
We came so close to an authoritarian government, but we aren’t out of the woods yet. Still, that glimmer of light in the distance gives me hope.
Thanks for reading us, and commenting, PMC.
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Cult Leader & sheer force of personality… geez, Jackson what more evidence do you need???
Trump has that Svengali/Mussolini/Hitler like mania that allows him an invincible-like quality that has the right kind of magnetism for those who can easily be deceived, bamboozled – almost hypnotized into believing he is omniscient & omnipotent.
Anyway, let’s hope he doesn’t get another chance………
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