How can any patriotic American watch the two days of the House managers’ powerful presentation and not only want to hold Donald Trump responsible for inciting the insurrection–but demand he be held accountable?! How could a patriot watch the people Trump incited—as countless insurrectionists told us point blank he did—sack our Capitol to prevent the certification of the election, kill a police officer, and injure 140 other officers and not vocally denounce Trump?!
How?! You tell me, because I can’t make sense of it.
Yes, I know it’s potentially dangerous to get into who is a patriot versus who is a traitor when it comes to political issues. But here’s the thing: The attack on Jan. 6 is not—and can never be—viewed as a typical political issue.
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Jan. 6 was a deadly terrorist attack, just as were 9/11, The Pulse nightclub attack, and Oklahoma City bombing. There were not two sides to any of those attacks—just as there should not be to the 1/6 attack.
There’s no disputing the words of House manager Rep. Madeleine Dean, who said, “This attack never would have happened but for Donald Trump.” If Trump had not engaged in months of lies about election fraud to radicalize his base, spent millions of dollars in online ads to bolster that lie, then call his most rabid supporters to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 to amass within walking distance of the Capitol where he delivered a fiery speech that was clearly a call to violence to stop the certification of the votes, the 1/6 attack never happens. Period.
While congressional Republicans have condemned the Capitol insurgents, they almost universally refuse to condemn Trump for his role in orchestrating the attack. That would’ve been like after 9/11 denouncing the hijackers but not Osama Bin Laden.
Worse, some GOP leaders have despicably tried to turn this into a partisan issue in an effort to help Trump. Sen. Lindsey Graham went on Fox News Wednesday, where he was angrier at House trial managers for showing video footage of Trump's deadly insurrection than with Trump for inspiring that insurrection, calling the footage “offensive.”
And then there’s the GOP go-to defense of “whataboutism.” Graham and GOP Sen. Roy Blunt have been some of the leaders in this by falsely claiming that Democrats incited violence during this past summer’s protests where a small percentage became violent.
These senators sum up well today’s GOP. Their guiding principle is do anything, literally anything, from lie to embrace white nationalists to defend the inciter of an attack on our Capitol in pursuit of power. It has zero honor. It doesn’t believe in democracy—it’s an increasingly authoritarian, budding fascist movement.
To that very point, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown explained to me Thursday before the third second day of the trial commenced that today’s GOP has become “unrecognizable” when compared to the one years ago. Brown noted in disgust that the GOP members of Congress are “spineless” for refusing to seek accountability for Trump.
Brown even—although more gingerly than I—touched on the question of the GOP’s patriotism. The Ohio senator explained he wants to see a vibrant GOP because in his view to move our country forward, “we need a loyal opposition.” But he added, “It ain’t so loyal now, frankly.”
The reality is the GOP has no good faith defense to Trump’s incitement. As House manager Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) stated on Thursday, “You don’t have to take my word for it that the insurrectionists acted at Donald Trump’s direction. They said so… They were invited by the president of the United States.” She then presented footage of countless Trump supporters declaring gleefully they were in the Capitol to do Trump’s bidding to “stop the steal.”
On Thursday, the Department of Justice added to the case against Trump by noting in a new filing that Jessica Watkins, a leader of the Trump-loving Oath Keepers paramilitary group who had been arrested for her role in the 1/6 attack, believed she was responding to the call from Trump himself. As the DOJ wrote, “As the inauguration grew nearer, Watkins indicated that she was awaiting direction from President Trump.”
Is the Trump defense going to be that the throngs of fans who attacked the Capitol carrying Trump “battle flags’ in their MAGA “uniforms” were all idiots who misconstrued what Trump said? Good luck with that BS.
House manager Rep Ted Lieu on Thursday summed up perfectly the stakes of why Trump must be convicted: “It’s about making sure that no future official, no future president does the exact thing President Trump does.” Any vote to not convict Trump must be seen as a desire by Senators to use violence in the future to acquire and retain power.
Now it’s up to the GOP senators. Will they choose the United States or Donald Trump? Will they be American patriots or more loyal to power? Will they embrace our republic or lay the groundwork for fascism? Those are the stakes. Their vote will provide us with the answer.
