Rehashing the January 6th Capitol Events is Politically Charged
Tuesday, June 14th, 2022
June 9th and June 13th marked the public committee hearings investigating the events of January 6th, 2021. The violent attack on the Capitol is alleged to be far more coordinated and instigated than previously thought, but many on the right including the Trump wing of the GOP continue to assert that this is a nothing burger, with some even still claiming election fraud. Regardless of the who/what/why of this event, its important to swiftly condemn the inappropriate actions taken and recognize that while President Trump might not have explicitly called for what happened, he and his faithful fanned the flames and continues to this day to allege election fraud with no evidence... but its been nearly 2 years and Trump is no longer the President. Is this rehash necessary or is it just political games by the Democratic Party?
I have to admit I'm a bit torn on this committee and it's timing. Do I think its important to hold those who did wrong on that day accountable? Of course. But is this worth the House of Representatives spending this time and energy, dragging this divisive issue out well after the election has been resolved? Especially when inflation is hitting all time highs and the economy in general is in the toilet? My gut tells me no. Sure we can walk and chew gum at the same time, but Congress has made no effort to combat the severe rising cost of living and instead want to grandstand on January 6th.
It seems that the Democrats believe that this is their winning issue heading into the midterms. Sure the economy is in the tank and people are losing their retirement funds, but at least the guy with mean tweets is gone. Remember what he did on January 6th? Well here is a whole committee hearing to remind you and stir up more anger and voting motivation to try and distract you from the real issues we aren't addressing.
Here we are, live on CSPAN, with famed representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) serving as vice chair of the special committee. The best course of action for us is to hear what is presented, discuss, and move on together. Information presented is pretty damming of the Trump administration and its clear he had no grip on reality heading into that day. Has criminal action been formally alleged? Not yet, and I think the committee has simply presented a case for the American people to interpret.
But there is a larger problem here.
Every time January 6th is invoked, I can feel those who are self-proclaimed Trump supporters roll their eyes and dig their heels further into conspiracy theories surrounding the election. Its so clearly a losing hill to die on for the left, especially since Trump did end up leaving and Biden is the current president. To what end is it worth continuously stirring up this dust, especially when it does nothing but further divide the public and encourage evidence-less documentaries like "2000 Mules".
The more the left pushes back on the right, the more difficult it becomes to work together. Had Biden entered the White House and ordered the Dept. of Justice to contract a 3rd party investigation of the election and work with the Trump campaign to make sure the sanctity of our democracy was maintained? Perhaps we'd all be a little less conspiratorial.
I have said from the beginning that the Department of Justice, with assistance from local law enforcement and third party investigations, should do everything in their power to look into claims made against our elections' integrity and ensure the PR surrounding the findings was managed properly. Instead, we got Washington telling anyone who questioned anything to shush. If something about the election seemed off to you, you were immediately labeled a MAGA cultist hell bent on upending democracy. This does nothing but cause doubt and stir up questions like "what are they hiding?".
On the flip side, the left and their allies in the mainstream media have touted this as a "modern 9/11", which feels gross to even type. Comparing this half-assed attempt at telling Pelosi and Pence to stop the electoral county to Jihadist Extremists murdering 3,000 Americans within a 3 hour window is abhorrent. But it wasn't just random Democrats making silly comments on the internet...
Here is Vice President Harris invoking Pearl Harbor and September 11th when speaking on the anniversary of January 6th. I'm going to show two links to the same video just to show how different the coverage of it was:
Fox: "Harris compares January 6 Capitol Riot to Pearl Harbor & 9/11
NBC: Kamala Harris' Full Jan. 6 Speech: Democracy Won't Stand if we Don't Defend it.
You be the judge. Is she COMPARING the events by simply citing these other tragic events in our nation's history? Or is she simply trying to drive home a point? If so, what is that point?
For me, to even mention these tragedies in the same speech seems asinine. Do I think that VP Harris actually thinks they are comparable events? I guess I sure hope not, but she is clearly using this rhetoric to fan emotion and further anger a reeling nation. We've seen her time in the Senate and how much she loves to be dramatic and theatrical (a problem across both parties).
So how do deal with this issue? Do we waft it away as a nothing burger like the right wants to do or do we treat it as a true insurrection and attack on our democracy as the left wants? The answer should be somewhere in the middle but it doesn't matter when those in power want to do everything they can to maintain their narrative.
The events and the rhetoric leading up to them on January 6th were inexcusable and beneath what our nation is. Trump lost and Biden won. Period. Rather than move on and focus on the issues that are troubling Americans today, the Democratic Party leadership would rather remind us how bad they think the previous guy was.
These officials, both left and right, don't care about issues that effect us. All they want is to maintain their power and influence and have a good time while in office. It is quite literally an aristocracy that we elect over and over, and then wonder why things don't get fixed.
Congress' desire to play theater or spend billions in Ukraine rather than make any real attempt to save our own economy is one of the most egregious aspects of our current affairs. If we could walk and chew gum at the same time as having these hearings, fine - but we clearly can't and millions are suffering from the insane inflation rates, gas prices, and overall cost of living. I truly don't care about the content of these hearings. Trump and his officials said questionable things and tried to overturn the results? I knew that the day of. We need bury this horse and stop beating it with the same tired talking points. It's getting us nowhere fast.
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