It is wrong to lie about voter fraud, attempt a self coup, & then incite an insurrection to seek to stop the count of electoral votes with seditious mob violence:
law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18…
@POTUS45 should have been convicted & removed from office, but @LeaderMcConnell blocked it.
The @pewresearch Center found that 82% of the Republicans who believed President Trump’s lie about him winning the 2020 election now say his conduct was not wrong.
The parallel to Germany in 1919 is unsettling:
nytimes.com/2020/11/30/opi…
“The lie outlasts the liar.”—@TimothyDSnyder google.com/amp/s/www.nyti…
“The idea that Germany lost the First World War in 1918 because of a Jewish ‘stab in the back’ was 15 years old when Hitler came to power. How will Trump’s [Big Lie] function 15 years from now?”
“Trump’s coup attempt, like other failed coup attempts, it’s a warning for those who care about the rule of law & a lesson for those who do not. His pre-fascism revealed a possibility in American politics.”—@TimothyDSnyder
“Post-truth is pre-fascism.”
“our big lie is also structurally fascist, with its extreme mendacity, its conspiratorial thinking, its reversal of perpetrators & victims & its implication that the world is divided into us & them. To keep it going for 4 years courts terrorism & assassination.”-@TimothyDSnyder
Trump’s Big Lie worked.
We saw it all happen in front of us for a year, like a frog slowly boiling.
Politicians who remained silent as Trump repeated his lies & didn’t congratulate @POTUS Biden & @VP Harris after November 7 share responsibility for what happened on January 6th.
The danger is real.
Congress should act.
It’s been 72 days.
GOP does not want a 1/6 Commission because of Trump’s corruption: nbcnews.com/politics/congr… but his Big Lie must be debunked.
@SpeakerPelosi @SenSchumer should impanel a joint committee with subpoena power & hold hearings.
"The danger of the Big Lie…was always that it would convince Trump supporters to fight for him not because they thought they would be fighting to overturn the U.S. government, but because they thought they would be defending it."– @HC_Richardson heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-19-202… Some did.
If "the election were stolen from @POTUS45 by the radical socialists of whom he warned, it would be the part of heroism to rally to protect our system"–@HC_Richardson "That is…what at least some of the insurrectionists believed they were doing" heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-19-2021
Post-truth
"The 2020 presidential election was not stolen."- @RepLizCheney
"Anyone who claims it was is spreading THE BIG LIE, turning their back on the rule of law, and poisoning our democratic system."
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-27-202…
Former @POTUS45 “Trump is seeking to unravel critical elements of our constitutional structure that make democracy work — confidence in the result of elections & the rule of law. No other American president has ever done this.”—@RepLizCheney
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
“We must support a parallel bipartisan review by a commission with subpoena power to seek & find facts; it will describe for all Americans what happened. This is critical to defeat the misinformation & nonsense circulating”—@RepLizCheney
Optimal.
And yet:
"The GOP has been conquered by the Big Lie."
"Trump’s lies are changing our nation’s laws."
"the best evidence we have suggests that the rise of the Big Lie is the direct result of strategic choices by Republican leaders"
vox.com/22420764/liz-c…
Beware January 6, 2025.
"when the next right-wing coup attempt takes place, backed by the overwhelming majority of Republican voters who believe Trump…won, what will the mainstream Republicans do?" nymag.com/intelligencer/…
"The next insurrection will be a Brooks Brothers riot."
"None of us has ever experienced a violent fascist insurrection in the Capitol of the United States before. That's a new thing."– @RepRaskin
New in DC: Unprecedented for a POTUS to incite an insurrection based on lies about fraud.
But in not US history:
The U.S. House passed #HR3233 252-175, with 35 Republicans joining every Democrat in voting for a bill that would establish a National Commission in the legislative branch to investigate the attack on the US Capitol on January 6th, 2021.
congress.gov/bill/117th-con…
May 2021: majority of GOP believes Trump’s Big Lie, denialism about January 6th, & @POTUS45 is still @POTUS.
ipsos.com/en-us/news_and…
“these are not the signs of a healthy democracy”-@sbg1
newyorker.com/news/letter-fr…
“Turns out, things are much worse than we expected”—@dziblatt
The US Senate is now voting on a bill to create a January 6th Commission. @cspan: c-span.org/video/?512173-…
Currently 54 yes, 35 no.
Because of current Senate rules, 60 votes needed to continue debate, & @Sen_JoeManchin refuses to entertain changing them, enabling GOP to obstruct.
And that's where it ended up: "the motion is not agreed to."
Sure seems like 11 Senators simply didn't vote on cloture for a January 6 Commission today.
11 Senators did not vote on a January 6 Commission:
@MarshaBlackburn
@RoyBlunt
@SenatorBraun
@SenatorBurr
@JimInhofe
@PattyMurray
@SenatorRounds
@SenShelby
@SenatorSinema
@SenToomey
@SenSchumer should bring it up again, or @SpeakerPelosi move on with a Select Committee
After @POTUS45 lied about voter fraud, attempted a self coup, incited an insurrection, & denied lethal political violence in a failed putsch, Republicans blocked a commission that would have informed Americans of what the President knew about any 1/6 conspiracy, & when he knew it
If Republicans refuse to form a January 6 Commission, Americans can & should expect @SpeakerPelosi to impanel a Select Committee with subpoena power to ensure that we & the world are armed with knowledge about the worst national security failure since 1814
s2.washingtonpost.com/camp-rw/?track…
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