Thread by @DavidNeiwert

Yesterday's House Oversight hearing on the insurrection was significant in the way it demonstrated that the Republican Party is fully in the grip of the antidemocratic/ authoritarian/counterfactual insanity of Trumpism after Jan. 6. A video thread of the clown parade. 1/

The most obvious gaslighter was Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia: "Let’s be honest with the American people: It was not an insurrection, and we cannot call it that and be truthful." Followed by two definitions of "insurrection" that match the events of Jan. 6 perfectly. /2

Clyde later said: 'You know, but the only insurrection I’ve witnessed in my lifetime was the one conducted by the FBI with participants from the DOJ and other agencies under the banner “Russia Russia Russia.”' Which, regardless how you felt, was nothing like an insurrection./3

Then there was Ralph Norman of South Carolina, who wanted to know how the media knew the insurrectionists backed Trump: "I don’t know who did the poll to say they were Trump supporters." /4

Um, well, Ralph, it was kind of hard to do polling just then. But you kind of got the idea. /5

Then there was Trump-loving Jody Hice of Georgia: 'Why don’t you talk about how the president used those words, “peacefully and patriotically,” instead of cherry-picking words that you want to use to portray an image of something that did not happen?' /6

Yvette Harrell of New Mexico clearly lives in Trump's Alt-America as well, calling reporting around the insurrection "fake news": "We’ve had so much fake news, cynical politicians, disinformation—far, far from the truth." /7

Clay Higgins of Louisiana seemed especially angry—about BLM and antifa, who may not have done an insurrection, but who he blamed for 19 deaths and 2,000 police injuries last summer: "And yet, we’re gonna discuss today, as if none of that happened, the events of January 6." /8

Arizona Rep. Paul Biggs (who in fact helped plan the Jan. 6 'Stop the Steal' event that preceded the riot) also tried to make the case that antifascist and BLM protesters had committed insurrection, and Democrats were being hypocritical about poor MAGA folk. /9

His Arizona colleague Paul Gosar (who has become the House GOP's go-to white nationalist since Steve King retired) complained bitterly that the DOJ was "harassing peaceful patriots across the country" for their roles in the insurrection. /10

Capping off the gaslight parade was James Comer of Kentucky, the committee's ranking Republican, who smugly observed at the end: 'You saw a sharp contrast between the behavior of the Republicans on the committee versus the Democrats on the committee.' Well, yes, you did. /11

The whole sad spectacle of self-degradation was a reminder that authoritarianism seems to eventually induce real cognitive short-circuiting. /12 / end

[Transcripts of all these videos here.]
dailykos.com/stories/2021/5…

@threadreaderapp please unroll

More on the big picture here from @paulwaldman1.

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…