Thread by @AaronWorthing

So it’s the night before #insurrectionmas and the democrats and the media will ritualistically tear their clothes trying to get Americans to care as much about it as they do.

They’ll never understand why we won’t.

Thread 1/

2/ Part of this is *they* were scared. I don’t deny it. I have long said that the most basic mistake many humans make is assuming everyone thinks like them, even when their experiences are not the same.

3/ so in a very human way, congressional Democrats and DC media think to themselves: “it was scary to me, therefore regular Americans must’ve been just as scared for us.”

But it wasn’t really the same for average Americans.

4/ so that’s the first factor that blunts the reaction of most ordinary Americans.

A second reason is they will blame these riots on complaints about an allegedly stolen election. And then they will remember the Democrats claiming that Bush stole the election in 2000.

5/ Ordinary Americans will remember that @jaketapper, who is very mad at people for questioning the integrity of elections, wrote a whole book about the controversy in 2000 and arguing the election was stolen from Al Gore.

6/ they will flip over to MSNBC and see them complaining about R’s making false charges that the voting machines were not taking a true tally of the votes & we will remember how their former host, @KeithOlbermann, used to claim that Bush stole the 2004 election the same way

7/ They will remember years and years of Democrats claiming that the Russians stole the election from Hillary Clinton and how after years of investigation they came up with nothing. Democrats and the media will pretend that it is dangerous to undermine elections…

8/ …but we will remember all the times they did the same thing. Not to mention other “big lies” that plainly have inspired riots—one false accusation of police racism after another. They will do their best to brutally suppress anyone who questions an election from the right…

9/ …while continuing to tell their own big lies with impunity. And that’s another reason why ordinary Americans won’t care as much as they want them to.

And some of us remember how other riots happened, & Democrats’ reaction ranged from indifferent to encouraging the violence.

10/ those people were scared, too, and Democrats didn’t care very much about that. And it’s hard to care for people who don’t visibly care about you. Their lives mattered and their property, but not so much to democrats.

11/ and then some of us remember that this wasn’t the only time rioters attacked a federal government building. In May of 2020, rioters attacked the White House. President Trump reportedly had to hide in an emergency shelter in the basement.

12/ As you watch these people ritualistically tear their clothes tomorrow, ask yourself if any of these people expressed any sympathy for the fear Donald Trump might’ve felt.

They didn’t.

in fact, they mocked him for hiding.

13/ again, it’s hard to feel sympathy for people who are so callous to the suffering of others.

“Oh, but that’s different!” they might say, “this was an attack as they were carrying out an official function of government: the determination of who might be the next president.”

14/ now look, violence against elected officials is worse than when it is committed against regular people. Consider Lincoln’s assassination: millions of people voted for him and every single one of those votes were canceled out by an actor with a pistol

(not Alec Baldwin).

15/ jokes aside, that’s an offense against self-government.

But this proposed distinction isn’t really going to help their argument that #January6th was significantly worse.

first, the White House is the site of many important federal decisions.

16/ for instance, what if in the middle of that chaos, as Donald Trump hid from these rioters, China decided it was the perfect time to invade Taiwan? The American people deserve president able to do his job, and the rioters might have been depriving us of that.

17/ Second, it would be hard to argue that ratifying the results of the election was just as important as the formal handover of power. And yet you didn’t see Democrats just as angry about the riots that happened during Trump’s inauguration.

18/ and yes, there were riots: bbc.com/news/av/world-…

So tomorrow, the media and democrats might drive past Black Lives Matter Plaza, a landmark in DC dedicated to the movement that inspired riots for over a year washington.org/visit-dc/black…

19/ They will try to convince us that this riot was somehow worse than all the others that they didn’t care very much about. They will want you to care a whole lot about the riot that scared them. But most Americans won’t, bc they recognize how selective their concern really is

20/ that’s the final reason why average Americans won’t care nearly as much.

Not to mention that at Capitol Hill they will turn this in essence into a holiday for them while average Americans will be busy at work

21/ all of this is talking about how ordinary Americans are likely to react but the irony is the Democrats could have used this as a moment to connect with Americans. They could have pretended to see all rioting suddenly with new eyes.

22/ they could have gone to their constituents and said “I’m sorry for not caring so much about the riots in your communities. It wasn’t until I was scared for my safety that it became real to me. I’m sorry and let us now dedicate ourselves to stopping all political violence.”

23/ I’m not sure if it would’ve made Americans care more about the #insurrection, but it might’ve helped them with their real goal: getting more Democrats elected. And, by accident, they might’ve helped this country get to a better place.

24/ as it is they will tear their shirts tomorrow, metaphorically, but they’ll never get most Americans to care about it like they want them to. /end