“NORMAL TOURIST VISIT”  THAT’S HOW THE GOP IS RECASTING JAN. 6^th ATTACK

 

                                        …Congressman, Andrew Clyde (R-GA)

 

Clyde is just one among a handful of Republicans who have sought to recast the insurrection,

 

I did watch the whole event, and I sure didn’t see it as a “tourist visit”.

Since when is a tourist visit, one that ends with one dead police officer, and four others being dead,

In addition, why would  the congresspersons be required to barricade the House Gallery doors?

The photos and videos from that day show this congressman, mouth agape, rushing toward the doors to the House gallery to help barricade them to prevent the rioters from entering. Those images have resurfaced in recent days on social media amid a wave of disbelief and outrage over Clyde’s comments, including from several Republicans.

His remarks came during a congressional hearing aimed at understanding the security lapses that led up to the Jan. 6 riot, which left five people dead  Also, that 140 officers were injured and members of Congress were holed-up for hours in their secure locations.

That’s a tourist visit? 

Clyde was among a handful of Republicans who have sought to recast the incident, claiming that, calling it an insurrection was “a boldfaced lie.”

Yes, Clyde did admit that it was “an undisciplined mob, there were some rioters and some who committed acts of vandalism” but it was “no insurrection.”  What?

According to Clyde, “Watching the TV footage of those who entered the Capitol and walked through Statuary Hall showed people in an orderly fashion staying between the stanchions and ropes, taking videos and pictures,” Clyde said this and he continued. “You know, if you didn’t know the TV footage was a video from January the 6th, you would actually think it was a normal tourist visit.”  This “visit” has been viewed multiple times of him saying this on the nation’s news TV channels.

House Republicans at times have defended the Jan. 6 Capitol mob with false statements as they said “the attacks were not an insurrection”.  This was what was determined by the Republicans during their May 12^th hearing.

 

…The GOP congressman, Andrew Clyde (R-GA) has  compared Capitol rioters to “tourists”. This shows him helping barricading the House Gallery door.

Clyde has noted that he helped barricade the door and that the House floor wasn’t breached because of the barricade.  But why do you barricade a door from these so called “tourists” ? 

Many individuals have pointed to a contradiction between Clyde’s comments and what the videos and photographs actually showed. Observers on Twitter, including lawmakers and the anti-Trump super PAC the Lincoln Project, mocked and denounced Clyde’s comparison, questioning why the congressman would have hurried to barricade the door from those “tourists”.

“Is that you in the picture? Do you remember? Insurrectionists were trying to stop the election certification,” wrote Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA). “This was not, as you now say, a ‘normal tourist visit.’ 140 police officers were injured, some severely. You should apologize to law enforcement.”

Tom Williams, a CQ Roll Call photographer who captured the image of Clyde barricading the door, he described the moment as chaotic and tense. During an appearance on CNN, Williams said rioters broke glass and banged on doors as police drew their guns and ordered members of Congress to get down.

The photographer said he went through his Jan. 6 photos and found the one of Clyde after hearing his bizarre comments and recognizing him as among those who barricaded the door. Williams shared it Friday on Twitter.

“I just thought, since the story’s out there, let’s get these pictures out so people can see for themselves,” he said on CNN.

Clyde’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment . Asked last week about his remarks on the Capitol assault, the congressman told reporters that the media “didn’t take what I said in context at all.” Then he walked away, ignoring other questions as he climbed into a pickup truck.  And my question is, “What context is he talking about?”

At least two Republican House members condemned their colleague Clyde, and his attempts to recast the events of Jan. 6.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said on ABC’s “THE VIEW” that such efforts from Clyde and his fellow Republicans were like “something you see out of North Korea, where it’s like, ‘We’re just going to state whatever we want the reality to be.’ ”

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) described the claims of some GOP lawmakers as “absolutely bogus” during a Sunday appearance on CNN. 

And it must be noted that this was from two Republicans, not a Democrat

These two were also among the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach former president Donald Trump for “incitement of an insurrection.”

In a Gainesville Times guest column defending his comments, Clyde blasted Republicans for not being in lockstep with him. He called the Jan. 6 incident “horrendous” and said “violence is never an acceptable form of protest.” But he also accused “the Swamp” of attacking him.

I’m afraid that Congressman Clyde is trying to have the situation both ways.  In one way he’s saying the event was a “tourist visit”.  But then he recognizes the obvious violence and calls the event being “horrendous”.

Sorry Clyde, it’s one way or the other, not both.

This is just one of the examples where the Republicans are trying to avoid there being a special, 9/11 type Commission that looks into what caused the insurrection. 

The Republicans don’t want it to actually be determined that the former US President did actually “incite an insurrection of the U.S. Capitol”.

Copyright G. Ater 2021