THE JANUARY 6^th INSURRECTION WAS NO SURPRISE

 

                         …This despicable event should have been forecasted

 

“All hell” should not have occurred on January 6^th,2021

It is amazing that the insurrection on January 6^th should not have been a surprise to any knowledgeable person in Washington D.C..  In fact, The Washington Post columnist. Colbert King, wrote the following on January 1^st, 2021:  “Over a span of 14 days this month, our nation’s capital will bear witness to three events that will tell us much about the state of American democracy: a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, where electoral votes cast in December will be read and counted aloud; [there will be] protests in downtown Washington scheduled for the same day; and the Jan. 20 inauguration of the president of the United States.”

Anyone aware of the then president, that to this day has not conceded the 2020 election, and that he has falsely said the election was stolen, they should have expected what occurred on January 6^th.  In fact, Mr. King actually had added as his New Year’s Day 2021 column closed with this observation:  “Imagine Congress assembling to count electoral college votes in the midst of Trump-encouraged chaos.” And with this warning: “Trump isn’t calling his followers to Washington for sport. Or to make lawmakers nervous. Or to dominate the news cycle. Trump wants to overturn the 2020 election and take the presidential oath on Jan. 20. This is our current state.”

In other words, the insurrection on the 6^th was seen coming.

As expected, five days later, as was forecast, “all hell did break loose at the seat of America’s democracy.”

It didn’t take a fortune teller to forecast the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. It was a simple matter of telling the truth about what was being said and done at the time.  Such as Trump’s incitement of supporters to mass in Washington to pressure Congress to not approve the election results.  Also, about Trump’s desperate scheming to find new ways to alter the outcome of the presidential election. And about the betrayal of accepted moral standards by a cult of Republican lawmakers who willfully interrupted congressional certification with Trump’s unfounded claims of fraud.

And so, today it doesn’t require the wisdom of a prophet to foresee continued attempts by Trump and his Republican supporters to subvert the House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 Insurrection from successfully investigating that infamous day of violence and its causes.

Trump doesn’t want the story told about what he did, and failed to do, as his mob of supporters assembled and forced their way into the Capitol.  Also, that they left in their wake a trashed and partially destroyed building and the battered bodies of the Capitol Hill Police.  Trump also obviously wants to ward off any disclosures about the actions of his fellow “Trumpsters” holed up in the Willard Hotel and their schemes on behalf of his unconstitutional power grab.  This includes his efforts to block certification of the electoral college vote. Trump doesn’t want the covers lifted off the possible connections between the insurrectionists and his congressional foot soldiers or his White House operatives.

Trump is desperate to the point of asking the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the release of his White House records to the House Select Committee. He has gone so far as to cite an interview reported in a Post article as evidence of a congressional witch hunt being launched against him. Hey, didn’t he always call The Post, “fake news”?

Trump might also want the Select Committee Chairman, Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and ranking Republican Liz Cheney (Wyo.) gone as well.  But they, like the real truth, are not going away.  Nor should they.

Trump tested American democracy in a way only todays’ “America’s worst enemy” could.

For that, there must, and should be, a public accounting, in all its ugly details. Today’s modern-day Pearl Harbor deserves the spotlight of the truth.

One year ago, in the waning days of his presidency, President Trump befouled his term of service by not accepting the voters’ verdict.  Instead, he then, as he does now, falsely has said that the outcome was fraudulent.

The American presidency should never again be dragged down to the depth of Trump’s despicable behavior.

The Thompson Select Committee has no choice but to forge ahead. Anything less will allow Trump’s lie to continue its damaging spread at the expense of the awful truth about the attempted subversion of the U.S. Constitution on Jan. 6.

That cannot be allowed to happen. Nor can Trump’s damnable lie stand any longer.

Copyright G. Ater 2022