REX TILLERSON DID CORRECTLY CALL THE PRESIDENT AS HE SAW HIM

ATTENDEES TO JANUARY 6^th CAPITOL RIOT WERE ELECTED TO PUBLIC OFFICE

 

…according to one attendee, this was falsely a:  “law-abiding, patriotic, mom and pop, young adults pushing baby carriages,” event.

 

Amazing that anyone could call the Jan. 6^th Insurrection an event for: "peaceable assembly"

 

At least seven people who attended the pro-Trump rally on Jan. 6 in Washington D.C. that preceded the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol were elected to a U.S. state public office last Tuesday.

BuzzFeedNews first reported last week that at least 13 Republicans who traveled to Washington on Jan. 6 to protest the results of the 2020 election were running for public office this year. None were charged with crimes, and all denied being part of the pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol to try to stop the certification of President Biden’s electoral college win.

I find is unfortunate that one of the three individuals that was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates was very much one of the individuals that we saw attacking the Capitol Police.  That person, Dave LaRock, was one of those that had spread conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, and he falsely referred to the participants of the riot as, “law-abiding, patriotic, mom and pop, young adults pushing baby carriages.”

That’s not even close to what I witnessed while watching the mob that eventually caused five deaths and it was the same group that left 14 members of the local law enforcement seriously wounded.

On last Tuesday, three of those 13 Republicans, Dave LaRock, John McGuire and Marie March,were elected to the Virginia House of Delegates.  LaRock and McGuire won reelection, while March won an open seat.

“We’re in a very conservative district, and a lot of people do like Donald Trump,” March, a restaurant owner, told the Associated Press (AP) on Wednesday. “He was the sitting president of the United States of America at the time. We went to see him speak.”  March told the AP she did not regret participating in the rally.

LaRock, who has represented Virginia’s 33rd District since 2014, lashed out at critics who called on him to resign after it was revealed that he participated in the Jan. 6 rally.  Before that, it is well known that he had spread those conspiracy theories about the election.   “This event was, for the most part, an outstanding exercise of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances,” said LaRock, who went on to falsely claim that those who infiltrated the Capitol were “paid provocateurs.”

The newly elected, John McGuire did not acknowledge publicly that he participated in the rally until last July, when he told that to The Washington Post.  McGuire told reporters then that he did not enter the capitol building.

Two other Republicans who were at the Capitol that day, Philip Hamilton and Maureen Brody, lost their election races Tuesday for the Virginia House of Delegates.

According to  the HuffPost, other Jan. 6 rallygoers who won elected office, Tuesday includes Christine Ead for the Watchung, N.J., city council; Natalie Jangula for the city council in Nampa, Idaho; Matthew Lynch for the local school committee in Braintree, Mass.; and Susan Soloway for reelection to the board of directors in Hunterdon County, N.J.

According to the Idaho Press, Natalie Jangula said participating in the Jan. 6 rally was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to show support for our country.”  Matthew Lynch, a former teacher who resigned after a photo surfaced of him at the rally, he told Patch, which is a local news organization, that the FBI had visited him twice after that Jan. 6 day.

It is unclear whether he entered the Capitol.  Susan Soloway, meanwhile, faced a Change.org petition calling for her to step down from her county’s governing body after it was revealed that she was at the rally. In a statement, Soloway said she had participated in the rally but left before the Capitol was breached.

“Our group was shocked, outraged and frankly scared when it became apparent that a group of thugs were using the rally as a pretense to attack the U.S. Capitol,” she said, according to the New Jersey Globe. “When we observed the crowd up front pushing to try to enter the Capitol grounds, I grabbed some video on my phone, and, was concerned for my own safety.  We quickly left the area.”

In February, the HuffPost identified at least 57 Republicans in local or state office who traveled to the pro-Trump rally on Jan. 6.  A handful have resigned or faced serious consequences.  More than 500 people have been arrested in conjunction with the riot at the Capitol, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced in June.

The morning of Jan. 6, thousands of Trump supporters gathered on the White House Ellipsis for a “Stop the Steal” rally, where Trump appeared to push his false claims that the election had been stolen.

“If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,” Trump said at the end of his speech in the Eclipse area that morning. “We are going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue, I love Pennsylvania Avenue, and we are going to the Capitol.”  

Of course, Trump was too much of a coward to go with the mob.

Trump implored his supporters to “try and give [lawmakers] the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.” Many of his supporters at the rally made their way to the Capitol, where the certification of Biden’s win was underway.

It is too bad that Trump sent these people to do something that he was, and continues to lie about.  Many of his supporters will pay for what he is totally responsible for, but he refuses to admit his own election defeat.

Copyright G. Ater 2021