As you know it’s been five years since Trump sent his mob to storm the Capitol and prevent the (till then) routine ceremony of certifying the election. The election in which he’d gotten a fat assed WHIPPED I should add. I, along with a strong majority of Americans and people around the world watched in horror as three hours of mayhem unfolded. It would lead to destruction, major (life altering for some) injuries and even deaths. Trump was finally convinced to call off his mob but he sure as hell didn’t want to. We know that. We KNOW it. Worse, right away he started lying about what happened with his version of ‘Believe what I tell you and not your lying eyes.’ My eyes worked just fine that day. I saw the awful truth of an attempt to overthrow our Democracy with violence. My eyes see the truth today watching images of what I saw live five years ago.
Five years. Somehow it seems like yesterday and a lifetime ago at the same time. Although incredibly even after enough order was restored to complete the certification that night even AFTER what had happened there were P.O.S. Congress Critters who went ahead with their planned objections to delay things as long as possible. Full disclosure – one of them (Mike Bost of Illinois) was one of them. He’s a few years younger than me and I didn’t really know him but used to be solid friends with his sister who’s my own age. F**k him. What that b.s. proved was that Trump wasn’t about to admit defeat and would keep LYING about the 2020 election. Just as he and now most of the GOP is doing today as I write this.
As this article from the Associated Press tells us there is division on Capitol Hill over this day and what happened. In the hours and even for a few days after the riot a strong majority of Republicans admitted the TRUTH and even said it was time to move on. That Trump had lost and it was time to focus on the future and a different President. However, Trump wasn’t done inciting insurrection and ordered his MAGAs to harass any Republican who dared to speak the truth about what happened on January 6 and that Trump was responsible. It worked. Oh, they knew the truth. Still. They just knew better than to speak it lest Trump throw them to the wolves.
So today, on the five year anniversary of what is one of the worst days in our history we have Democrats on Capitol Hill holding a reprise of the Jan. 6 hearings, and Republicans at the Kennedy Center taking turns giving Trump handjobs as the chorus repeats his ‘I wuz robbed’ line song (‘music by Kid Rock and lyrics by Lee Greenwood) for six freaking hours. Yes, I said Kennedy Center. Just as (despite an actual vote by the proper authority) I refuse to call NATIONAL AIRPORT ‘Reagan National Airport’ I refuse to call the KENNEDY CENTER the Trump-Kennedy Center. Note that while for the moment he’s ok with dual billing he’s got HIS name first, but I digress.
Today would have been a good day to have a long overdue ceremony dedicating the placement of the bronze plaque that honors the Capitol Police who defended the Capitol. Infuriatingly it remains hidden away. There is no official remembrance to mark a signficant and tragic event that will forever stain our history as the Reichstag Fire in Germany did back in the 1930s. So we have Democrats at the literal scene of the literal crime(s) and Republicans off elsewhere in an ugly Trumpian circle jerk:
On the fifth anniversary of Jan. 6, 2021, there is no official event to memorialize what happened that day, when the mob made its way down Pennsylvania Avenue, battled police at the Capitol barricades and stormed inside, as lawmakers fled. The political parties refuse to agree to a shared history of the events, which were broadcast around the globe. And the official plaque honoring the police who defended the Capitol has never been hung.
Instead, Trump will meet privately with House Republicans at the Kennedy Center, which the president has rebranded to carry his own name, for a policy forum. Democrats will hold a hearing with witnesses to the violence and later gather on the Capitol steps to mark the memory of what happened.
Democrats at the Capitol confronting the truth, and Republicans at the Kennedy Center determined to whitewash history and gaslight (more like bullshit) us into Trump’s LIE that it was all a ‘peaceful protest’ that ‘just happened.’ I will call bullshit on that until the day I die. And, as I said to staff at his office if Mikey Bost doesn’t like me having called his office and calling him (and others) a traitorous Trump-dick-sucking insurrectionist any time he’s down in NC say visiting his nephew (a paratrooper) down the road at Ft. Bragg to look me up. Take a swing at me, jarhead to jarhead.
But today, I say allow yourself to be filled with anger over Trump and the GOP’s efforts to pretend what happened five years ago didn’t happen. But don’t let the anger consume you. Turn it into purpose. Action. It’s nine months between now and the midterms and not that we needed a reminder but the GOP is still firmly under Trump’s control. They might mount the odd pushback here and there but today they are proving they are too afraid of Trump to stand up and do the right thing.
Friends, I know everyone begs you for money. I promise, among all those asking for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a group of old, disabled people, except for one writer in his mid-50s. The rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the chance to keep telling the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
