Legitimate political discourse.
That was the term that the Republican National Committee used when it officially rebuked Reps. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adams Kinzinger (R-IL) for participating in the House Select Committee of the Jan. 6 attack, accusing them of “persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”
This is the belief of the party faithful to describe the action of the Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, attacking police officers and forcing lawmakers to scramble to safety.
The same mob that were looking to lynch Vice President Mike Pence for performing his constitutional duty to certify the 2020 Presidential result.
For the life of us, we honestly do not understand why Republicans have not wanted to get to the bottom of what happened that day. It was their opportunity to break the grip that Trump and the extreme elements of his coalition have on the party, offering a pivot from the politics of greed and grievous to one that is the DNA of its party—smaller government, lower taxes and law and order.
In the past week, we have seen signs that there are GOP leaders willing to address the issue head on. U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell repudiated that description of the events of Jan. 6 saying those in Capitol Building saw a “violent insurrection for the purpose of trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election, from one administration to the next. That’s what it was.”
More strikingly, the former Vice President firmly stated that “President (Donald) Trump is wrong” in claiming that Pence had the right to overturn the 2020 election during a Federalist Society Florida Chapter speech.
“Under the Constitution, I had no right to change the outcome of our election,” stated Pence. “I understand the disappointment many feel about the last election. I was on the ballot. But whatever the future holds, I know we did our duty that day.”
Unfortunately, Sen Josh Hawley (R-MO) revealed the headwinds politicians face when he remarked that “Whatever you think about the R.N.C. vote, it reflects the view of most Republican voters.”
The issue is already front and center for the 2022 election cycle. With the 7th Congressional District one of the most hotly contested races this year, Rep. Tom Malinowski launched a digital ad campaign this week that features a violent image from Jan. 6 with the line “Tom Kean Jr.: Scared to say this isn’t legitimate political discourse?”
That is ultimately the problem with the current GOP in America, a base more interested in conspiracy theories than legislation. As a Monmouth poll recently noted, 30% of Republicans to this day believe there’s a path to overturn the 2020 election due to voter fraud.
It led Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, to observe “the persistence of the ‘Big Lie’ continues to be a warning sign. It is being fed and nurtured by messages that tout the possibility of overturning the 2020 result even though no such legal mechanism exists. While the number who hold this view might not sound like a lot right now, it’s important to remember that it doesn’t take an outright majority to destabilize institutions.”
The constant attack on fair democratic elections in the U.S. by Donald Trump and his supporters is simply un-American. The defending of the actions of the domestic terrorists who attacked the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6 must end.
“Legitimate political discourse” is a defining statement for Republicans, much like “Defund the Police” became for Democrats. Every Republican must answer for it and forcefully denounce it.
If not, you know they are an extremist who not only does not deserve your vote but both Dems and Republicans must work to defeat.
Thank you for stating the obvious. In the polarized climate of opinion these days, common sense has become a radical response. The radical middle? Common ground, common sense, the common good, the common interest? Individualism and individual liberty only works within a shared consensus of values. Can we focus on that?
Political discourse is what is needed. January 6th was disgusting and should have been a peaceful protest. I say this as a staunch Republican. However, I disagree with this left wing opinion piece. The Democrats never addressed, head on, the defund the police movement and that includes Biden and Harris. In fact they embraced it to play to their base. Now some are trying to say find the police. It’s too late for that. Biden and Harris have the lowest approval ratings in history and now Biden wants Harris to handle the Ukraine crisis. We have more serious issues than the political discourse of January 6th. The USA is a rudderless ship with a President and Vice President I’ll equipped to lead. The people responsible have been and continue to be brought to justice. Let’s focus on the real issues here and this non sense.
The selective memory…and selective outrage….from the Left never ceases to amaze me. . Never mind the tepid, at best, condemnation of the riots across the country, How about the lack of condemnation for Defund the Police, until it became somewhat politically safe to do so (= the obvious increase in crime in the cities)? I’m Republican, and I found the January 6th riot keep in mind, riot as in SINGULAR) abhorrent. But for 4 years many on the left, INCLUDING ELECTED FEDERAL SENATORS AND CONGRESSPEOPLE, overtly stated they did not accept the results of the previous election. This opinion piece doesn’t even acknowledge any of that, so its credibility is nil.
You demorats criticize and abuse then try to flip.the script. You suck and the country abd world know it.
…And violent leftist riots are “peaceful demonstrations”. Neither side has the monopoly on stupid, so let’s quit pretending that idiots in horn studded hats who live in mommies basement constitute a treasonous insurrection capable of over throwing the US government. Another Op Ed of word salad nonsense.
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Under no sane non psychotic interpretation of events could Jan6 be considered anything more than a protest. There was no insurrection. There was no attempt to interfere in the election. The ONLY person who was actually killed was an unarmed Trump supported who was shot by an incompetent capitol police officer. There is NO republican assult on voting rights. The respective states have the right as states to set election and voting policy. requiring an ID, proving who you are to vote is common sense. In many countries they only accept paper ballots b/c it has been recognized that electronic voting is rife with tampering and fraud.
The dems and progressives dont care about debate or freedom they only care about power and control. Some of the Jan 6 protestors engaged in some minor property destruction and trespassing, and they should be prosecuted for that but nothing that happened that day could be compared to 9/11 or pearl harbor. The rhetoric coming from the white house and the dems overs this is ridiculous and not in touch with reality. Furthermore, Ray Epps and others from the left were there in crowd egging the protestors on and the capitol police ALLOWED these people in the building and the left USED this whole event to discredit the Trump group.
The revisionism among the right wing commenters is appalling. You watched the same brutality and bloodshed on TV as the rest of us did. Many of your people decried it before embracing it. The hypocrisy on the right is mind blowing. My tolerance for it has expired.
PS – a fringe of actual far left types, in no way a majority of Democrats, used “defund the police.” It is a term disagreed with by the overwhelming majority of progressives, liberals and moderates, but picked up by the right and used as a cudgel far from its original intent: to let police do police work and let social services do the social service work police were saddled with. How can we find agreement or compromise on issues unless we’re speaking a common language?
People don’t seem to realize but the so called attack on the Michigan Governor Whitman a few months before was done by 18 people 12 of which were FBI informants and the group was led by one of them. 1 1/2 months before Jan 6 that leader of the group was promoted and moved to DC. So what’s this about an insurrection? Have you seen Epps starting the charge through the barracades and the video of capital police handing baseball bats to the so called Trump supporters ah mmm Antifas? Probably not.
If you want to get to the truth of January 6th, then ask Nancy Pelosi why she did not release the National Guard. She was warned days before the event and she did nothing. Trump was right, as usual. Also, why don’t you get to the bottom of the BLM riots? Why did we have to watch the destruction of our cities all summer without any Dems denouncing the violence? The hypocrisy is astounding!