Like many Americans who pay at least some level of attention to the news out of Washington, I watched some of the footage of the January 6th riot which the congressional committee that led the inquiry intentionally omitted. If you haven't, check this out:
Doesn't look very insurrectiony, does it? Granted, there was also a lot of barricade busting, violent clashes with law enforcement, broken windows, and bullhorns. But we have seen that evidence effusively over the last few years. Why is this the first time anyone is seeing the insurrection by private tour tape?
It's all led me to compile my eclectic array of thoughts regarding what happened that day at the Capitol. I'm interested in where I'm wrong, so feel free to let me know. But this is what I've got:
- Having an official select committee inquiry into the security breach was worthwhile.
- Having the official select committee inquiry be led by partisans who had predetermined the conclusion was a colossal mistake. It's like the Warren Commission - how well did they settle the conspiracy theories and assumptions.
- The full release of all January 6th video evidence has obliterated any credibility or pretension of objectivity in the official House of Representatives inquiry into the security breach.
- It defies logic as to why the January 6th committee went out of their way to avoid sharing video evidence that indicates this was not the violent attempt at governmental overthrow that it has been made out to be. Insurrections are not conducted by Capitol building tour guides.
- Once again, the enemies of Donald Trump are in many ways his biggest asset. They overreach and attribute to him absurdly diabolical intentions and absurdly exaggerated skills. Donald Trump owes Liz Cheney a Christmas card.
- The rally was ill-conceived and predicated upon wild, unsubstantiated assumptions.
- The rally itself was a completely constitutional exercise of free speech.
- The former president was irresponsible in his rhetoric.
- The former president had no intention of fomenting an armed coup.
- The former president loves to be loved and was too enamored with what he saw from his supporters to realize how bad it was quickly becoming.
- Those in the crowd on January 6th who forced their way into the Capitol building deserve to be punished appropriately for criminal trespass and for any violence they perpetrated against Capitol Police.
- Those in the crowd on January 6th who were ushered in by Capitol Police deserve to be completely exonerated.
- The death of Ashley Babbitt was an avoidable tragedy. She should have never been there, should have never been doing what she was doing; at the same time it's entirely plausible that the discharge of the weapon wasn't entirely necessary.
- Donald Trump's lack of vocal and financial support of his supporters languishing in prison or under prosecution is unfathomable and unconscionable.
- It's impossible for rational Americans to avoid concluding the prosecution of January 6th participants has the distinct and disquieting feel of political persecution. When rapists are getting early prison release, murderers are being paroled, and violent criminals are crossing the Rio Grande with impunity, it's hard to stomach people's lives being ruined for following Capitol Police around the halls of Congress.
- The suicides of police officers that were there on January 6th should be mourned. So should these suicides…
Everything about that day was sad and embarrassing:
- The conduct of demonstrators that devolved into riotous behavior.
- The lack of preparedness by Capitol Police and the federal government to respond to any perceived threat on the people's house.
- The sour grapes and irresponsible rhetoric of the former president.
- The obsessive exaggeration of the events by the former president's enemies.
- The partial inquiry and manipulated representation of the event by a congressional committee.
- The media's one-sided, sensational reporting on the events.
- The deaths of Ashley Babbitt, the police officer suicides, and all the trauma that has followed.
The best thing that could happen is perhaps the only thing that could happen which would make any meaningful step towards national reconciliation. It's the only thing that could fight the flames of discord and move towards unifying a very divided people.
President Joe Biden - that is, Democrat Joe Biden whose defeat of Donald Trump animated all the red-hat wearing, faux-insurrectionists - needs to himself issue a free and full pardon to all those associated with that tragic day. Not a Republican; not a re-elected Donald Trump out for revenge, not a fresh-faced Republican in Ron DeSantis beginning his first term.
It needs to be Joe. It wasn't an attempted coup. It was a bizarre combination of free speech and illegal trespass, innocent entry by invitation and rioting. And Joe Biden could put it all behind us.
