All the talk on Monday morning is of impeachment. But the events of last week go far beyond Donald Trump. Will those in Congress who supported overturning the election pay a price?
CNN’s Jake Tapper as quoted in the Reliable Sources newsletter:
“Will there be any consequences? Will Kevin McCarthy remain the Republican leader of the House?” Are Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley “just going to be allowed to pick up their committee assignments and try to move on? And what about the President of the United States? Will he be allowed to fly out of Washington on January 19th to spend his days luxuriating on the golf course, spreading more lies through the TV networks that were also part of this treason?”
Tapper concluded: “What happens to us? What happens to our country if we continue to pretend leaders who played a role in this attempted coup, in this terrorist attack, end up doing just fine without no consequences at all?
Indeed. And what about those thugs who dragged a police officer out of the Capitol and beat him to death. One attacker used his American flag pole to bludgeon the officer. Warning: Graphic video
But if you read right-wing media, it’s as if the protest didn’t really happen. This is from the website Red State:
Stormed?! Please! Aside from a couple of bozos who broke a window to get in, I clearly saw Capitol Police opening doors for protestors to enter, while appearing to cordially chat with them as they strolled through the building…There was a peaceful rally and a largely peaceful protest that was marred by some bad acts by a very few people.
As the right tries to bury the events of less than a week ago, it’s important for some context. Historian Timothy Snyder has a smart take in the New York Times magazine.
“The lie outlasts the liar,” Snyder wrote. “The idea that Germany lost the First World War in 1918 because of a Jewish ‘stab in the back’ was 15 years old when Hitler came to power. How will Trump’s myth of victimhood function in American life 15 years from now? And to whose benefit?”
“America will not survive the big lie just because a liar is separated from power. It will need a thoughtful repluralization of media and a commitment to facts as a public good.”