• Home
  • Blog
  • Contact
The Screaming Moderate

Investigating January 6th

7/28/2021

0 Comments

 
Who is responsible for the riot/protest/insurrection/coup that occurred January 6th at the U.S. Capitol? I don't know, though I can name many who have some responsibility.

That’s why we need an objective commission to investigate the facts. It didn’t happen on its own – I’d say spontaneous combustion was responsible but then what about those folks who wore combat gear, carried radios to communicate with each other, moved in military fashion, stole shields from police officers to beat them, and more?

Honestly, I’m not sure former President Trump is organized or smart enough to know how to pull off a coup. He clearly said he thought the certification that day could be blocked. He wanted his Vice President to do it. But he definitely has a large amount of culpability for what happened that day.

But let’s focus for a moment on those four officers who testified before the special committee yesterday. If you could watch that and not shed tears at various points, you have no heart. Whether a protest gone bad or an attempted coup, those officers and their colleagues fought against the odds to protect the Congress.

These men who testified weren’t making stuff up. They definitely didn’t hug or kiss anyone in the mob. They surely didn't roll out the welcome mat. They testified that some in the mob told them “Trump sent us.” If you’ve read about the pre-President Trump, you know that, despite his despot-like character on “The Apprentice,” he seldom gave direct orders, never really fired people. He nearly always gave wishy washy direction that his subordinates then carried out, as they "knew" what he was ordering. That is his style. He doesn’t like leaving fingerprints. Just ask Michael Cohen.

Those officers testified with passion, belief and utter amazement that some elected officials now are trying to say January 6th was a bunch of tourists strolling through the Capitol. If they were that, the Capitol Police would not have reacted as they did. If January 6th was a peaceful protest, there wouldn’t have been a million dollars of damage done to the building, not to mention members and staff of both parties hiding behind barricaded doors in fear of the “protestors.”

As the officers’ testimony was being given, several Republican members of Congress held, or attempted to hold, a press conference outside the Department of Justice where they claimed those arrested in the aftermath of January 6th are political prisoners. Give me a break.

My guess is some of that mob were average citizens, supporters of President Trump who came to Washington to protest what Trump calls, in the biggest lie to threaten our democracy ever, a rigged election. Months before the election he was setting up that excuse as the only explanation if he lost.

Many Republicans are pointing the finger at Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, saying she was responsible for the riot, alleging she didn’t have the proper security measures in place.

If you research the chain of command for the Capitol police you won’t find the Speaker of the House in that line. Nor will you find the Senate Majority Leader. The chief of the Capitol police is responsible for security and he or she reports directly to the Capitol Police Board. The Speaker is not on that board, nor are any members of Congress.  It's just one more delusion some are using to deflect responsibility.

Fact is, right or wrong, no one anticipated what happened January 6 could ever happen in America. Or could even imagine it.

“I feel like I went to hell and back to protect them (members of Congress)," said D.C. police officer Michael Fanone who suffered a heart attack and concussion from being beaten and threatened with death by his own gun. “… now,  (members of Congress) are telling me that hell doesn’t exist or hell actually wasn’t that bad…The indifference shown to my colleagues is disgraceful.”

There is nothing wrong and everything right with having some objective-as-can-be commission investigate what happened Jan. 6 and who was involved in it.

(To my Republican friends who at this moment are saying, “Yeah, what about a commission to study those BLM riots?” For one, they aren’t comparable and if you don’t understand why I can’ make you understand. For example, no one at those protests was trying to kill the Speaker of the House and hang the Vice President. Or stop a constitutionally mandated formality of certifying the electoral votes. But, whatever.)

Republicans rejected a commission, negotiated with Republicans,  with equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats and both parties would had have subpoena power. Pelosi then set up a special committee which, after she rejected two of the biggest flamethrowers in the Republican caucus, was boycotted by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

(To my Republican friends would now claim that a couple of those Democrats are equal flamethrowers, I would just disagree they are in the same league. Adam Schiff is no Jim Jordan. But, whatever.)

January 6th didn’t just happen. It was planned. By whom is the question and Republicans clearly find the answer inconvenient because cooperating would mean the potential of learning that Trump was culpable in some way(s).

I’ve talked to friends who work for GOP Leadership on the Hill. They say this whole thing (the “rigged” election, the deference to the wants of Trump) is all about winning a majority in the mid-term elections. It’s all about McCarthy wanting to be speaker. Not a surprise, I know. Just another confirmation.

Are there politics on the Democratic side? Of course. They want to remain in control. But where there should be no disagreement is trying to find out what really happened on January 6th. And that's why Republicans Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger joined the panel. They do want the facts to come out. They know what other Republican members are saying privately while they publicly support Trump in fear of him opposing them in the elections -- that we need to understand what happened  January 6h so it doesn't happen again.

An investigation is owed not only to the police who defended the Capitol against all odds but to the American people, to the world which is wondering if our democracy can survive and, if they think about it honestly, to all members of Congress whose lives were saved that day by a small number of police (when compared to the number in the mob), and to those police who literally gave their lives that day. Oh yeah, and they protected our democracy while it was under attack. A strong day at work.

(To my Republican friends who now would say “Yeah, what about Ashli Babbitt,” killed by police when she was at the front of a line trying to break through a door guarded by police, January 6th? I wish she wasn’t killed too. But she was trying to break in. Another sad casualty of a battle that should not have been fought.)

I know there will be a lot of “what aboutism” in response to this post by some Republican friends. The fact, though, is that our democracy was threatened that day. That mob’s aim was to stop the Congress from certifying the electoral vote thinking that would keep Donald Trump in office.

But it did happen, and we need to understand why and who is accountable for it.

Why? Because this still is America.

0 Comments

Right-wing media coming around on the vaccine?

7/21/2021

0 Comments

 
Right-wing media/pundits are beginning to change their tune.

Maybe it’s because now it’s primarily the unvaccinated who are dying from COVID. Maybe it’s because it finally hit them that the more they tell people not to get vaccinated, the more of their own voters and supporters are getting sick and dying (Okay, that’s a bit gratuitous. But it’s also true.) Maybe it’s because some developed a conscience (unlikely as that seems) and decided making this just another of their us-versus-them issues is a deadly mistake.

I don’t know which, or if any of that is true. But the tracking I do of the right-wing media (which is getting one round-up email a morning of what they’re saying) shows a distinct change in tune. For example, yesterday’s email from The Righting showed that Newsmax, a crazy right-wing niche outlet led by Trump good buddy Chris Ruddy, quoted Ruddy as saying:

“I like what Biden has done with the vaccine. At Newsmax, we have strongly advocated for the public to be vaccinated. The many medical experts that have appeared on our network have been near unanimous in support of the vaccine. I myself have gotten the Pfizer vaccine. There’s no question countless lives would have been saved if the vaccine was available earlier.”

Sean Hannity, Fox News’ former top right-wing idol (a title he’s lost to colleague Tucker Carlson), the other night on his show said: “It absolutely makes sense for many Americans to get vaccinated. I believe in science. I believe in the science of vaccinations.” Hannity said he will get vaccinated.

Meanwhile Carlson, who won’t say if he’s been vaccinated (but I’ve got a buck says he is), has been putting a decisive foot in each camp. According to Newsweek, “Carlson has repeatedly said that he isn't against vaccination. Rather, he said, he has been concerned with finding answers about ‘basic questions’ concerning COVID-19 vaccines. His show has repeatedly cast doubt about the vaccine’s safety.”

Whatever their reasons for highlighting their more pro-vaccine positions, I’m glad they’re finally doing it and I hope it’s not too late to save some lives. Ninety-nine percent of the people getting COVID today and dying are unvaccinated men and women. Some are true long-term anti-vaxxers, but many are following the lead of their favorite right-wing talking head.

This follows  the defenses being used by some of those arrested in the January 6th insurrection who say they invaded the Capitol because “(President) Trump said to do so.”

The point is these pundits and thought-leaders do influence how many Americans react whether it’s to political news, cultural news or getting themselves vaccinated. The point is not every issue is an us-versus-them issue. Sometimes we’re mostly all on the same side. In this case, we all want to live.

It’s one reason the Biden Administration is trying to engage people key to various ethnic and age groups to push for vaccinations – not because the vaccine contains some kind of mind controlling ingredient, or a chip that controls what you do or think – but because the vaccine works. It protects you from dying. Also, it’s a reason they’ve called for a door-to-door campaign to push getting vaccinated. (And, no, those knocking on doors are not there to give you a shot.) Those who say this isn’t the government’s job are wrong. The government is there to protect us.  To accurately inform us.

If former President Trump was a different kind of personality, he could take the lead among his base and lobby them to get vaccinated. The vaccine was created on his watch.  

A guest on another Fox program stated the other day: “People are saying, ‘why get the vaccine if you’re not going to return to normal? What’s the use of doing it? Why?"

To which host Steve Doocy replied, “Well, you won’t die. That’s a good reason.”

Exactly. This is not about politics or mind control or a culture war or me-versus-you.

To paraphrase Doocy this “life or death.”


0 Comments

    RSS Feed

     
    Follow @bjaycooper

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013

    B. Jay Cooper

    B. Jay is a former deputy White House press secretary to Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush. He also headed the communications offices at the Republican National Committee, U.S. Department of Commerce, and Yale University. He is a former reporter and is the retired deputy managing director of APCO Worldwide's Washington, D.C., office.
    He is the father of three daughters and grandfather of five boys and one girl. He lives in Marion, Mass.

powered by bjaycooper.com