The Beat Goes On

Republicans’ narrative regarding the January 6 insurrection continues to change on an almost daily basis. At first, Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Representative Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), and other alleged GOP leaders said that Donald Trump was responsible for inciting that riot and should be held accountable. This quickly evolved into: (1) It was Antifa and BLM masquerading as Trump followers. (2) It was a peaceful protest by civic minded patriots interested only in ensuring election integrity. (3) It was a normal “tourist visit.” 4) It was a plot by the “Deep State” and the FBI to embarrass Trump. One might ask, How many more bogus versions of this tragic event will there be? Well, the beat goes on.

(5) Now we are told, the perpetrators were merely guilty of trespassing and did not beat and severely injure more than 140 police officers while attempting to overturn the results of a legitimate democratic (small d) election. Some are incensed that any white person could be convicted of so much as a misdemeanor and have to serve time in jail or even be on probation for threatening to hang VP Mike Pence and do great bodily harm to any members of Congress who stood in their way. To convince anyone of the charge that insurrectionist prisoners are being abused, one should probably rely on more credible sources than Marjorie (Jewish Space Lasers) Taylor Greene or Fox Entertainment. Otherwise, it’s just another big slice of hyperbolic right-wing cow pie.

The attempt to bestow martyrdom on rioter Ashli Babbitt is pathetic at best. The police officer who fired the fatal shot was doing his job to protect and serve members of Congress and their respective staffs. To present that angry mob of violent insurrectionists as anything other than domestic terrorists is profoundly shameful. For many Trumpistas, however, the ability to feel shame has clearly been compromised by their extremist ideology.

Some things never change.