Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

"Constitutional democracies are rarely destroyed by a single blow. Their citizens often sleepwalk into catastrophe, discovering too late that a degree of timely vigilance could have preserved their system of self-rule.

This is why the work of the House committee investigating the J*** 6 i**********n is so important. Its public hearing Thursday was a red alert.

Using less than two hours of prime-time television, the committee issued an urgent plea: Americans must understand the violence they saw on that winter day in 2021 as nothing less than what Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), the committee chair, called “an attempted c**p.”

Attempted c**ps have authors, and with a steely, matter-of-fact eloquence worthy of history’s most able prosecutors, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the vice chair, indicted Donald Trump in every sense but the formal one.

After watching Cheney pile fact upon fact and make connection after connection, the actual prosecutors in the Justice Department (and local prosecutors in Georgia) will have little choice but to issue the actual legal indictments that the treasonous conspiracy of J*** 6 requires.

The nation must be clear on this: Failing to achieve accountability for the J*** 6 i**********n, in the courts and at the b****t boxes, will amount to issuing a license for the enemies of democracy to do this all over again.

Cheney’s standing as a loyal conservative Republican certainly added to her credibility and guarantees her a place on history’s honor roll. But even more critical to her success Thursday night was her understanding of the obstacles before her. She needed to overcome the temptation of the complacent to write off the desecration of our seat of government as the work of mad extremists disconnected from the broader political system.

No. Foes of democracy regularly use mobs for their purposes, and these criminals were acting in concert with the president of the United States. Cheney proved — yes, beyond a shadow of a doubt — that the assault on the counting of the e*******l v**e was planned, and that thuggish, far-right P***d B**s and O**h K****rs and the rest were part of something bigger. One man set this attempted putsch in motion.
“President Trump,” Cheney declared, “summoned the mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack.”

Speaking to the part of her audience made up of Justice Department lawyers, Cheney used the evidence the committee gathered to underscore that Trump knew his e******n-rigging claim was a gigantic inflammatory lie. It was devastating to see former attorney general William Barr on video calling Trump’s assertions “bulls---,” and to learn that the former president’s own data mavens told him they were false. Trump’s daughter Ivanka was on video saying she believed Barr, not her father.

Key to prosecuting Trump will be proving his corrupt intent. The liar will claim innocence by insisting he truly “believed” that the e******n was s****n. The more evidence there is that he knew perfectly well that he was peddling, well, “bulls---,” the harder it will be for him to evade the consequences of his actions. Even the most practiced con artists get caught out eventually.

Last, Cheney showed that the mayhem was part of a much broader effort to subvert a free e******n. She contrasted Trump’s unquenchable will to power with the loyalty of fellow Republicans — at the federal, state and local levels — to the Constitution and the democratic process. Again and again, Trump attacked then-Vice President Mike Pence’s refusal to throw out legitimately chosen e*****rs, even at moments when Pence’s life was in danger.

Cheney did not just let this hang there. “Aware of the r****rs’ chants to ‘hang Mike Pence,’” she said, “the president responded with this sentiment: ‘Maybe our supporters have the right idea,’ and Mike Pence ‘deserves’ it.”

If holding Trump accountable is “partisan,” that makes standing up for one of the most conservative Republican vice presidents in history “partisan,” too. And if the story being told is “partisan,” why are so many of the credible witnesses Republicans?

This goes to one other aspect of authoritarian practice that the committee is confronting: Abusers of power cultivate cynicism. Trump’s defenders do not want Americans to grapple with the facts. They want people to believe that there are no t***hs at all, just selfish interests. Let it go, they say, it’s old news.
In describing the “war scene,” “carnage” and “chaos” of J*** 6, Caroline Edwards, a U.S. C*****l P****e officer badly injured by the Trumpist mob, provided the antidote to this poisonous indifference.

To ignore the war on our Constitution that Trump unleashed is to break faith with Edwards and all the other guardians of our republican traditions. At the very least, Thursday’s hearing showed that defenders of democracy have a fighting chance to awaken a brooding and preoccupied nation."

E.J. Dionne Jr.

alberio Loc: Casa Grande AZ

Attempted c**p? Usually there are weapons and prisoners/hostages involved. How does a crowd o*******w a government with cellphones? Did you see any hostages or prisoners?

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

The attempted c**p was messy and bloody-- people hurt, destroyed offices, "Hang Mike Pence signs, feces on the floor, and our Congressional leaders fearing for their lives.
Not to mention the internal attempt to disrupt the certification process, guided by the Eastman meno, supported by Trump and his loyalists. It is not in dispute that Trump tried to circumvent the Constitution with directives to Pence. He was disappointed when Pence did the right thing.

Shutterbug1697 Loc: Northeast

Why do you keep pushing such laughable GOP Propaganda?

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

Because the Trump loyalists have no problem with rationalizing and twisting everything Trump does, no matter what. Wh**ever indisputable evidence is presented, from Trump’s own people and family, from tapes, images, e-mails, memos, wh**ever; they will always find a way to believe this narcissistic con-man whose history of mendacity is so intense and so engrained that he wouldn't know the t***h if he fell over it.
Why? If there is a God, only he or she knows why they won’t admit their error in not knowing the sick, monster nature of Trump.

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

E.J. Dione laments about, "Caroline Edwards, a U.S. C*****l P****e officer badly injured by the Trumpets mob."

She's a trained cop with r**t equipment on! She bumped her head in a crowd scuffle. Why doesn't he ask how unarmed Ashli Babbit is doing in her grave murdered by a Capitol cop.

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

You are a true loyalist to the New York Toilet Paper Times who has been wrong and lied so many times that they are the unofficial spokesman for the Democrat party.

How do you get God's ear with only him and you knowing the sick, monster nature of Trump? I thought you were a true atheist. Could you also be a true liar?

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

Why don’t you put the blame where it should be—the man who incited the r**t, not just the day that it happened, but the weeks leading up to it. “it will be wild”, he said.
You deflect with consequential results of what Trump wanted to happen, and did.

thom w Loc: San Jose, CA

True atheists make up a very small percentage of those who don't believe in your god.

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

I never said I was an atheist, Again, you deflect— with no defense of Trump or what he did. What lie did I tell?

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

I thought you were a self-proclaimed atheist. I must have been misinformed.

But now you are changing your official Democrat talking point from "Trump incited a r**t with his speech on J*** 6", to "not just the day that it happened, but the weeks leading up to it." You and the NYT can sure pull them out of your asses when it fits your changing narrative.

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

I haven’t changed anything about Trump. You weren’t “informed” that I was an atheist. You made that up because you dislike my liberal views, and it fit your agenda.
If you are trying to bait me with words, that’s not going to happen,.

srg

A pack of peace loving tourists driven mad by the words of a bloviating bozo who stumbled into the presidency with the aid of the lower half of the IQ population.

Shutterbug1697 Loc: Northeast

Since before the 2016 e******n, trump has said he wouldn't accept an e******n result if he lost.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-wont-commit-to-accepting-e******n-results-if-he-loses/2016/10/19/9c9672e6-9609-11e6-bc79-af1cd3d2984b_story.html

https://www.npr.org/2016/10/20/498713509/donald-trump-says-hell-accept-the-results-of-the-e******n-if-he-wins

Then after the polls closed in 2020, trump started pushing his v***r f***d claims because he went from initially being in the lead to seeing that lead erode as more v**e totals were reported.

In the wee hours after the polls closed, trump tried to declare that he was the winner, and that the rest of the v**es shouldn't be counted.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-e******n-strategy/2020/11/18/94fbe50e-29c9-11eb-92b7-6ef17b3fe3b4_story.html

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/republicans-break-with-trump-over-push-to-halt-v**e-count

The seeds of what happened on J****** 6, 2021 had long been planted by trump!

Racmanaz Loc: Sunny Tucson!

Ok, what did Trump say that was inciting any r**ts for the J** *6 protests?