One Year Later

“Do you realize you are describing a coup?” pic.twitter.com/Sl8ANp9SoF

— Acyn (@Acyn) January 5, 2022

There really isn't a better place to start an anniversary of an attempted coup, an actual violent insurrection attempt, than with a former advisor to Donald Trump being quite willing to describe the "Green Bay Sweep" in a book put out there for the public to read, and on his sort of kind of book tour. But of course, that's almost what Mark Meadows did, as well, isn't it?  They don't seem to understand what they did was in any way wrong, and are half-confessing while also wanting to cover their own asses. 

Just to get this out of the way, as time wears on, the voter fraud claims are increasingly stupid and obviously wrong. There was no election-changing fraud in Arizona. There was no fraud that would have changed the election results anywhere. And yet, scads of GOP congress-critters decided they wanted to pull this stunt. They helped give credence to the Big Lie that caused Trump supporters to swarm the Capitol. 

That's why many Republicans never voted for a bipartisan committee to investigate the events of January 6, and why they never wanted to delve too deeply into Trump's second impeachment. They were culpable. They served the Big Lie and knew what was happening, because they were aware of conservative media--how could they not be? 

Trump was supposed to sound off about this anniversary, but bowed out, citing the bias of all the people who think insurrections are bad which would probably be a reason to speak out actually if he thought his shit was true, but go off, righteously deposed and never again to rise pretend king. 

The right is zealously pretending true things aren't true, though. Tucker Carlson is raking over Ted Cruz, of all people, for calling the events of 1/6 violent domestic terrorism. But for once, Ted Cruz is saying something quite true--what else do you call the influx, the swarm, of people who injured over 100 Capitol police officers and had various weapons to hand, and threatened the well-being of the Vice-President, maybe even his family, the Speaker of the House, and other congressional members? 

Of course, Tucker Carlson has his own narrative, which is entirely a lie. But the damage is done--if the antifa narrative Fox News wanted was demolished, of course a Deep State one, however broken, slapdash and stupid, would have to suffice for people who want to believe in the rightness of Trumpism, regardless of facts. 

The right-wing (generally) doesn't get why a coup was even bad. I genuinely think that when they poll people to determine who believes Trump actually won, or that the election was stolen, the GOP respondents are performing an old shuffle, a buck and jive. They never thought Barack Obama was Muslim or Kenyan-born, But they would absolutely say so. They don't care if they live in a lie: If it is the lie all their friends believe. So they will say Trump won, even if they have no proof at all, because it's what they are supposed to believe. 

This is what I abhor the most in all this--that our democracy hinges on our shared belief that it should exist, and our acceptance of some consensual reality. And so many do not feel the anger I do that ignorant assholes carried Trump flags and Confederate flags in our Congressional halls, and spread shit on the walls, and broke glass and ripped signs and threatened our legitimate government process. How? How is that not universally maddening? Insulting? Appalling? 

I stay mad. And I am mad about people who can't stay mad, or who never understood why this should make anyone mad in the first place.