Saturday, September 18, 2021

Insurrectionists On Parade

 

In a Washington Post op-ed, Colbert King looks at today's far-right Trumpist insurrectionist rally in Washington, D.C., and the importance of countering their efforts to corrupt future elections and bring down democracy:

"The mere idea of people coming to town to hail insurrectionists charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol invasion as 'patriots' is as profane as it is insane. But this is where America finds itself at this stage in the 'big lie' campaign, which holds that twice-impeached, soundly defeated former president Donald Trump was cheated out of reelection.

It is, however, the pernicious and sinister intent of the liars — not their staged protests — that poses the real threat, which is no less than a slur on democracy.

That makes the work of the House select committee charged with investigating the Jan. 6 attack of paramount importance. The peaceful transfer of power was threatened by the Trump-inspired rampage. His 'big lie' as CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale reports, has spawned nationwide Republican efforts to change election laws to make it more difficult to vote, spurred Republican crackdowns on election officials who are doing their jobs, and provided ammunition to conspiracy theorists inclined to take matters in their own hands."  (our emphasis)

A far smaller cohort of the January 6 domestic terrorists are expected in Washington today, objecting to the justice being meted out for those who rioted, and implicitly celebrating their attempted overthrow of the 2020 election in order to install a mentally ill demagogue who clearly lost the election. However, in far greater numbers in state capitols and school board meeting across the nation, the domestic terrorists work continues to undermine democracy and force their toxic policies on the majority.