Commentary
Big Lies, Bigger Cowards
by Adam de Angeli
Posted January 6, 2022
The one-year “anniversary” of the events of January 6, 2021 – what could charitably be called a protest, cruelly called a riot, or falsely called an insurrection – will serve to remind us of the nature of our enemies, and perhaps even teach us a few things we didn’t know.
It’s a day of hysteria and propaganda. Every major Democrat politician and their supplicants in the mass media will spend today lying about the facts of that fateful day (as they have every other day of the past year, but more vociferously).
The biggest lie is that the protest was anything remotely akin to an insurrection.
Trump’s supporters in Washington genuinely believed the election was stolen, genuinely believed that their state legislatures had failed them, and genuinely believed that the court system had failed them.
Whether they were right or wrong isn’t the issue. They came to Washington to stand up for their President, and as even the Justice Department sheepishly admitted, none of them had any organization or plan for any sort of “insurrection.”
The attendant lie, critical to the media’s false narrative, was that Trump’s supporters killed a Capitol Police officer that day, Brian Sicknick.
It’s easy to forget this one, because it was debunked less than a month after that fateful day. But that makes it all the more pernicious, because the lie is still truth to millions of the media’s brainwashed victims.
The New York Times, citing two anonymous law enforcement officials, alleged that Sicknick died “from brain injuries he sustained after Trump loyalists who overtook the complex struck him in the head with a fire extinguisher.”
The entirety of the mass media parroted the lie for weeks, until it was exposed that the allegation was completely untrue and fabricated from whole cloth. The Times retracted the story.
By then it was far too late. Democrats had honored Sicknick in a rare Capitol Rotunda memorial ceremony to gin up hatred for Trump supporters before the second sham impeachment trial, and after Trump’s acquittal, Joe Biden lied, saying Sicknick died “protecting the Capitol from a riotous, violent mob.”
The only people killed that day were Ashli Babbitt, an unarmed woman shot to death by a Capitol Police officer, and possibly Rosanne Boyland, who witnesses say was bludgeoned to death by the police.
But to the brainwashed viewers of the mass media – which includes most liberals – January 6 was, as MSNBC told them, “worse than 9/11” – the worst terrorist attack on American soil, in which 3,000 Americans were killed.
As critical as it is that these lies be debunked at every opportunity, there’s another point that’s ever bigger:
Even if these terrible lies were true (and they are not), the legal double standard is appalling: Trump supporters, and only Trump supporters, are singled out for prosecution to the fullest extent of the law.
In the context of 2020, what happened on January 6th pales in comparison to numerous left-wing acts of “insurrection.”
These included hundreds of riots, in which at least 25 people were killed, more than a billion dollars of property was destroyed, and countless acts of arson, looting, and malicious destruction of property were perpetrated.
In Seattle, anarchists seized six city blocks, declared it an “autonomous zone” where laws did not apply, and held it for nearly a month. Five shootings occurred; two people were shot to death and one was left in critical condition.
In Portland, rioters carried out violence for over 100 days. Police buildings and cars were burned and vandalized. In Lansing, a police car was flipped over.
In Kenosha, rioters tried (but failed) to murder a teenager for interrupting their arson attacks; the teenager was charged with multiple murders and put on trial for defending his life.
And yet everywhere, we read that hardly any of the perpetrators of these crimes were prosecuted. Every day, journalist Andy Ngo’s Twitter feed during that summer of violence had a long list of stories: “So-and-so arrested for arson/destruction of property/assault & battery… charged with disorderly conduct… quickly released without bail.”
Of course, the history of leftist political terrorism in America goes back far further than 2020.
In 2020, Senator Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren invited thousands of liberal protesters to disrupt the confirmation hearings of Brett Kavanaugh for the U.S. Supreme Court.
When Donald Trump was inaugurated in January 2017, rioters in “black bloc” garb burned cars, smashed windows, blocked checkpoint entrances, and assaulted police in Washington DC. This was after congressional Democrats fought unsuccessfully to block the count of Trump’s electoral votes.
Of course, these countless left-wing rioters never face the same criminal justice system as Trump’s supporters.
Just last week, a Portland rioter charged with assaulting police officers had a federal case dropped after completing 30 hours of community service.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Trump supporters, charged with such high crimes “civil disorder,” “disorderly conduct in a Capitol building,” and “parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building” wither away in Washington gulags, denied bail and facing the full force of the U.S. Department of Justice.
The resounding message to Trump supporters (and anyone paying attention) is that overt, coordinated political terrorism by the Left is forgiven, pardoned, excused, and in every way possible minimized, while anyone on the Right who breaks the law in the slightest way will be jailed, prosecuted, libeled, slandered, and tormented by federal judges, prosecutors, and jailers.
And through it all, the overwhelming majority of Republicans will say nothing of this double standard.
If anything, they endorse and espouse the same talking points as radical leftists: a total divorce from moral reality.
No less than three times, including just yesterday, Senator Ted Cruz called the January 6th protests “terrorist attacks.”
“We are approaching a solemn anniversary this week. And it is an anniversary of a violent terrorist attack on the Capitol, where we saw the men and women of law enforcement demonstrate incredible courage, incredible bravery, risk their lives for the Capitol,” Cruz said at a hearing yesterday.
This isn’t Lindsay Graham; Ted Cruz is a darling of the Tea Party. He was a popular 2016 presidential candidate, and rumored to be planning to run in 2024.
But if there’s any Republican who deserves our scorn on this solemn anniversary, it’s none other than President Trump himself.
Trump’s decision to cancel today’s news conference is just the latest in a full year of his failure to stand up for his supporters turned political prisoners.
On the rare occasion that Trump even mentions January 6, it’s all about himself. Thus last July 26, Trump issued a statement asking:
It’s not about his supporters being ensnared in this cruel, un-American prosecution. It’s about him and his election.
October 21, 2021, Trump issued a statement, reading in its entirety: “The insurrection took place on November 3, Election Day. January 6 was the Protest!”
This is Trump’s response to a full-blown media campaign to vilify him and his entire movement of supporters? A snarky one-liner?
Other than asking about who shot Ashli Babbitt, Trump has said nothing to defend the people whose lives were destroyed supporting him.
Which is all the more disgraceful because Trump’s own carelessness is what caused this in the first place.
In December 2020, I attended meetings begging people not to go to Washington on January 6 — because what happened was entirely predictable.
On January 4, 2021, I wrote this:
It was an easy prediction anyone familiar with the Left and the Deep State could have made. Certainly Trump and his advisors should have.
And then, on the day itself, Trump closed his speech by saying “So we’re going to, we’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue, I love Pennsylvania Avenue, and we’re going to the Capitol… so let’s walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.”
But Trump didn’t walk down Pennsylvania Avenue with his supporters.
He went back to the White House.
Of course, that does not justify the sham impeachment that followed, because Trump broke no law. He never suggested anyone should break the law.
But his lack of culpability doesn’t mean Trump is blameless.
It was a leadership failure of colossal magnitude, and for a full year, Trump has said and done nothing to stand up for the people his lack of judgment put into harm’s way.
It’s time to say “enough is enough.”
We’ve spent six years defending Donald Trump.
When our time came, he didn’t defend us.
The Republicans who have, we can count on one hand.
Ron DeSantis. Matt Gaetz. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
If there are more, feel free to let me know.
(UPDATE 1/7/22: Readers apprised me to add Congressman Thomas Massie, raising the total to four.)
But that’s about it.
January 6 is a day to reflect on the unmitigated gall, hypocrisy, and dishonesty of the mass media; the lawlessness, ruthlessness, and barbarity of the radical Left and the Democrats who serve them; and the cucked cowardice of their Republican opposition.
We have a long way to go to take back our own party, much less our country.
We had better work hard this year.
It’s a day of hysteria and propaganda. Every major Democrat politician and their supplicants in the mass media will spend today lying about the facts of that fateful day (as they have every other day of the past year, but more vociferously).
The biggest lie is that the protest was anything remotely akin to an insurrection.
Trump’s supporters in Washington genuinely believed the election was stolen, genuinely believed that their state legislatures had failed them, and genuinely believed that the court system had failed them.
Whether they were right or wrong isn’t the issue. They came to Washington to stand up for their President, and as even the Justice Department sheepishly admitted, none of them had any organization or plan for any sort of “insurrection.”
The attendant lie, critical to the media’s false narrative, was that Trump’s supporters killed a Capitol Police officer that day, Brian Sicknick.
It’s easy to forget this one, because it was debunked less than a month after that fateful day. But that makes it all the more pernicious, because the lie is still truth to millions of the media’s brainwashed victims.
The New York Times, citing two anonymous law enforcement officials, alleged that Sicknick died “from brain injuries he sustained after Trump loyalists who overtook the complex struck him in the head with a fire extinguisher.”
The entirety of the mass media parroted the lie for weeks, until it was exposed that the allegation was completely untrue and fabricated from whole cloth. The Times retracted the story.
By then it was far too late. Democrats had honored Sicknick in a rare Capitol Rotunda memorial ceremony to gin up hatred for Trump supporters before the second sham impeachment trial, and after Trump’s acquittal, Joe Biden lied, saying Sicknick died “protecting the Capitol from a riotous, violent mob.”
The only people killed that day were Ashli Babbitt, an unarmed woman shot to death by a Capitol Police officer, and possibly Rosanne Boyland, who witnesses say was bludgeoned to death by the police.
But to the brainwashed viewers of the mass media – which includes most liberals – January 6 was, as MSNBC told them, “worse than 9/11” – the worst terrorist attack on American soil, in which 3,000 Americans were killed.
As critical as it is that these lies be debunked at every opportunity, there’s another point that’s ever bigger:
Even if these terrible lies were true (and they are not), the legal double standard is appalling: Trump supporters, and only Trump supporters, are singled out for prosecution to the fullest extent of the law.
In the context of 2020, what happened on January 6th pales in comparison to numerous left-wing acts of “insurrection.”
These included hundreds of riots, in which at least 25 people were killed, more than a billion dollars of property was destroyed, and countless acts of arson, looting, and malicious destruction of property were perpetrated.
In Seattle, anarchists seized six city blocks, declared it an “autonomous zone” where laws did not apply, and held it for nearly a month. Five shootings occurred; two people were shot to death and one was left in critical condition.
In Portland, rioters carried out violence for over 100 days. Police buildings and cars were burned and vandalized. In Lansing, a police car was flipped over.
In Kenosha, rioters tried (but failed) to murder a teenager for interrupting their arson attacks; the teenager was charged with multiple murders and put on trial for defending his life.
And yet everywhere, we read that hardly any of the perpetrators of these crimes were prosecuted. Every day, journalist Andy Ngo’s Twitter feed during that summer of violence had a long list of stories: “So-and-so arrested for arson/destruction of property/assault & battery… charged with disorderly conduct… quickly released without bail.”
Of course, the history of leftist political terrorism in America goes back far further than 2020.
In 2020, Senator Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren invited thousands of liberal protesters to disrupt the confirmation hearings of Brett Kavanaugh for the U.S. Supreme Court.
When Donald Trump was inaugurated in January 2017, rioters in “black bloc” garb burned cars, smashed windows, blocked checkpoint entrances, and assaulted police in Washington DC. This was after congressional Democrats fought unsuccessfully to block the count of Trump’s electoral votes.
Of course, these countless left-wing rioters never face the same criminal justice system as Trump’s supporters.
Just last week, a Portland rioter charged with assaulting police officers had a federal case dropped after completing 30 hours of community service.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Trump supporters, charged with such high crimes “civil disorder,” “disorderly conduct in a Capitol building,” and “parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building” wither away in Washington gulags, denied bail and facing the full force of the U.S. Department of Justice.
The resounding message to Trump supporters (and anyone paying attention) is that overt, coordinated political terrorism by the Left is forgiven, pardoned, excused, and in every way possible minimized, while anyone on the Right who breaks the law in the slightest way will be jailed, prosecuted, libeled, slandered, and tormented by federal judges, prosecutors, and jailers.
And through it all, the overwhelming majority of Republicans will say nothing of this double standard.
If anything, they endorse and espouse the same talking points as radical leftists: a total divorce from moral reality.
No less than three times, including just yesterday, Senator Ted Cruz called the January 6th protests “terrorist attacks.”
“We are approaching a solemn anniversary this week. And it is an anniversary of a violent terrorist attack on the Capitol, where we saw the men and women of law enforcement demonstrate incredible courage, incredible bravery, risk their lives for the Capitol,” Cruz said at a hearing yesterday.
This isn’t Lindsay Graham; Ted Cruz is a darling of the Tea Party. He was a popular 2016 presidential candidate, and rumored to be planning to run in 2024.
But if there’s any Republican who deserves our scorn on this solemn anniversary, it’s none other than President Trump himself.
Trump’s decision to cancel today’s news conference is just the latest in a full year of his failure to stand up for his supporters turned political prisoners.
On the rare occasion that Trump even mentions January 6, it’s all about himself. Thus last July 26, Trump issued a statement asking:
Will Nancy investigate herself and those on Capitol Hill who didn’t want additional protection, including more police and National Guard, therefore being unprepared despite the large crowd of people that everyone knew was coming?
Will Nancy and her Committee study the massive Voter Fraud that took place during the 2020 Presidential Election, particularly in swing states, that was the reason hundreds of thousands of people came pouring into Washington and, therefore, must be a big factor in the final Committee Report? Now would be a very good time to study the large scale Voter Fraud in our Presidential Election.
Will Nancy and her Committee study the massive Voter Fraud that took place during the 2020 Presidential Election, particularly in swing states, that was the reason hundreds of thousands of people came pouring into Washington and, therefore, must be a big factor in the final Committee Report? Now would be a very good time to study the large scale Voter Fraud in our Presidential Election.
It’s not about his supporters being ensnared in this cruel, un-American prosecution. It’s about him and his election.
October 21, 2021, Trump issued a statement, reading in its entirety: “The insurrection took place on November 3, Election Day. January 6 was the Protest!”
This is Trump’s response to a full-blown media campaign to vilify him and his entire movement of supporters? A snarky one-liner?
Other than asking about who shot Ashli Babbitt, Trump has said nothing to defend the people whose lives were destroyed supporting him.
Which is all the more disgraceful because Trump’s own carelessness is what caused this in the first place.
In December 2020, I attended meetings begging people not to go to Washington on January 6 — because what happened was entirely predictable.
On January 4, 2021, I wrote this:
The rally in Washington, DC this Wednesday could easily turn into a bloodbath. Violent attacks from Antifa are a certainty. Provocateurs are a certainty. And no matter whether 90, 95, 99, or 99.9% of demonstrators are unarmed and peaceful, the small, even infinitesimal minority of conservatives that come armed will be used to smear all the rest.
The only man who can pre-emptively stop this is President Trump, by declaring that those welcome are only the disciplined, the peaceful, the smart and the safe people who are there only to protest the theft of their votes and of their president's second term.
But no. Instead, Trump tweeted: "Should be wild!"
The only man who can pre-emptively stop this is President Trump, by declaring that those welcome are only the disciplined, the peaceful, the smart and the safe people who are there only to protest the theft of their votes and of their president's second term.
But no. Instead, Trump tweeted: "Should be wild!"
It was an easy prediction anyone familiar with the Left and the Deep State could have made. Certainly Trump and his advisors should have.
And then, on the day itself, Trump closed his speech by saying “So we’re going to, we’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue, I love Pennsylvania Avenue, and we’re going to the Capitol… so let’s walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.”
But Trump didn’t walk down Pennsylvania Avenue with his supporters.
He went back to the White House.
Of course, that does not justify the sham impeachment that followed, because Trump broke no law. He never suggested anyone should break the law.
But his lack of culpability doesn’t mean Trump is blameless.
It was a leadership failure of colossal magnitude, and for a full year, Trump has said and done nothing to stand up for the people his lack of judgment put into harm’s way.
It’s time to say “enough is enough.”
We’ve spent six years defending Donald Trump.
When our time came, he didn’t defend us.
The Republicans who have, we can count on one hand.
Ron DeSantis. Matt Gaetz. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
If there are more, feel free to let me know.
(UPDATE 1/7/22: Readers apprised me to add Congressman Thomas Massie, raising the total to four.)
But that’s about it.
January 6 is a day to reflect on the unmitigated gall, hypocrisy, and dishonesty of the mass media; the lawlessness, ruthlessness, and barbarity of the radical Left and the Democrats who serve them; and the cucked cowardice of their Republican opposition.
We have a long way to go to take back our own party, much less our country.
We had better work hard this year.
