The Republican January 6th coverup is unraveling
The GOP has been desperately whitewashing the January 6 insurrection for as long as possible, with a number of contradictory talking points to muddy the waters. It was either a peaceful protest that got out of hand, or just a few tourists who got out of control and Donald Trump had nothing to do with it, even though his rhetoric and actions leading up to the final count by Congress suggest the exact opposite. Some developments this week have been made in the congressional probe that were eclipsed by the Afghanistan withdrawal, as phone records have been requested.
Donald Trump, already facing a number of legal battles of his own, is now facing a civil suit from Capitol Police for his role in the insurrection. This seems bad enough, but now many of the participants in the insurrection are facing trials of their own and suffice to say, it’s opening a whole other can of worms for Trump and the Republican Party in general. You’ve probably never heard of Kyle Fitzsimmons who is currently on trial for his participation in the storming of the Capitol, but his lawyers are now arguing that it was in fact due to their rhetoric that Fitzsimmons and others like him were compelled to commit the crimes they did.
This couldn’t be coming at a worse possible time for the GOP – especially when Donald Trump is making the talk show rounds and the congressional investigation is likely to dig up dirt even worse for a number of the insurrection’s strongest advocates. Any defense they try to construct will go over poorly, and it seems that while Trump was always eager to do away with his most loyal supporters as soon as it became convenient, there’s a few that are liable to do the same if it gets them out of doing time. Let’s make sure it sticks in voters’ minds come 2022.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making