Over the next few months as early voting begins for the 2024 presidential election, Americans will be bombarded with a cascade of false narratives from Donald Trump and the Republicans who support him. Voters in swing states are already exposed to the following situations. Deceptively edited. mock Biden for having dementia; churn The U.S. economy actually disastrous. He will associate Biden with: ‘Invasion’ that doesn’t exist Undocumented immigrants are supposedly sweeping through our suburbs, turning our cities into gray, harsh-lens, hellish war zones.
Of course, none of this is true, but it wasn't meant to be true. They are meant to start fires, create false narratives, and (among other things) preempt anyone who makes explicit comparisons between this country under President Biden's watch and this country under Trump's watch. They are designed to reshape Trump, despite his dazzling presence. Felony conviction; Speech that is unbalanced and incites violence; And the worst record damn Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic – A man with the essential character traits needed to lead this country effectively, who is distracting and confusing people's memories of what Trump actually did while in office.
But Trump has already made a unique and indelible impression on Americans that will help them remember everything they need to know about his presidency. He displayed it over exactly the period of time it lasted. 187 minutes On January 6, 2021, Americans watched the results appear in vivid color across their television screens.
That day, the U.S. Capitol and Congress came under deadly and unprecedented mob attacks from thousands of his supporters, some of whom armed pistols and rifles, some Wielding clubs, rebar, baseball bats, Tasers, flagpoles, and pepper spray; Trump sat in the Oval Office of the White House for three hours and watched events unfold. fox newsand… Nothing was done.
This was a disgusting dereliction of responsibility unprecedented in American history. Everyone across the country has seen the results, whether they like it or not. and while majority court These days are filled with questions about what Trump will do. did To achieve that day, Trump will no doubt hope Americans will forget everything he ever did. Did not do it. You shouldn't do that.
As Patricia Zengerle and Richard Cowan of Reuters reported in 2022, “Donald Trump watched the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol unfold on live television for hours and urged his supporters to stop the attack. He ignored the pleas of his children and other close advisors. Witnesses described violence at a congressional hearing Thursday.
Three hours is a long time. Imagine yourself plonked in front of the TV watching our government being looted and police officers being attacked with pepper spray. Fellow Republicans, private attorneys, and families are clamoring to do something about this. Instead, you can shake them, sit quietly, throw a rock and watch the mayhem unfold right above the mall. I don't care who gets hurt, I don't care who dies. Just sit back and watch. For 3 hours and 7 minutes.
No one seems to have warned him about the consequences of his complete inertia. As Zengerle and Cowan report, even his son was well aware of how appalling and damning his father's actions that day were.
Trump's eldest son, Don Jr., sent a text message to Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, urging him to “denounce this ASAP.” “If things get any worse, they will try to ruin his entire legacy.”
But Trump did not “condemn this as quickly as he could,” and in fact the situation “got worse.” As Trump gleefully watched the mayhem he inspired unfold on TV screens, his aides implored him to do something about it. It was entirely within his power to call the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of Homeland Security. It was within his power to televise or tweet a message to all his men to stop the attack and go home. But long after the three-hour Capitol security breach, lawmakers, senators and their staff were terrified. mixed up To avoid the onslaught of the mob, he made no effort to stop it.
Zengerle and Cowan reported:
Witnesses in the room included President Trump's national security adviser, Matthew Pottinger, and White House press secretary Sarah Matthews. Both resigned within hours of the riots.
“If the president had wanted to make a statement and address the American people, he would have been on camera almost immediately,” Matthews testified. “If he had wanted to speak from the Oval Office, we could have assembled the White House press corps within minutes.”
But Trump made no such statement and made no real effort to turn back his thugs. Instead, this was one of many scenes inside the U.S. Capitol with thugs roaming the halls. looking for It is believed that he assaulted House Speaker Pelosi.
According to the New York Times, 5 people involved in or defending the attack He died within 36 hours of the assault at the Capitol. Four additional police officers responding to the attack committed suicide. For the next 6 months. and Police reported 140 injuries The figures sustained during the attack, according to Justice Department figures, are an underestimate of the total number of people injured, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia said. Rioters caused property damage. millions.
The New York Times described the events that day as “perhaps the most recorded act of political violence in history.”
The damage caused has become greater.
But worse than all the carnage that occurred that day is the sight of the CEO doing nothing to stop it, not because he is incompetent or powerless, but because he has willingly decided not to.
As follows Final Report of the House Select CommitteeSurveying the observed attack, Trump concluded his speech on the Ellipse at 1:10 p.m. After the attack went well, he agreed to send a tweet an hour later telling the rioters to support the police, and after initially refusing, agreed to tell the rioters to “remain peaceful.” Of course, that did nothing to stop the riots. The January 6 committee report states, “White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews told the Select Committee that President Trump refused to use the word ‘peaceful,’” and that President Trump added the phrase only after being urged to do so by his daughter. Ivanka.
He did nothing to stop the attack until 4:17 p.m., when he told his supporters to go home after emphasizing his belief that the election had been “stolen.”
1.6 As a committee conclusion:
The 187 minutes from the end of President Trump's speech until he finally ordered the rioters to leave the U.S. Capitol were a dereliction of duty. In the U.S. military, a soldier is considered “derelict of duty” when he “intentionally or negligently fails to perform his duties or performs his duties in a culpably inefficient manner.” 2 As commander-in-chief, President Trump had more power than any other American to marshal the resources of the U.S. government and end the attack on the U.S. Capitol. He deliberately remained silent while others, including his vice president, acted.
President Trump could have called top officials from the Justice Department, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense, FBI, Capitol Police, and the D.C. mayor's office to help quell the violence. He didn't make that call.
[…]
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley said in special committee testimony that President Trump “[n]Other,” “[z]ero” to marshal government resources during the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
It's possible that many of those who currently support Trump felt no qualms about the violence. They may be satisfied with Trump's decision to do nothing. Because I see it as perfectly acceptable for a violent mob to destroy our nation's Capitol and threaten to kill our elected representatives, if that's what Trump wanted. They might believe his blatant lie that the election was “stolen.”
But the 2024 election will not be decided by those people. It will be decided by millions of voters who watched in horror as the heart of our government was desecrated by a violent mob and the man charged with protecting our country sat back and did nothing to stop it. It was a conscious, willful and callous act of disregard not only for the elected officials whose lives were at risk that day, but also for the voters (both Republican and Democratic) who elected them to represent their lives and interests. That complete and utter contempt revealed Trump's true character, and it should be clearly understood as Americans vote for or against this November.
Yes, Trump will certainly try to saturate the airwaves with subtle attacks on Biden from time to time. He might even find a receptive audience for his work. A clearly stated plan To transform our government into a government. white supremacy institute and bottomless feeder For his billionaire and Christian nationalist backers. When Americans analyze these two candidates, there will be no shortage of stark differences. However, unlike President Biden, Trump has the distinction of showing all Americans over the course of three hours on January 6, 2021, how unfit he is to lead this country.
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