Opinion As Trump is arrested, Republicans honor the insurrectionists

[cigaretteman]

Donald Trump could not have asked for a nicer arraignment-day celebration.
During the very same hour in which the former president surrendered to federal authorities in Miami, his Republican allies in the House were, in their most visible and official way yet, embracing as heroes and martyrs the people who sacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in hopes of overturning Trump’s election defeat.


In the Capitol complex, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), with sidekick Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and four other far-right lawmakers, held a “hearing” that honored participants in the riot, family members of Jan. 6 rioters and organizers of the attempted overthrow of the 2020 vote.

Technically, Gaetz couldn’t call such a hearing, because he isn’t a committee chairman. But House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who is trying to win back the support of extremists such as Gaetz, let it happen anyway.


Gaetz did his all to make the proceedings look official. There were congressional seals on his nameplate and on the big screen behind him. A meeting room in the Capitol visitor center was arranged to appear like a committee room, with lawmakers facing the witnesses. Gaetz advertised the “field hearing” as part of how “the 118th Congress is investigating the weaponization of the federal government.”


He impersonated a chairman — “you are recognized,” “thank you for your testimony,” “I’ll recognize myself [for] questions,” “her time has expired” — and the others played along (“Thank you for the opportunity to testify,” “I yield back”). Gaetz said testimony could be used “for the official record [of the] House” or for “work in the Judiciary Committee, upon which I serve, or the Oversight Committee.” C-SPAN carried the proceedings live.

The invited witnesses?

• The wife of Ronald McAbee, who is awaiting trial for allegedly attacking a police officer and dragging him into the mob while wearing a black vest that said “SHERIFF.”
• Underwear model John Strand, sentenced to two years and eight months for being part of the mob that breached the Capitol on Jan. 6 and pushed past police officers.
• Activist Brandon Straka, sentenced to home detention and probation and fined for his Jan. 6 actions.
• The aunt of Matthew Perna; Perna committed suicide while awaiting sentencing for his role in breaching the Capitol.
• Ed Martin, an organizer of the “Stop the Steal” effort leading up to Jan. 6.
• And Jeffrey Clark, the Trump Justice Department official who tried to get states to toss the election results.

The lawmakers hailed them all.
“To all of you, my condolences,” said Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), who added tenderly that “you know how I feel about Ashli” Babbitt, the woman police shot as she breached the last line of defense protecting lawmakers in the House chamber.
“This is heartbreaking,” added Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), “the way you all have been treated.”


Greene added “my deepest sympathy for each of you and all the pain and suffering that you’ve all had to go through because of this government.” She told them that they were the victims of “sick, evil people” and that she and other lawmakers had a “constitutional duty to object to Joe Biden’s fraudulent electoral college votes because we all believed that the election had been stolen.”

Gaetz opened the hearing with a video suggesting FBI culpability in the Jan. 6 attack. He claimed he “became aware of evidence” that the Justice Department had evidence of “fraud in the election” but Trump Attorney General “Bill Barr was suppressing evidence.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/06/16/house-gop-trump-indictment-reaction-jan-6/

 

[cigaretteman]

Gosar blamed the attack on “people undercover, whether it be antifa, FBI, whatever.” Norman suggested that the FBI was framing people who weren’t involved in the attack.
Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Tex.) offered his view that people in charge in the Capitol (Democrats, presumably) “hid the intelligence” showing that an attack was coming. “It’s like they wanted this to happen.” Nehls added that “I believe Ashli Babbitt was murdered that day,” and he said he hopes Trump will return to power and send the officer who shot her before a grand jury.
Jennifer Rubin: Trump’s chances of a Jan. 6 indictment soar
From the witness table came howls of “wrongful conviction” and “fascism.” From the dais came a cry of “tyranny.” From both came attacks on judges, juries and prosecutors. Audience members were wearing T-shirts saying rioters had been “murdered by Capitol police.” In the hallway, keeping the peace, were two Capitol Police officers, guarding the people accusing them of murder.



Straka, who on Jan. 6 yelled “go, go, go” to the mob as they tried to breach the Capitol and “take it, take it” when rioters grabbed a shield from a police officer, “testified” to Gaetz’s panel that “we, the defendants of Jan. 6, need to be able to have some sort of voice.”
And now they have that voice: The feckless House Republican leaders who let this week’s abomination occur.

In the Senate, Republican leaders have voiced little support for Trump, with GOP whip John Thune (S.D.) calling the charges “very serious” and Sen. John Cornyn (Tex.) calling them “not good.
But in the House, McCarthy has shown no such fortitude, hewing closely to the Fox News assessment of the situation, as expressed in an on-screen “news alert” this week: “Wannabe dictator speaks at the White House after having his political rival arrested.”



McCarthy began by calling the indictment a “brazen weaponization of power” and a “grave injustice.” He threatened to block funding for a new FBI headquarters in retaliation. This week, he accused Biden of stealing classified documents from a secure facility, and he said that Trump’s handling of documents (piled in a bathroom) was superior to Biden’s (in a garage) because “a bathroom door locks.”
Will Trump avail himself of the privacy-lock defense? And will anybody have the heart to tell McCarthy that garage doors have locks? Or that bathroom doors only lock from the inside?
Jason Willick:The Trump indictment has a silver lining for Republicans in 2024
McCarthy is acting, as he often does, out of weakness. Taking an honorable position on Trump, as his Senate counterparts did, would antagonize the far right and could topple his historically weak speakership.

And so, there is nobody to tell the looniest members of his caucus to take it down a notch — just as there was nobody to tell Gaetz et alia not to hold a “hearing” glorifying insurrectionists.


There is nobody, for example, to tell Rep. Clay Higgins to cut it out. The Louisiana Republican, who has militia ties and previously threatened violence on social media, tweeted this message about Trump’s arraignment in Miami: “This is a perimeter probe from the oppressors. Hold. rPOTUS has this. Buckle up. 1/50K know your bridges. Rock steady calm. That is all.”
Most won’t recognize such QAnon codes: “rPOTUS” means Trump is the “real” president, 1/50K is a military map scale, and “know your bridges” is a reference to preparing attack points, the author Jeff Sharlet, an authority on extremism, has explained.
Scary? Now consider that this dangerous hooligan is the chairman of the border security subcommittee of the House Homeland Security Committee.

 

[lucas80]

Florida's own Matt Gaetz putting on quite the show. He's really enjoying being back in the spotlight. I hope it doesn't intrude with all the good work he's doing for his district.