It’s been almost seven months since the Jan. 6 Capitol incursion, but the buzz surrounding the incident isn’t dying down anytime soon.
It’s safe to say we all remember that day: We remember hearing the establishment media blame then-President Donald Trump for his “conspiratorial” claims about a stolen November election, we remember conservatives being blamed and silenced in subsequent days and we remember the left’s theatrics (which they ironically failed to display during last year’s waves of destructive BLM riots).
Months later, all of this is far from over. That much is proven by Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn’s testimony at the first Jan. 6 House select committee hearing held on Tuesday.
Dunn sat before committee members to deliver his testimony; beside him sat a few of his comrades.
“So, what I ask from you all is to get to the bottom of what happened,” he said, according to a video of the hearing released by Breaking911.
In his own words, Dunn then expressed the sentiments of each officer present and created an analogy between the supposed instigator of the Capitol incursion and a hitman scenario to illustrate his point.
Of course, we can infer where this comparison is going, and it’s since sparked the #TrumpIsTheHitman hashtag on Twitter.
“I use an analogy to describe what I want as a hitman,” Dunn said. “If a hitman is hired, and he kills somebody, the hitman goes to jail. But not only does the hitman go to jail, but the person who hired them does.”
“There was an attack carried out on Jan. 6, and a hitman sent them. I want you to get to the bottom of that.”
Trump is clearly the elephant in the room here, and the fixation on him remains strong.
According to Fox News host Maria Bartiromo’s interview with former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Feb. 7, the former president offered assistance in D.C., even going as far as reaching out to the Department of Defense, but his requests were rejected.
“Help was offered multiple times, not just in January, but throughout the summer, with the D.C. mayor, saying that the president stood by willing to offer National Guard assistance, other assistance, and often, in fact, every time, was rebuked and said, no, we can go it alone,” Meadows said.
“So, you say that the president had offered up Capitol Police, National Guard, even went to the Department of Defense?” Bartiromo asked to clarify.
“Yes,” he answered, later adding, “As many as 10,000 National Guard troops were told to be on the ready by the secretary of defense. That was a direct order from President Trump. And yet here’s what we see is, there’s all kinds of blame going around, but yet not a whole lot of accountability.”
According to Meadows, Trump’s requests preceded the speech he delivered on Jan. 6 in which Democrats allege he incited violence by saying “fight like hell.”
Because, of course, no one uses the word “fight” to mean anything other than attack, right?
I think Trump’s defense attorney David Schoen undermined these allegations better than anyone could.
Just take a look at his presentation during Trump’s second impeachment trial, for reference.
But, to draw closer to the point, the left is determined to misconstrue anything Trump says or does as hostile or vilifying — even questioning why he drifted behind in Republican strongholds during the night, why so many witnesses claiming voter fraud have been ignored or why offering a voice to those who feel they cannot trust in the election process anymore is so dishonorable.
We wonder why Trump won battleground states like Ohio and Florida, yet he still lost the election. (And, are we really going to believe that either state is redder than Georgia, which flipped blue for the first time in 28 years?)
We wonder why Trump’s support among key minority groups increased, yet he still lost the election.
We wonder why Trump performed better in New York City, received over 1 million more votes in California than he did in 2016, outperformed even former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush in California and received 50,000 more votes in blue stronghold King County, Washington, than in 2016 (just to name a few examples), yet he still lost the election.
There are too many questions to consider, but they all culminate in frustration that our voices aren’t being heard.
A majority of Trump supporters took to the streets to peacefully protest in Washington on Jan. 6, yet the actions of a few invite blame upon the whole.
The implication that everyone came to bring war to Congress is as inane as it is hyperbolic. Trump is not responsible for the actions of every supporter. (Do we hold all prominent Democrats accountable for their supporters’ attacks against MAGA hat-wearers?)
Condemn the actions of a few, but leave bystanders out of the equation.
Yes, that includes Trump.
