Words, words, words
This is how to unite a country?
“THERE IS a direct line between the violence that occurred at the nation’s Capitol building Wednesday afternoon and the president of the United States. Anybody who denies it probably isn’t being honest—but only with themselves. Because everybody else, with eyes to see, saw what we did: Encouraged by the president at a Washington, D.C., rally, protesters marched on the Capitol building. When they got there, they began tearing up the place. The president tweeted something about remaining peaceful, but it’s hard to look at your phone, Mr. President, when you’re breaking through a window or knocking down a fence.
“First thoughts, and only first thoughts, because we spent last evening watching the TV and the wires, and surely will have more in the next couple of days: Where was the security?
“This isn’t the Mall of America in Minnesota. Or Six Flags. Or even a NFL football game. This is the nation’s capital, and Capitol, and the security was pitiful. It took hours before the National Guard was called out, but shouldn’t the federal city have better security without the National Guard? … .”
—our lead editorial, a year ago today
IT SEEMS with this story, the first paragraph for any conservatives thinking out loud (or at least rambling in print) has to be one big caveat. So let’s get with it: The Capitol rioters of last Jan. 6 were criminal in their actions, and ought to be prosecuted. The president at the time, Donald Trump, deserves a lot of the blame and actually worked against his best interests in the hours before. Those who spin this any other way aren’t being honest. It wasn’t the right’s best moment in this country, and there have been a lot of not-best-moments for the movement. Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election fair and square—by 7 million votes—and any politician who won’t admit that is cowering and should be ashamed. There.
Now then, let’s get to a couple of speeches we heard Thursday morning as the nation’s media ran footage of last year’s riot at the Capitol Building:
“Certain dates echo through history. Including dates that instantly remind all who have lived through them where they were and what they were doing when our democracy came under assault. Dates that occupy not only a place on our calendar, but a place in our collective memory. Dec. 7, 1941. Sept. 11, 2001. And Jan. 6, 2021.”—Vice President Kamala Harris
Again with the caveat: This is not to diminish the criminality of the rioters who showed their backsides (in front of rolling cameras) a year ago yesterday. But really? Comparing those poor saps with the Japanese sneak attack on our country, and the terrorists who used our airliners against us? We wonder how all those Americans who questioned the 2020 elections—and our world is thick with them—would take that. Is this the kind of statement that unites a country?
Our favorite liberal columnist at this paper—you can guess his name—described the Jan. 6 rioters in his column yesterday thusly: They were “primitive know-nothings,” “screwballs” and “pliable yahoos.”
That seems more accurate, doesn’t it? President Biden spoke next: “For the first time in our history, a president had not just lost an election, he tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power as a violent mob breached the Capitol. But they failed. They failed.”
As they were bound to. People who paint themselves up and wear horns as if they were going to a football game, give their names freely to the press, take pictures of themselves committing property crimes and trespassing, aren’t the kind who take over governments. They are the kind who get caught. Then, facing long prison sentences, they choke up in front of judges and say they’re sorry and claim to be disappointed in themselves. See the papers this last year.
President Biden never mentioned Donald Trump by name. But the current president spent much of the speech focused on the previous one:
“The former president of the United States of America has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election. He’s done so because he values power over principle. Because he sees his own interests as more important than his country’s interests, than America’s interests. And because his bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy or our Constitution. He can’t accept he lost.”
(President Biden seems to think he can be taken more seriously if he sounds angry during his speeches. This is a new Joe Biden. His handlers ought to tell him the voters elected the previous Joe Biden.)
Peggy Noonan of The Wall Street Journal, and Ronald Reagan’s speech office, once said that Donald Trump’s supporters never thought he had a high personal character, but they voted for him anyway—as an insult to the political class. And maybe the political class had it coming. But some of us thought Joe Biden was hired for a different reason. That is, to reduce the insults coming out of the Oval Office. Thursday morning, it seemed as though President Biden was trying to bait Citizen Trump into a name-calling contest. (Which Trump apparently took. He put out a statement after the speech.)
The president’s people may think all this is good politics. It might remind the country, after all, of the last president’s weaknesses and character. But again, Joe Biden was hired to reduce the drama, wasn’t he? Not to go back and forth with The Donald for another three years. Lord, spare us.
THE CURRENT president continued his speech Thursday morning: “So at this moment, we must decide. What kind of nation are we going to be? Are we going to be a nation that accepts political violence as a norm?”
The prosecution of the rioters answers that question.
“Are we going to be a nation where we allow partisan election officials to overturn the legally expressed opinion of the people?”
The current occupant of the White House answers that question.
“The former president’s supporters are trying to rewrite history. They want you to see Election Day as the day of insurrection. And the riot that took place here on Jan. 6 as a true expression of the will of the people. Can you see a more twisted way to look at this country?”
No. See the first paragraph of this editorial.