McCarthy flies false flag over Capitol

Ever since, on the 15th ballot, Kevin McCarthy finally rounded up enough votes to become Speaker of the House, we’ve all been wondering what he promised to give away in order to get the job. Now we know.

This week, McCarthy delivered just what Marjorie Taylor Greene and other crazies demanded. Overriding security concerns of the Capitol Police and others responsible for protecting the Capitol, McCarthy released all 41,000 hours of video of the January 6 attack on the Capitol complex.

Not only that. McCarthy released the tapes, not to the media in general, but only to Fox News. And not even to everybody on Fox News, but only to one prime-time host, Tucker Carlson, who has long suggested — and even hosted a prime-time documentary series “Patriot Purge” which asserted — that the January 6 insurrection was actually a “falseflag” operation staged by the government or leftist agitators to make Trump supporters look bad.

This is not rocket science. By what he did and the way he did it, McCarthy made it clear. His reason for releasing the tapes was pure political payback.

And his motive was to perpetuate the insane and very dangerous idea, still spread by several House Republicans, that the armed assault on the Capitol was nothing more than a “normal tourist visit.”

Any doubt about who and what was driving McCarthy’s action vanished when Marjorie Taylor Greene immediately tweeted: “For all of you that doubted we would release the tapes. Here you go! I’m very happy to be right again in my support for Kevin McCarthy for our Speaker.”

Which is enough to make you wonder: Who’s really the Speaker? McCarthy or Greene?

Yes, this is the same Marjorie Taylor Greene, now de-facto Speaker, who this week suggested that red states should secede from the Union. In response to which Kevin McCarthy, Speaker-in-name-only, said nothing.

There’s so much wrong with what McCarthy did, it’s hard to know where to begin. But let’s start with this: For House Republicans — 21 of whom, remember, immediately after January 6, voted against awarding Capitol Police officers the Congressional Gold Medal — this is one more poke in the eye to those whose job it is to protect the Capitol. There’s a good reason why law enforcement did not want these tapes released: Because they’re like a blueprint to any other organization which might want to attack the Capitol: showing what areas are vulnerable and which are not.

That’s why the January 6 Select Committee only played clips of the tapes that had been first cleared by law enforcement officials.

That’s why the Justice Department limits what portions of tapes they play in trials of those facing charges for their involvement in January 6.

Release of the total tapes jeopardizes the safety of the United States Capitol and everybody who serves there.

No Speaker has the right to do that.

Defending his decision, McCarthy piously told the New York Times, “I think sunshine lets everybody make their own judgment.”

But, of course, that’s not what he’s doing.

Thanks to McCarthy, this sun will only be allowed to shine through the filter of Fox News and what Tucker Carlson and his producers decide to show, out of 41,000 hours of tape, in order to buttress their insane theory, with not one shred of evidence, that those who assaulted the Capitol on January 6 were actually Antifa activists dressed up in MAGA garb. By so doing, as Senate Leader Chuck Schumer warned, McCarthy “will only embolden supporters of the Big Lie and weaken faith in our democracy.”

It’s still early in his term, but any hopes that McCarthy would rise to the level of his office and exercise independent leadership and judgment have already been quickly forgotten.

To me, it’s all so painfully familiar. I remember similar claims made after September 11 that the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon were actually a “false flag” operation staged by the Bush administration. As a radio talk show host, I’d immediately cut off anybody who tried to spew such nonsense, refusing to give that garbage any airtime.

But I never thought I’d see the day when the same insane conspiracy theory was raised about the terrorist attack on our Capitol on January 6. The big difference is, those September 11 “false flag” claims were made by a few, nameless, nut jobs. Today’s January 6 “false flag” lie is being fed and spread by the Speaker of the House of Representatives. God save the Republic!

Release of the total tapes jeopardizes the safety of the United States Capitol and everybody who serves there. No Speaker has the right to do that.