Jan. 6: Insurrection or Picnic
Let me say right off the bat that I think the January 6th events in Washington D.C. were an insurrection. Trump, I feel, tried to overturn the results of a legitimate election so he could be the first illegitimate President of the United States.
Having said that, let me tell you why this column is here today.
Many of us are watching the January 6th hearings or at least interested in knowing what’s going on. The polls say that 60% of Americans are aware of the hearings and follow them. I’m assuming that the other 40% are busy playing with their video games or watching people on TV drive golf balls.
But what’s interesting to me is that those of us watching the hearings don’t actually agree on what we’re seeing.
Let me tell you about a conversation I had with a friend. This guy is smart, clever, and successful as an actor and director. Talking to him is always a pleasure and an education.
Yesterday, I mentioned to him that I’ve been watching the January 6th hearings and that I felt Trump should take responsibility for the attempted insurrection, just the way Hitler and Charlie Manson and Osama bin Laden should have taken full responsibility for the crimes they encouraged people to commit.
My friend – I’ll call him Alex – laughed and said that comparing Trump to Hitler and these other villains was ridiculous and showed a lack of understanding on my part. Trump, Alex said, is no fascist.
I responded by saying that if Trump isn’t a fascist, why does he keep talking about the election being rigged as a justification for overturning the election?
Alex answered by suggesting that Trump may or may not believe that the election was rigged. Trump is often just delusional and megalomaniacal. Even though he repeatedly says it was rigged, this doesn’t necessarily indicate he believes it. He may just be echoing all the conspiracy theorists who say it was rigged. Alex also tried to make the point that even though Trump encouraged people to stage this riot, that’s not necessarily a criminal act. Besides, Alex said, the rioters who were misled are not bad people. They were innocent folks acting in good faith. Sure, there was some vandalism, some broken windows, and the people who broke those windows should be punished for their vandalism, but finally all of this liberal outrage against these people who rioted is unhealthy.
I was surprised by his downplaying the attack on the Capitol, and I mentioned the 5 people who died and the 140 police officers who were injured. Alex said, “What’s the big deal? The injuries were accidental, people pushing against each other.” He said he didn’t see any kind of vicious intentional violence or killing. Things, he felt, just got a little out of hand.
I realized then that nothing Alex would see or hear would make him feel that what Trump did was intentional and that what his followers did was wrong. I realized there was no point in talking to Alex any longer about this.
In his mind, January 6 was more a picnic than an insurrection.
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This column first appeared in the Dziennik Zwiazkowy, the oldest Polish paper in America.