The First Of Many Wavings Of The Bloody Shirt

I don’t disagree with any of the particulars of the National Review’s editorial about January 6:

There is no defense for what the mob did that day. None. The people have a right to form loud, angry crowds to petition and protest their government. They need not do so in ways that are pleasant or polite. The “Stop the Steal” protesters who listened to the speeches and went home were exercising their rights as citizens.

But ours is a government of laws, not of men. A rule-of-law system has no place for physical intimidation or mobs obstructing the peaceful, constitutional transfer of power. The Founding Fathers feared few things more than mob rule. They created a federal district to avoid a repeat of a 1783 riot around the Continental Congress in Philadelphia.

Donald Trump, his lieutenants (especially Sidney Powell and the tragically-fallen Rudy Giuliani), and Trump’s personality cult, did something that doesn’t, and can’t, play well with small-“d” democracy: it put the person ahead of the process:

There is also no defense of what Donald Trump did to summon the crowd, tell it that there remained any option but counting Biden’s electoral victory, and urge the assemblage to march on the Capitol because “if we allow this group of people to illegally take over our country . . . you’re not going to have a country anymore.” Trump’s recklessness disgraced the office of the presidency.

Additionally, there is no defense of Trump’s pressuring Pence to take unilateral, unlawful action against the counting of electoral votes, then telling the crowd that Pence might do so, knowing full well that they would discover when they reached the Capitol that Pence would not. Some of them, entering the Capitol, chanted, “Hang Mike Pence.” It was Trump who led them to believe that his own vice president was allowing their country to be stolen.

Let’s be honest about what that explosion of personality cult over process actually did:

What happened at the Capitol that day is best understood as a riot that was particularly dangerous because of its setting and context. It was not a purely peaceful protest, or a cartoonish costume party with a little bit of trespassing. The Secret Service had to rush Pence to safety. Members of Congress emptied the chamber and fled for cover. The vote-counting process was interrupted for five and a half hours. The Capitol itself was wreathed in smoke. This is the stuff of a banana republic.

When the subject of banana republics pop up, Democrats perk their ears up, being wannabe Generalissimos in their own ways. Republicans, even Trump supporters, are correct in pointing out that Democrats were trashing the democratic process since before Donald Trump was a reality TV star, much less President:

For two decades, prominent Democrats have attacked the legitimacy of American elections. They claimed that the 2000 election was stolen from Al Gore. They indulged ridiculous fantasies about Ohio being stolen in 2004, resulting in dozens of Democratic members of Congress objecting to counting its electoral votes. Many of those Democrats are now powerful committee chairs, including the chair of the committee investigating January 6. Violent protests marred Trump’s inauguration, and leading Democrats denounced him as illegitimate. Polls showed that supermajorities of Democratic voters believed that Russian hackers stole the 2016 election from Hillary Clinton, and she has given every indication that she shares that view. In 2018, Stacey Abrams was anointed a hero by her party for refusing to accept the legitimacy of her loss of a governor’s race. It would have been wrong for Trump to emulate this behavior; but he went well beyond what even the most reckless Democrat has done in contesting an election.

Left-wing mobs have targeted the workings of government, for example overwhelming the Wisconsin state capitol in 2011 to protest Scott Walker’s union-dues bill. Republican legislators had to be evacuated by police, as Democratic legislators egged on the mob. In 2018, protesters repeatedly disrupted the Brett Kavanaugh hearings, chased Republican senators down hallways and into elevators, accosted them in restaurants, and broke through Capitol barricades, resulting in hundreds of arrests. Law enforcement was unduly lax in punishing these offenses against democratic self-government.

It’s true. But it’s no excuse – any more than January 6 will be a legitimate excuse for more Democrat violence and tyranny-mongering. That is, in fact, something that Republicans of good conscience need to stomp on, hard. Because it dismisses nothing to note that January 6 was an attack on the Constitutional process different from others only in its perps:

The New York Times editorializes that “Every Day Is Jan. 6 Now,” and one of its columnists argues that Democrats should “Wave the ‘Bloody Shirt’ of Jan. 6” as Republicans did against Democrats after the Civil War — as if this compares to a four-year war in which 3 million Americans served and 750,000 died. Other opportunists (including Joe Bidencall the riot the “worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War” or say it is comparable to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. CNN and other cable news obsessives plan wall-to-wall coverage of the anniversary in order to inflate its importance and help Democrats wave that bloody shirt.

This is a loss of perspective. In 1915, a former Harvard professor set off a bomb at the Capitol and shot J. P. Morgan. In 1954, five congressmen were shot by Puerto Rican nationalists in the House chamber. In the early 1970s, the left-wing Weather Underground set off bombs at the Capitol, the Pentagon, and the State Department. In 1983–84, the Communist group M19 bombed the Capitol, an FBI office, and Fort McNair and the Navy Yard in D.C. In 2001, 3,000 people died on 9/11, air travel was grounded across the country, the president was shuttled to a secure location, and a wing of the Pentagon was destroyed. In 2017, a gun-toting Bernie Sanders supporter attempted to massacre Republican congressmen at a baseball practice, gravely wounding Steve Scalise, the Republican House whip.

I say “Republicans of good conscience” because there are Republicans who have joined the personality cult, and many who’ve prospered, politically and financially, greatly from it.

And some Republicans have reacted by washing their hands of the GOP – some for reasons I can respect (Ed Morrissey), others I can not (the Lincoln Project), many in between. Some “Never-Trumpers” yip and bark at the party like bitter ex-spouses.

Others presume the GOP’s reckoning rates a generation in the minority – as Kevin Williamson says in his otherwise worthy piece on the subject, again, I agree with in most particulars – except for its conclusion:

It is my view that none of the Republicans who voted against certifying the 2020 results should ever hold office again, and that no candidate who is unwilling to forthrightly condemn both the violence of January 6 and the lies that inspired that violence ought to enjoy the support of any conservative, any organ of the Republican Party, or, indeed, any American who calls himself a patriot. No candidate who cannot give a simple yes or no answer — and give the correct one — to the question of whether the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump ought to hold office. If that puts the Republican Party into the minority for a generation, then the Republican Party deserves it, having become a menace not only to the conservative principles and governance it purports to cherish but to the political structure of the nation and the Constitution itself. Those who have no use for caudillos and mobs, and who hope to see our constitutional order endure, should seriously consider separating themselves from the Republican Party unless and until it proves capable of reforming itself.

“Reforming itself”

Like, magically?

Well, no. The party “reforms itself” when those who show up decide it shall be reformed.

Our democracy – and the Constitutional process Williamson rightly extols elsewhere – won’t survive a generation of one-party government by today’s Democrat party. The Democrat party of the Watergate era, led by Ernie Hollings and Scoop Jackson and Daniel Inouye, people who believe in America whatever their political differences, didn’t see power as the means to the end. They weren’t the generation of “progressives” that gave us San Francisco, Chicago, Baltimore and Minneapolis, or for that matter California and Illinois, as they are today; those are the inevitable consequences of one-party rule, at least by this Democrat party at this time in its history.

Packed courts.

Centralized elections.

A packed Senate.

More promotion of the administrative state to circumvent the legislative and judicial processes that can’t be won in elections.

Those are the consequences of a “generation of minority status” for the opposition.

That’s not acceptable.

The GOP will have to “reform itself” by good people showing up and reforming it.

Not by sitting splendidly above it all listening to Bulwark podcasts and heckling.

Not by waiting for some third-party to spring into place.

Not by waiting for the Reform Fairy.

Not, for that matter, by waiting for someone else to reform it. With all due respect to those who stormed out in a cloud of principled righteousness in 2015, 2017 and 2020, starting next month, your opinions are duly noted, and will no longer be of any relevance.

No. It happens by reforming the GOP.

More on that next week.

84 thoughts on “The First Of Many Wavings Of The Bloody Shirt

  1. I wonder why Pelosi’s committee hasn’t subpoenaed Ray Epps? There he was tearing down barricades on January 6, leading the MAGA protesters, exhorting the crowd to get into the capitol on January 6, and it looks like he spends his days in Arizona playing golf.
    Huh.
    It’s good to retire on a government pension when you are in your 50s.

  2. What was Barr’s involvement in January6, Emery?
    Another OT comment by the troll. When he loses an argument, he just cut-n-pastes random anti-Trump quotes.

  3. In October 2018, The New York Times reported that 69% of progressive Democrats were ashamed of being American; it’s above 70% now. That’s a surprising observation regarding a greasy group of mentally ill, cognitively challenged cunts that don’t recognize an American border.

    Why don’t they simply pack up and move to the third world shitholes they admire? How can we help them make it happen?

  4. Pedo Joe evidently delivered a mighty oratory in defense of Democracy today. Then he had a pudding cup and a nap.

  5. Today was a 3 Depends day for poopy pants. Strained pears was the wrong call this morning.

  6. The Babylon Bee reports that victim of January 8 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has memorialized January 6 by laying a wreath on her on grave.

  7. Pedo Joe evidently delivered a mighty oratory in defense of Democracy today. Then he had a pudding cup and a nap…

  8. MP, regarding next Jan 6, just 14 days shy of a Repub majority in congress, there might very well be a real insurrection.

  9. The anti-anti Trump crowd can’t spare a second to talk about this absolute nonsense because that would take away from the time they are spending focusing on Democrat overreaction.

    Statement by Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America
    01/06/22
    “To watch Biden speaking is very hurtful to many people. They’re the ones who tried to stop the peaceful transfer with a rigged election. Just look at the numbers. Does anybody really think that Biden beat Obama with the Black population in select Swing State cities, but nowhere else? That he would lose 18 out of 19 bellwether counties, and 27 out of 27 “toss up” House races, but somehow miraculously receive the most votes in American history with no coattails? That he would lose Florida, Ohio, and Iowa and win, even though it has never been done before?

    They spread a “web of lies” about me and Russia for 4 years to try to overturn the 2016 election, and now they lie about how they interfered in the 2020 Election, too. Big Tech was used illegally.

    Where did all those votes show up from in Georgia, where it was just revealed they sold ballots for $10 a piece, or in Pennsylvania, and Arizona, and Wisconsin. He acts like he’s aggrieved, but we’re the ones who were aggrieved and America is suffering because of it with poisonous Borders, record Inflation, a humiliating surrender in Afghanistan, $5 a gallon gas and higher, empty stock shelves, and rampant crime. America is a laughingstock stock of the world, and it’s all because of the real insurrection, which took place on November 3rd, but this is an election year and MAGA Republicans should get elected and work with me to fix this horror that Joe Biden and the Democrats have brought us.

    Never forget the crime of the 2020 Presidential Election. Never give up!” ~ Donald Trump

  10. Wow, the little troll is a cutting and pasting machine today.

    Tomorrow morning you turd, people all over America, both sides of the aisle, are going to go off to work, stop for gas, have a heart attack about gas prices, go to the store after work, see empty shelves and insane prices, and are going to think even LESS of this administration. And not think one second about any of this theater of the absurd today. Poll after poll shows this.

    The dhimmis and their bi**h wh**es in the media are going to wake up to find that 3 or 4 more people on earth think it was an insurrection. Another 3 or 4 hundred years, and god knows how much of our tax dollars this cost, and maybe that number jumps to 1 or 2 hundred.

  11. Excellent rebuttal Twat, you’ve convinced me although I’m not sure of what.

    30% of Americans say there is solid evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election, but none of them can offer any proof. I’ll assume it’s on Hunter’s laptop. They can’t seem to find that, either.

  12. There is no evidence of fraud in the election.
    Here’s the evidence.
    You’re not allowed to present evidence at this time, you have no standing.
    Okay, how about now? Here’s the evidence.
    You’re not allowed to present evidence at this time, you waited too long.
    The election was fraudulent, whether you hear the evidence or not.
    Oh yeah? Whaddya gonna do about it?
    We’re going to march to the Capitol and demand they investigate.
    You’re trying to overthrow the government.
    No, we’re trying to save legitimate government from being overthrown.
    People died in the riot.
    Only one, and you killed her.
    Insurrectionist!
    Usurper!

    Now, now, let’s not get nasty. Let’s play nice. We’ll just vote harder next time.

  13. Meanwhile: the Cyber Ninjas have gone out of business. Fired all of their employees. Shut down. And of course, under criminal investigation.

  14. Red: Alright, the next item on the agenda for this meetin’ of the Possum Lodge is election of officers. There’s been quite a bit of emotion about this so I thought it would be best to have Ranger Gord announce the results, just to make sure it’s done right and fair. Ranger?

    Gord: Thanks, Red. The results are: Red Green, 12 votes; Dalton Humphrey, 11; one each for Winston and Edgar; and 127 votes for your nephew, Harold.

    Red: Wait a minute, there’s only 24 members in the entire lodge. How can that vote total be right?

    Gord: I wondered about that, but it seems we had a lot of mail-in ballots and Harold assured me the computer totals were accurate.

    Harold: Yep, that’s right. Can’t argue with a computer.

    Red: Where’d all those extra ballots come from? Let’s see ’em.

    Harold: We don’t have them. They were thrown away after I entered the votes into the computer. Can’t argue with a computer.

    Red: But . . .

    Gord: Now Red, you’re not trying to overthrow the Lodge, I hope. You’re not some kind of insurrectionist, are you?

    Red: No, but . . .

    Harold: Well it’s all settled then. Meeting adjourned.

  15. I am late to the party but with regards to the original post, is it a satire or did Mitch jump the shark? Or maybe he is fond for Liz Cheney and all the rightous and hard work she is doing on the kangaroo court.

  16. JPA,

    Bad, bad take.

    Agreeing with you 80% <> disagreeing with you 100%.

    Let that marinate for a while.

  17. “There is no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the event of that day,” ~ Senator Mitch McConnell 

    “The president bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters. He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding.” ~ Rep Kevin McCarthy

    “Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican Congressmen. ~ Donald Trump

    Sensible strategic move by Cheney. Trump did make it rather an easy choice: all she had to do was state the truth.

    Who knows where the GOP will go but she has now taken on the mantle as the most high profile anti-Trump figure in Congress. You’d have to think when/if Trump-mania subsides she’ll be well placed, even if it means a few years in the wilderness after the mid terms.

  18. That’s easy, E-eye.

    The Republicans are going to purge the party of people who believe the election was stolen, leaving Never-Trumpers and RINOs in charge. Donald Trump will seek the nomination on the grounds he’s the most popular Republican in the nation but will be disqualified by the party big-shots who dislike him.

    Ted Cruz will seek the nomination because he’s next-in-line. Mike Pence will run on his record of saving the nation from The Insurrection. Tim Scott will run as a Black man. Tom Cotton will run as a veteran. Nikki Haley will run as a woman. They’ll all receive single-digit votes as RINO Never-Trumpers swoon over Liz Cheney.

    Democrats will run a gender-neutral sock-puppet named “Boogie” and election computers will record slightly more votes for xym than people living on the planet, giving Boogie the win in a historic landslide.

  19. Who knows where the GOP will go but [Liz Cheney] has now taken on the mantle as the most high profile anti-Trump figure in Congress.

    Hmm, I don’t get it. The E-Collective couldn’t be wrong could it?
    2022 Wyoming House Race Polls: Liz Cheney Trails Harriet Hagemen in the latest polls. While Cheney leads on Google Search, overall sentiments against her are quite negative.

    Huh. Odd
    In its second formal rebuke of Wyoming Republican Liz Cheney, the state party passed a resolution this week to no longer recognize her as a member

    Or, maybe it’s this:
    Republican Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney is nearly three times more popular among Democratic voters than Republican voters, according to a recent poll.

  20. Hi Joe, have you ever had your astrology chart done and interpreted, too? I know how to do them! Many years of experience! Date of birth, and time of day and (checks notes) place of birth. Let me know, okay?
    Take care,
    Emery Open Source

  21. Cheney is a patriot willing to take the bullets as a matter of principle.

    Her commitment to constitutional duty shines, when compared to the tarnished reputations and corruption of the Trump-Republican party.

    In this regard she epitomizes what an elected official must be willing to endure, after all we send young people to their death in battle for the defense of our country.

    She is definitely not a coward. A cut above Ted Cruz, who is a coward like Donald Trump. Struggling with the consequences is better than struggling with your conscience.

  22. Liz Cheney is the perfect illustration of the saying “When ten people tell you that you are drunk, sit down.”
    When you join a highly partisan investigative committee dominated by far-left Democrats, and you find that you agree with them 100% of the time, it’s time to stop calling yourself a Republican.
    Another TDS victim. With all of the usual symptoms, especially the ability to read Trump’s mind.

  23. The SiTD (chanting points) correct terms for Jan 6 are “mishap,” “escapade,” or ideally, “hijinx.”

  24. “ I’ll assume it’s on Hunter’s laptop. They can’t seem to find that, either.”

    Yeah, well it’s not in your son’s undapants either, rat, but it doesn’t keep you from conducting searches.

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