J6 Committee Uncovers Details on Trump's Refusal to Take Action to Stop Violent Insurrection He Helped Foment

On the days leading up to January 6th, then President Trump urged his supporters to come to Washington, DC to confront Congress which that day was counting on electoral college votes which would confirm Joe Biden won the election.  On January 6th, President Trump knew many of his supporters were armed and he asked that metal detectors be removed so they could advance on the Capitol with those arms.  Trump also knew that the mob he had instigated was primed to hang Vice President Mike Pence for not overriding throwing out the electoral college as invalid.  Trump not only didn't discourage the mob from killing the Vice President, by his words he encouraged it.  

As the Capitol was violently assaulted, and the lives of members of Congress, their staff, hundreds of police officers and others were endangered, Donald Trump for over three hours ignored pleas from staff members and family to take action to stop the violence.  Instead Trump sat in his dining room making calls to members of Congress to try to get them to stop the electoral count so his fake elector scheme would have time to play out.  It took Pence, stepping in to act as de facto President, to take action to stop the mob that day.     

In response to the damning evidence uncovered by the J6 Committee regarding Trump's inaction, Trump on June 6th released a statement that he had "suggested & offered" up to 20,000 National Guard troops be deployed to Washington, DC, ahead of January 6 claiming it was because he felt "that the crowd was going to be very large."   This continued claim caused the J6 Committee to release video of acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller's testimony in which he said Trump had issued no such order.  Once again, as he had done thousands of times during his presidency, Trump was lying to the American people.

While I'm deeply skeptical that Merrick Garland's Justice Department will prosecute Trump for his obvious criminality, there should be consensus that, given Trump's refusal to do anything to protect our government from violent attack, that the former President should not be allowed anywhere near power again.  It is, nearly two years after Trump fomented a violent insurrection to overturn the results of a free and fair election, that some people in my party still want to put that criminal wannabee back in the White House.  

Finally, I would end with this observation.  When he was elected in landslides in 1980 and 1984, Ronald Reagan led the Republican ticket, beating out virtually every other Republican candidate in the country.  When Trump ran for President in 2016 and 2020, he accomplished the opposite. Trump was so unpopular almost every Republican candidate in the country received more votes than he did.  Trump clearly lost the 2020 election because Republican-leaning voters reject him in favor of Biden in swing states.  If he would have just held the Republican base vote, Trump would still be President.  Trump is what political scientists call a loser.  Time for Republicans to move on from that fool.

OOP's short takes:

• Abortion rights group should be give Indiana Secretary of State Rokita an award.  With the abortion issue being returned to the states, there is nothing they would have liked more than making the abortion issue be about denying the procedure to 10 year old rape victims.  In steps Rokita who gives them exactly what they want.   Even if Rokita's investigation uncovers misdeeds by the Hoosier abortion doctor, the political narrative has been lost.  Rokita's maneuvering on this issue is the dumbest political moves since...
• House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy pulled all Republicans off the J6 Committee.  I know McCarthy was just doing what Trump wanted, but Trump will still put the blame on McCarthy for the debacle of leaving the former President's advocates off the committee.  I'm not convinced his groveling to Trump is going to earn McCarthy the speakership.  Don't be surprised if in 2023 we are hearing about Speaker Elise Stefanik.
• The website Five Thirty Eight's Senate model how has the Democrats with a 55% chance to take control of the Senate.  Why the dramatic change in the outlook? Because many Trump backed Senate nominees are falling down on the campaign trail.