'Like being in upside-down world': Times reporter blasts 'shape-shifting' GOP Jan. 6 hearing
New York Times Magazine reporter Robert Draper spoke to CNN's Jim Acosta on Sunday, revealing the Republican Party's desperate attempt to rewrite what happened on Jan. 6, 2021.
It's been two years, but as another possible indictment for Donald Trump looms, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) held a 30-minute event masquerading as a hearing, in a small, dark, windowless room somewhere on Capitol Hill.
"It was like being in an upside-down world," said Draper of the mock-hearing. "And also, Jim, their narratives shapeshift, you know, even within a matter of seconds. Either the Jan. 6th — what took place there was basically peaceful, or it was violent but an Antifa kind of violence, or it was set up by the FBI, thus a feds problem. Basically, their point of view is that they are politically persecuted. There is a two-tier system of justice, but it's not the well-off whites versus people of color. It's the ruling class versus Trump supporters."
The narrative is something that Republicans have desperately been trying to use and reuse as it pertains to everything from Rep. Jim Jordan's (R-OH) weaponization of government hearings and Trump's indictment, for which he claims he is being persecuted.
Draper warned against treating the Republicans as the conspiracy cranks that have desperately tried to take over the House GOP. Already, some of them are trying to scare the DOJ away from prosecuting them.
"They are much like the far-right that really controls the action in the House of Representatives," he said. "They are the tail that wags the dog in terms of the fact that 58 percent of Republicans now believe that the peaceful demonstration aptly describes what took place on Jan. 6th rather than violent insurrection."
Ahead of being fired from Fox News, Tucker Carlson revealed selectively edited footage of empty hallways and a few "protesters." The 44,000 hours of footage from dozens of cameras were handed to Carlson in an effort to create a different narrative from those that watched Jan. 6 unfold live on their television sets. It's a tactic that is not unlike Alex Jones claiming the Sandy Hook shooting was either a false flag or never happened at all.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) refuses to upload the entire videos for the public to see for themselves.
"The two leading candidates for the Republican nomination, Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, both have indicated they may give pardons to Jan. 6th defendants. They are shaping that initiative regardless of what one thinks of their views. They've attained a certain significance."
Acosta said that even some people could be shown legitimate videos and still somehow see the Jan. 6 attackers as the victims.
"Well, because it fits into a greater narrative of persecution that a lot of Trump supporters feel about themselves and the former president," said Draper. He said that even if someone shows the full video, the Republican loyalists believe they've somehow been tampered with.
"I have a video that beats your video," Draper said is another excuse. "It's, you know, that video is very, very skewed. You are just talking about one area. Essentially again, their excuses shapeshift. Overall, the narrative is the same, which is that what President Trump says goes and what he says was that it was a peaceful, loving protest."
He explained that there are some establishment Republicans that desperately don't want the subject to be discussed at all, but it appears the far-right wants to run in 2024 on Jan. 6, Trump's classified documents, and the 2020 election fraud.
See the discussion between Draper and Acosta below or at the link here.
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