Intelligencer columnist Ed Kilgore pointed to the "selective amnesia" among Republicans when it comes to the Jan. 6 attack. They're desperately trying to downplay the attack, and some are outright claiming that it was all fake. But then there are the Republicans who want Americans to believe that it was merely one isolated incident and there's nothing to worry about.
"But in some ways the more alarming development has been that Republicans who remain openly opposed to the attempted coup nonetheless tend to treat it as an isolated moment of lawlessness in an otherwise perfectly good presidency," wrote Kilgore. "That means none of the many, many months of planning that went into [Donald] Trump’s predictable effort to deny and then overturn his defeat are acknowledged, or the likelihood that he could try it again in 2024. Most Republicans are united in that feat of amnesia. And that’s understandable since nearly all of them supported his reelection in 2020, and most will accept his renomination in 2024 if it happens."
It wasn't merely an isolated incident either. It wasn't some bad eggs who wanted to cause trouble. Jan. 6, 2021, was part of a steady increase in violence from Trump supporters.
In Michigan, the FBI thwarted an attempt to kidnap and assassinate the Democratic governor by blowing up a bridge and executing her on the Capitol lawn live on television. A group of Trump supporters in Texas attempted to run a Joe Biden for President bus off the road. Last August, the Department of Homeland Security sent out an alert warning that Trump supporters and conspiracy theorists believed that Trump would be reinstated. There was a concern of violence if he wasn't brought back to the White House to take over. The far-right Trump supporters also infiltrated Canada in an effort to help the protesting truckers. At one point, the protesters began attacking journalists.
These incidents are all part of a greater collection of violence from Trump supporters that continues to grow into inflamed school board meetings to ban teaching about slavery and civil rights. It's also the reason that Black principals and teachers are being forced to apologize for triggering those suffering from white fragility.
Kilgore pointed to Trump's former UN chief Nikki Haley, who first said that Trump forfeited any right to future leadership. It took her just three months before she was promising she'd support Trump if he ran again in 2024. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) first denounced Trump's behavior the day after Trump was acquitted in his second impeachment. It took him just two weeks before he caved and said he'd back Trump in 2024.
"But perhaps the most jarring example of selective memory about Trump’s election coup comes from the man he has singularly and relentlessly blamed for spoiling it all: former vice-president Mike Pence," wrote Kilgore. "To be clear, the evidence suggests that Trump’s trusty and sycophantic veep vacillated until the very last moment before he 'betrayed' the boss by refusing to abuse his position as the presiding officer of the January 6 joint session of Congress by denying confirmation of Biden’s Electoral College victory. According to the latest insider account, he was shown a tweet by conservative legal luminary Michael Luttig denying any vice-presidential power to change the results before completely making up his mind the very morning of the planned heist."
Kilgore closed by saying that Pence may never agree on Jan. 6 but the most dangerous position is to dismiss the day as a one-off. "They may never come to grips with reality, and democracy may remain as fragile as their memories," he wrote.