How a terrorism exhibit in Colorado distorts the story of Jan. 6

When the CELL first opened in 2008, Melanie Pearlman, the executive director, remarked to a Denver Post reporter that the exhibit transcended partisanship. Everyone could agree, after all, that terrorism should be countered.

“It can’t be taken to a partisan level,” Pearlman said.

Turns out, it can.

Rudy Giuliani got a private pre-opening tour of the exhibit. Those being simpler times, the Post referred to him as a “dignitary.” This was a sign from the future that aversion to terrorism is not exactly universal, since Giuliani would be a key figure 12 years later in a president’s attempted coup — a spectacular demonstration that many Americans are OK with violent extremism when it’s pursued by partisan allies.

The problem for the CELL, a permanent exhibit in downtown Denver on terrorism and violent extremism, is that partisanship has crept into its own mission.

Jan. 6 was one of the most consequential acts of anti-government domestic terrorism in U.S. history. A mob vowing to hang the vice president came within 40 feet of its mark after violently breaching security at the U.S. Capitol.

And yet the CELL — Counterterrorism Education Learning Lab — treats the day as if it were just one of the many regrettable instances of extremism that plague the world, not all that unlike far-left protests in Portland, arson during Black Lives Matter protests, or the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. Worse, it almost entirely relieves former President Donald Trump of responsibility.

It might have been easy for the CELL to deal frankly with post-9/11 terrorism. Now that the standard bearer of a major political party is the spearhead of extremists, it finds itself incapable of telling the truth.

None of this would matter much, except the CELL commands outsize influence. It’s located in the heart of the city, across a plaza from the Denver Art Museum. When it reopened in May after a renovation, top political figures in the state — “dignitaries,” if you will — were on hand to celebrate. They included Gov. Jared Polis, Attorney General Phil Weiser and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston. It boasts an A-list speaker series, which features defense secretaries, White House advisors, top military commanders, members of Congress, national journalists and other notables. It offers a terrorism preparedness program developed with the FBI and Department of Homeland Security that it says has trained more than 100,000 people in more than 75 municipalities.

What it says carries weight. So what does it say?

The CELL educates visitors on the causes of violent extremism, the impact of it, and how we can combat it. The exhibit comprises images, audio, interactive displays and interpretative stations. Sept. 11 has an appropriately large presence, but the exhibit ranges far and wide. Richard Spencer, Hezbollah, Timothy McVeigh, Anwar al-Awlaki, The Weather Underground, ISIS, left-wing, right-wing, foreign, domestic — it covers a lot of terrorism ground.

But none of these figures and groups managed to breach security at the seat of American democracy. No other act of terror was incited by a sitting U.S. president. Never before Jan. 6 had democracy in the U.S. come so close to demolition. And you’d never grasp the gravity of the insurrection from the CELL’s account of it.

The exhibit addresses Jan. 6 at a single video station on domestic terrorism, and a segment on the attack is only 1 of 7 short videos. It mentions that Trump on the morning of the Capitol attack “reiterated false claims of a stolen presidential election” and exhorted supporters to “fight back,” but it shifts blame for the attack to extremist groups like the Oath Keepers and says nothing about how the stop-the-steal movement was generated and stoked by the former president.

Was Jan. 6 even an act of terrorism? The CELL, by discussing it, thinks so, even if it botches the presentation. One of the most authoritative voices on this matter is a Trump appointee, Christopher Wray, director of the FBI.

“That attack, that siege, was criminal behavior, plain and simple, and it’s behavior that we, the FBI, view as domestic terrorism,” Wray told Congress

But many Americans, even if they agree that Jan. 6 was a form of terror, find it too awkward or painful to acknowledge what caused it, though the facts could not be more clear. Trump originated the lie that he had won the 2020 election. He gave encouragement to violent extremists. He called for supporters to join him Jan. 6, 2021, for a “wild” event. He fueled the Capitol mob even after it had broken into the building. He incited the attack as part of a multi-pronged attempted coup. He caused it. It’s well documented.

The CELL’s whole mission is to explain this. Any attempt to understand why it can’t has to note the political inclinations of Denver homebuilder Larry Mizel.

The exhibit opened as a subsidiary of the Mizel Museum, which highlights Jewish culture and heritage. Mizel co-founded that institution, and he sits on the CELL board of directors. He is also among the most influential Trump champions in Colorado. He was Trump’s Colorado fundraising chairman in 2016. In August, Mizel co-hosted a fundraiser for Trump in Aspen, and he’s reportedly planning to host a visit to Denver by Trump running mate J.D. Vance next month.

Given Mizel’s post-coup-attempt allegiance to Trump, it would be surprising if his terrorism museum could be forthright about the former president’s treachery. Newsline asked a CELL spokesperson questions about how it treats Trump’s role in the attack on the Capitol and the nature of Mizel’s influence on the exhibit but did not receive a response.

This all reflects how Trump has deranged an entire society. He made it impossible for otherwise norm-respecting, law-abiding conservatives to find their moral bearings, and he forced even antagonists into fits of hypocrisy.

How else does this coup plotter get invited to a CNN town hall? How else does a former Trump cabinet member confess his boss was “off the rails” yet will vote for him again. How else does the Democratic presidential candidate bring herself to shake this felon’s hand on a debate stage? How else does the Democratic governor of Colorado promote an institution that launders the reputation of an authoritarian poised to seize power.

Republican operatives are again preparing to reject unfavorable election results in November. This is an active threat, and there is every reason to expect that the same forces that sparked terrorism after the last presidential election will do it again.

The CELL could empower visitors to combat the threat of violent extremism just months away. Its dishonesty about Jan. 6 does the opposite.

Colorado Newsline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Colorado Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Quentin Young for questions: info@coloradonewsline.com. Follow Colorado Newsline on Facebook and X.