Note: The views and opinions expressed in blog/editorial posts are those of the author. They do not reflect the views or opinions of Misbar.
The elephant is the symbol of the Republican Party. Isn’t it apt then that the elephant in the room called January 6th continues to make headlines thanks to the members of the Republican Party?
It’s been just over six months since the Capitol insurrection shocked the world. So why does it keep on making headlines? Why is there still so much misinformation spreading about it? It was a major event, but the U.S. has had its fair share of constitutional crises in the past. On the surface, there’s a pretty prominent distinction between the January 6th insurrection and the Watergate scandal or the 1952 Steel Strike. Neither of those events saw the president launch a terrorist attack upon his own government.
The nature of the event may be playing a part in its continued discussion. But The Republican Party’s repeated attempts to downplay and distort what actually happened, is instead drawing more attention to it.
In the immediate aftermath of the insurrection, many within the Republican Party were swift to condemn what had taken place. In fact, the Republican National Committee officially condemned the event as an attack on America. But since then, distortion and downplay appear to have taken over.
It began in conservative media. In fact, on January 6th itself, Greg Kelly, the top rated host for the conservative platform Newsmax, said the following: “These people don’t look like Trump supporters. Trump supporters don’t do these things.” In fact, Kelly made these comments within the same hour as the RNC’s condemnation. Since then, this rhetoric has become dominant among the lawmakers of the Republican Party. It appears to have begun in late February, when Senator Ron Johnson chose to spend his time interviewing Capitol security officials and stating that only a small number of those participating in the riot had actually caused violence. He claimed that some of those people had been left-wing extremists. In reality, there is currently no evidence that left-wing extremists participated in the riot, and 165 defendants have been charged with violent crimes on January sixth.
By May, Republican lawmakers were going as far as stating that law enforcement was “harassing peaceful patriots,” and that the rioters were acting in a similar manner as tourists. This timeline of evolving falsehoods within the leadership of the Republican Party shows why the event is persisting in our minds and in our media. It shows a party that is becoming increasingly insecure with what it has become. In fact, the lawmakers within the Republican Party are exhibiting classic signs of insecurity, such as talking too much, being overly defensive and disagreeing with reality. They’re like a teenager with acne who insists that his skin is perfectly smooth, when in truth, even they know they’re wrong.
Like a father dealing with a teenage child for the first time, the left doesn’t know how to handle the right during this phase. In May, President Biden said that he no longer understood the Republican Party. In the footage linked above, he comes across much like a father who has lost touch with his child. “It seems as though the Republican Party is trying to identify what it stands for,” he says. “And they’re in the midst of a significant sort of mini-revolution.” Replace the words “Republican Party” with “my 14-year-old boy” in that sentence, and the comparison becomes crystal clear.
Later in that statement, Biden highlights why he believes that a democracy should have two strong parties, with one acting as an effective opposition. This leads to an ethical dilemma that I, and I believe many other left-wing people, are struggling with right now. Should we let the Republican Party tear itself apart over its reaction to January 6th and former President Trump or should we encourage the party to raise its standards? On the one hand, I want the Democratic Party to perform well in elections so that it can pass laws that make healthcare a right, that implement effective gun control measures, that give citizenship to the dreamers and that implement many other liberal ideals that I believe would be good for our country. On the other hand, if the Republican Party forever becomes the “Fake News Party,” what does that do for democracy in the long run? What if their next coup attempt is successful?
In that sense, I personally hope that the Republican puberty is as brief as a real teenager’s puberty. If that happens, I believe that voters will respect the maturity of the Democratic Party and allow them to maintain or even expand their majorities in the short term. Then, in the long term, a more balanced government between the two parties will hopefully become established.
On the six-month anniversary of the Capitol Insurrection, President Biden released a statement that showed how the Democratic Party differs from The Republican party, both in what they do say and in what they don’t say. He accurately highlighted that the insurrectionists led a deadly attack on democracy. He did not generalize or inaccurately accuse Republicans of wanting this. Instead, he called upon Democrats, Republicans, and independents to work together.
Hopefully, Republicans will get the message: Stop lying about what happened. Instead, focus upon what is happening now. All that distorting and denying January 6th will do is damage your reputation in the long run. In fact, when it comes to January 6th, take George Lakoff’s advice and don’t think of an elephant!
