WASHINGTON (AP) – Republican Donald Trump launched its general election campaign not only by rewriting the history of January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitolbut by positioning the violent siege and its failed attempt to overturn the 2020 elections as the cornerstone of its attempt to return to the White House.
A weekend rally in Ohiohis first as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Trump stood on stage, his hand raised in salute to the brim of his red MAGA hat, as a recorded chorus of prisoners incarcerated for their role in the attack on January 6 sang the national anthem.
A presenter asked the crowd to stand “for the horribly and unfairly treated hostages of January 6.” And people did and sang along.
“They were incredible patriots,” Trump said at the end of the recording.
Having previously sworn to forgive the riotershe promised to help them “from the first day we took office.”
Initially relegated to a fringe theory on the fringes of the Republican Party, the revisionist history of January 6, which Trump amplified during the early days of the GOP primary campaign to mobilize his most devoted voters, remains a centerpiece of the rally itself whether he should appeal. more broadly to a general voting public.
By praising the rioters, Trump is blaming his own role in preparing for the election. bloody mob siege and asking voters to absolve hundreds of them – and himself – for the deadliest attack on a seat of American power in 200 years.
At the same time, Trump allies are installing 2020 election deniers. to the Republican National Committee, further institutionalizing the lies that sparked the violence. That raises red flags for next year, when Congress will again be called upon to certify the vote.
And they are not alone. Congressional Republicans launch into a new investigation of the January 6, 2021 attack that aims to protect Trump from wrongdoing while lawmakers present parallel theories about why thousands of his supporters descended on the Capitol in what became a brutal scene hand-to-hand combat with the police.
Five people died in the riot and its aftermath.
Overall, this is what those who study authoritarian regimes warn: this is a classic case of so-called consolidation – where the state apparatus transforms around a single figure. singular, in this case Trump.
Jason Stanley, a professor of philosophy at Yale, said that in history, the question comes up again and again: How could people have not taken an authoritarian leader at his word about what was going to happen?
“Listen to Trump,” he said.
“When a coup against the democratic regime occurs and it is not punished, it is a very strong indicator of the end of the rule of law and the victory of this authoritarian movement,” he said. said Stanley, the author of “How Fascism Works.”
“Americans have a hard time understanding that what is happening in most countries in the world can also happen here. »
Trump faces a four-count federal indictment on January 6 – accusations that he conspired to defraud Americans following his 2020 election defeat and obstructed the official process in Congress to certify the vote for Joe Biden. As the Supreme Court considers Trump’s claim that he should be safe from prosecutionIt is unclear when the case will go to trial, raising the possibility that it will not be resolved until after the election.
On January 6, the first House Select Committee concluded that Trump had criminally engaged in “multi-part plot” He failed to overturn the legal results of the 2020 presidential election and did not act to stop his supporters from attacking the Capitol and beating police.
More … than 1,200 people were charged participated in the riot, including far-right extremists Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, hundreds of whom were convicted. Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani and lawyer John Eastman are facing legal challenges over their work on the 2020 elections.
Trump’s campaign, in response to an Associated Press investigation, highlighted the work of House investigators trying to show inconsistencies in the Select Committee’s investigation and its star witness. Cassidy Hutchinsona former aide who had a front-row seat to the inner workings of the White House.
Trump’s national press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Justice Department spent more time prosecuting the former president and “targeting Americans for peacefully protesting on January 6” than other criminals .
“President Trump will restore justice to all Americas that have been unjustly treated,” she said.
Although Republicans privately worry that Trump risks turning off the women and independent voters he would need in a general election rematch against Biden, his top aides have said there is little they can do. Trump is going to be Trump.
Over the weekend, Trump focused his attention on Liz Cheneythe former Republican congresswoman, who was vice chair of the select committee and personally ensured the success of Hutchinson’s blockbuster testimony 2022.
“She should go to jail with the rest of the deselection committee!” » Trump posted on social media.
Cheney posted in response: “Hey Donald: You know these are lies” – as she worked to dispel the lies about January 6.
“If your response to Trump’s attack on our democracy is to lie and cover up what he did, attack the courageous men and women who revealed the truth, and defend the criminals who violently attacked the Capitol,” she said in a message: “You need to rethink what side you are on. Hint: it’s not America’s. »
Many Republicans are deliberately ignoring the issue, especially in Congress, although lawmakers ran for their lives and took shelter when rioters stormed the Senate chamber and ransacked the Capitol offices.
Senators who sharply criticized Trump after the Jan. 6 attack, such as Republican leader Mitch McConnell and John Thune of South Dakota, the Senate’s second-ranking Republican, have now reluctantly supported him.
Others still refuse to support Trump, including Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, who voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment for inciting insurrection in the Jan. 6 attack. But the recalcitrants are in the minority.
Appearing on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Cassidy would only say, “I intend to vote for a Republican for president of the United States.” »
One Republican willing to speak out is Mike Pence, the former vice president, whom rioters shouted wanted to “hang” that day as a makeshift gallows stood on the west front of the Capitol.
“I was there on January 6. I have no doubt in my mind … that some people were caught up in the moment,” Pence said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
“But assaults on police officers, an environment that ultimately cost lives, is something that I think is tragic on this day,” Pence said. “And I will never diminish it.”
