Republicans Are Responsible For Insurrection

The insurrection at the nation’s capitol a week ago has brought out a wide range of responses from conservatives but very few have acknowledged a shred of responsibility. YouGov released a survey Thursday last week which found that 45 percent of Republican voters backed the attack on the Capitol building, while 43 percent said they "strongly or somewhat" opposed the protesters' behavior. Six percent of Republicans were unsure while a further 6 percent said they were unaware of the events. The excuses I’ve heard from my neighbors go something like this; violence from any side is unacceptable but I agree with the rioters that the election may have been stolen.

It isn’t just that so many still think the election was stolen, even those that disagree with the violence claim Trump had nothing to do with inspiring they attack. Their denial that he incited the riot and egged the rioters on reminds me of a child denying responsibility for breaking the cookie jar while their hand and face are smeared in cookie crumbs. At the same time they’re blaming Facebook, Twitter, and Google for “censoring” content when it violates their terms of service. It’s only been since the election that the tech giants have begun to at least mark some of Trump’s claims as questionable let alone fact check or block them.

Texas Republicans, like Senator Ted Cruz and Representative Louis Gohmert, were among those who inspired the insurrection in the weeks leading up to it. They and other Republican leaders continue to make public claims of vote rigging without ever presenting any evidence but when lawsuits are filed the only claims are spurious and have nothing to do with the actual validity of the election and are thrown out of court often by Republican and even Trump appointed judges. Not even one of the nine Supreme Court justices where Republicans hold a six to three majority, three of whom are Trump appointees, couldn’t bring themselves to give credence to the falsehoods.

In most cases the claims made Trump’s supporters have been debunked entirely and on the few occasions where there was a shred of truth like the claim that military mail ballots had been thrown out it was thousands or even hundreds, it was three and they were found and counted before the election results were announced. In a case where supporters claimed of dead people voted the nearest they got was one 90+ year old widow of the deceased. The claim was that James Blalock, a deceased WWII vet and retired mailman, voted in the presidential election when in fact his wife who is registered to vote as Mrs. James Blalock is the person in whose name the vote was cast. Some 60 lawsuits have be brought by Trump’s supporters and in every case they’ve been thrown out of court because their claims are either unfounded, spurious, or even if true would affect so few votes as to have no effect on the result.

I’m disgusted and disappointed with many of my neighbors as they claim to want to work with the other side but are unwilling to accept that they and their fellow travelers are the ones causing the division by failing to challenge the falsehoods and their lying leaders.

I’ve begun to have a new appreciation for how Germany fell under the sway of Hitler and the Nazi’s and it isn’t comforting at all.