The House January 6th committee had their seventh hearing yesterday. They continue to “connect the dots” between tRump, his cronies, and white supremacy militia groups and the near coup on January 6, 2021. I remember reading media accounts of many of the details and they were horrifying enough but with the emotional impact of testimony, everything just seems so much worse.
Things I knew already from either watching the coup attempt or reading later accounts of it:
1. Proud Boys & Oath Keepers & other white supremacist militia groups were there among the regular tRumpanzee supporters. I knew this because they wore body armor and brought all kinds of weapons. They had zip ties, apparently for binding whoever they could catch.
2. Along with that, those groups were intent on causing physical harm and even death. I knew that just from the gallows erected outside the Capitol. I also knew that from the violence against the Capitol Police who tried valiantly to defend the legislators and the buildings. I believe if the police hadn’t acted quickly to evacuate many of the legislators, the protestors would have killed any they got their hands on.
3. I knew tRump was involved because he did NOTHING to stop the insurrection. He didn’t call out the National Guard. He didn’t tell the mob to stop. In fact, before the mob converged on the Capitol, tRump was busy whipping them up with inflammatory remarks and told them to march to the Capitol. There were reports all afternoon that various staff members and tRump family members tried to get TFG to act and he wouldn’t do it until hours had passed.
4. I knew he was involved because as soon as he did finally send a video asking the mob to go home and “we love you”, most left immediately.
Later would come news stories about what went on in the White House that day, the fact that TFG was bringing pressure to bear on VP Pence to throw the election, the fact that John Eastman had this looney-tune game plan in which TFG could stay in power even though he’d lost the election, the fact that state officials were also pressured to overturn legitimate votes in favor of loser tRump, and so many other details that were further amplified, clarified and humanized by the testimony.
The emotional impact of each witness’ testimony causes me to feel that the hearings have been getting worse and worse, particularly from people victimized by tRump’s treachery. First there were the Capitol Police who were grievously injured. So many were injured and traumatized, and their pain shook me.
The pressure brought to bear on VP Pence was shocking in that tRump set a target on his back and sent a mob after him. The white supremacy terrorists declared if they’d found Mike Pence, they would have killed him. It was a shock to learn just how close the mob had come to stumbling across Pence and his Secret Service as they were evacuating.
The most heart-breaking testimony was from the two election workers who did nothing wrong but were targeted by tRump and his henchman, Rudy Giuliani, who named and vilified them. The two women began to receive death threats and racist messages. They couldn’t stay in their own homes for fear of their own safety. As for the state officials, they also suffered harassment and threats because they refused to do what tRump wanted.
Some of the new stuff I learned yesterday:
Before tRump set the mob on Congress, he and his “crazies” pals were concocting more plans to keep him in power. On December 18, there was a huge showdown between Legal Team Normal and Team Crazies and tRump. The Crazies proposed a lunatic theory for tRump to keep power and he would have been all for it were not for Team Normal being so adamantly against it. The arguing grew loud and almost came to physical blows. It was pretty clear by the end of the hours long meeting that the Crazies’ plots weren’t going to fly.
So, about an hour after the meeting, tRump tweeted his call to Washington on January 6th. Things would be “wild” he promised. The right-wing militia groups, supremacists and otherwise not-as-malignant tRumpanzees responded rapidly. The non-militia group didn’t plan to be violent or overthrow the government; they were just coming to what they thought would be a Stop-the-steal rally. The militant groups, though, went into major offensive plans. Normally the organizations didn’t work together but now they were cooperating. There were maps, shared weapons & body armor, details about how to get to DC and where to stay, and working out who was going to do what when.
Another thing I learned: tRump wasn’t supposed to reference Mike Pence in that Ellipse speech. He ad-libbed it on when Pence still refused to do what tRump wanted. Another new piece of information: a march like that is illegal without a permit and so it was left entirely out until the very last minute to make it seem like a spur-of-the-moment impulse of tRump’s. It wasn’t.
One of the witnesses was a former Oath Keeper named Jason Van Tatenhove. He was a journalist that worked for a time with the Oath Keepers. His testimony was chilling in that he said what happened could have been an armed revolution. The Oath Keepers and other militias were there to be violent and to kill. He warned about our upcoming election in November and also 2024.
Stephen Ayres was one of those taken-in tRumpanzees who believed tRump and trusted him. The election had been stolen. Yes, he was called to Washington to join in a stop the steal rally. He traveled with like minded friends. None of them belonged to any supremacy group or militia. What made him join in the riot? He was moved by tRump’s speech at the Ellipse and the exhortation to march to the Capitol. He went because tRump wanted him to. He said if tRump at any point earlier in the afternoon had called on them to go home, they would have. Maybe a lot of it could have been prevented, Ayres said.
Pat Cipollone wasn’t there to testify but he’d provided 8 hours of testimony to the committee and they introduced some of it yesterday. He didn’t contradict anything said by any of the tRump aides and staff earlier.
Toward the end of the hearing, Liz Cheney announced that tRump himself may have tried a hand at witness tampering. He called one of the witnesses not called yet but the recipient wouldn’t take the call. So the plot goes on.
Chair Bennie Thompson noted that several of the injured Capitol police officers have been attending the hearings, praising them again for their courage and dedication. Then he mentioned specifically that Aquillino Gonell has just learned that his injuries are permanent and he can’t be a police officer anymore. When the hearing adjourned, Stephen Ayres went to Gonell, apologized, and hugged him. Ayres also shook hands with the other officers. I was glad to see true remorse and forgiveness.
Otherwise, I just felt emotionally nauseated, demoralized and disgusted. I can maybe understand that people in the White House were afraid to go public with the wild plots to overturn the election. Apparently, tRump is a vile creature with the power and means to make life hell for whoever crosses him. But after what happened on January 6, why didn’t any of them come forward then? Were they afraid they’d be seen as accomplices? Look how well that worked out.
There seems to be fear that if tRump is charged with anything, there will be more violence. Look how staying silent in the face of his raging tantrums and irrational behavior has served us. If he’s given a pass on breaking the law, on committing treason, because people are afraid of what would happen then guess what? He’ll see he can get away with it and it’ll happen again. This time, we may not be as lucky as we were on January 6th.
And the other reason I feel nauseated, demoralized and disgusted is because of a poll conducted among Rethuglican voters. A whopping 75% still support tRump, even after all that’s been revealed.
That really scares the shit out of me.
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