I remember my mother watching the Watergate Hearings. Though she was a devoted Republican and a Nixon supporter, she wanted to know the truth. Was there proof Nixon knew about the Watergate break-in before it happened, or was it a witch hunt? To her dismay, she found out Nixon was a crook, and was convinced he needed to be removed.
Today, the MAGA crowd doesn’t want to know the truth. The Trump cultists only want to hear from OAN, Newsmax, and Tucker Carlson, because they reinforce the lies they heard from Trump, as he attempted a coup to retain power, and put our nation into a Constitutional crisis.
For the first time in our nation’s history a President refused to concede defeat in a bid for re-election, and tried to overturn the election results. When he lost 62 frivolous lawsuits and ran out of lawful challenges, he incited a mob to storm the Capital. As Capital Police were assaulted and killed he did nothing, but stoke the anger.
He put his own Vice-President in harms way through the use of Twitter. His tweet incited the rioters to focus on Vice-President Pence. One of Trump’s favorite home grown militias, The Proud Boys, planned to kill Pence after seeing Trump’s Tweet if they found him, according to one informant in their ranks.
As rioters were chanting, “Hang Mike Pence,” Trump was heard to say, “Maybe they have the right idea,” according to testimony given at the hearings. Trump, by the way, never called Pence to find out if he was safe, as rioters made their way through the Capital Building looking for him.
Despite much of the testimony being given is from people in Trumps inner circle – self-described conservative Republicans who worked for Trump, including advisors, campaign managers, and lawyers, their testimonies and recorded depositions describing Trump’s involvement in the Big Lie isn’t being heard by those who need to hear it.
Trump knew there were no suitcases of ballots for Biden being snuck in and counted multiple times. He knew there was no problem with Dominion voting machines. He knew there weren’t 8000 dead people who voted.
He knew all this before January 6th, when he stood at the podium on that day and told those who gathered (at his request) to, “March to the Capital,” and “Fight like Hell.”
How did he know?
He was told this by his then-Attorney General, Bill Barr, among others. Barr’s investigative team looked at every allegation of voter fraud. Barr told the then-president the allegations of fraud were “bullshit” and that Trump’s team was wasting its time on “idiotic claims.”
Barr, who realized Trump was going to continue the Big Lie, eventually resigned his position.
In private, our former President admitted he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden. That’s according to Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former Trump White House aide.
Mike Pence knew he had no authority to stop the counting of electoral votes, or to declare Trump the winner. It was Mike Pence, sheltered in a secure location beneath the Capital Building, who made phone calls to get the National Guard and reinforcements to quell the insurrection.
Despite attorney John Eastman and a drunk Rudy Giuliani advising Trump that Pence had that power, Pence and other attorneys knew better. Trump knew Pence didn’t have that power, but he continued to pressure Pence, calling him a “Wimp,” and a “P***y” in a phone call that tried to get Pence to go along with his plan.
Retired federal Judge J. Michael Luttig, who advised the former vice president in the buildup to the riot on Jan. 6, 2021, told the House committee investigating the attack that Trump and his allies remain a “clear and present danger” to U.S. democracy.
Luttig, a Republican, warned the committee that Trump remains a danger because the former president has pledged to contest the next election for the White House in 2024 if Republicans don’t win.
“That’s not because of what happened on January 6th,” Luttig said. “It’s because to this very day the former president, his allies and supporters pledge that in the presidential election of 2024, if the former president or his anointed successor as the Republican Party presidential candidate, were to lose that election, that they would attempt to overturn that 2024 election in the same way that they attempted to overturn the 2020 election.”
A deposition of Trump White House attorney Eric Herschmann, relayed to the January 6th panel a conversation he had with Eastman the day after the insurrection, in which Herschmann told Eastman to “get a great effin’ criminal defense lawyer” because “you’re going to need it.” A few days after that, Eastman emailed Giuliani and wrote: “I’ve decided that I should be on the pardon list, if that is still in the works.”
It was Eric Herschmann, among others, who told Eastman his opinion of Pence having the power to refuse accepting the Electoral Votes had no legal basis, or precedent. Eastman actually conceded that such a position would lose in front of the Supreme Court by a 9-0 vote. Still, Eastman promoted his opinion of Pence’s supposed power to the thousands of fools who gathered in Washington for Trump’s rally.
While the evidence being presented by the January 6th Committee is proving Trump and others planned and incited the insurrection, MAGA-maniacs refuse to listen, or to watch the hearings, because the majority of the panel are Democrats.
Despite their claims of it being a witch hunt run by left-wing Democrats, they refuse to concede those giving the testimony are those who were close to Trump, or had conversations with Trump, and are admittedly extremely conservative Republicans.
As the evidence tightens on Trump, he is apparently planning on throwing Eastman (and probably Giuliani, eventually) under the bus. Trump, however, has continued the Big Lie about his “winning” 2020 and rigged elections, in recent public speeches.
While his gullible followers refuse to watch the January 6th hearings and focus on the admittedly amusing video of President Biden toppling off his bike, they should take the opportunity to be informed of what really happened in the weeks preceding January 6th, and what was happening on that day.
One thing can be said about January 6th. The rioters who shouted, “Stop the steal!” got their wish. Trump was prevented from stealing the election.
Our nation can be thankful that there were conservative Republicans who held the Constitution, and the rule of law, above that of their loyalty to Trump.
Disclaimer: On January 4, 2016, the owner of WestEastonPA.com began serving on the West Easton Council following an election. Postings and all content found on this website are the opinions of Matthew A. Dees and may not necessarily represent the opinion of the governing body for The Borough of West Easton.
