It’s no secret around Daily Kos that The New York Times can be infuriatingly obtuse when it comes to pushing center-right narratives, mainstreaming rightwing talking points, both-sidesing stories and just being politically tone-deaf (as my story here covers) — but there are still times when it is worth a look.
Today, as part of their Democracy Challenged series, they’ve put together an insurrection timeline. (The link below should penetrate the Times paywall.)
Here’s how the long article begins.
Like 9/11, Jan. 6 needs no year attached to convey its dark place in American history. On that Wednesday afternoon, 64 days after Election Day 2020, a mob of supporters of President Donald J. Trump assaulted the Capitol, resulting in what Vice President Mike Pence had refused to do: disrupting the ceremonial certification of the electoral votes confirming that Joseph R. Biden Jr. would be the next president of the United States.
But Jan. 6 has also become a somewhat misleading shorthand for something bigger: a monthslong campaign by Mr. Trump and his allies to subvert American democracy and cling to power by reversing an election.
Over the past year and a half, much has come to light about how they went about it, embracing one tactic after another in a way that led a federal judge to conclude that elements of it likely amounted to a criminal conspiracy.
The story so far has been pieced together through the prosecutions of rioters, the early stages of a broader Justice Department investigation, the work of the House select committee examining the attack and its origins, and the work of journalists.
At its heart is a grievance-filled, insecure president, unable to face the fact of his defeat, working with a cabal of loyalists in and out of government to pursue an evolving plan that unfolded in successive chapters, each in effect taking aim at a pillar of democracy.
There was a failed legal strategy that clogged the courts with fantastical conspiracy theories. It was followed by a plot to twist the Justice Department into backing Mr. Trump’s repeated lie that the election had been rigged and stolen from him, and consideration of proposals that he direct the military or the Homeland Security Department to seize voting machines.
Those were followed by a strong-armed attempt to subvert the Electoral College process and bludgeon Mr. Pence into taking part, all leading to the violent effort to keep Congress from formally affirming Mr. Trump’s loss on Jan. 6.
Taken as a whole, the narrative that has emerged — elements of which the House select committee on Jan. 6 will begin setting out on Thursday evening in the first of a series of hearings — is as chilling as it is audacious.
The reporters who worked on this are: Alan Feuer, Luke Broadwater, Maggie Haberman, Katie Benner and Michael S. Schmidt.
As the link should allow full access, I’m going to list the section headings with a quick summary so you can get an overall grasp of the article.
- Planting Seeds of Doubt — how Trump has always railed against contests in which he failed, disliked the outcome or feared he might be defeated.
- Fighting in the Courts — how Trump and those around him launched a battle in the courts to discredit and overturn the election
- A Showdown Over Executive Power — how Trump and those around him attempted to abuse the power of the presidency to overturn the election
- A Hostile Takeover Attempt — how Trump attempted to make the Department of Justice part of his efforts to overturn the election by installing loyalists.
- Pressuring Pence — the broad efforts to force Vice President Pence to act to overturn the election.
- From Protest to Riot — how Trump’s tweet calling for a protest rally on January 6 metastasized into a riot intended to disrupt certifying election results.
I offered this comment at the NY Times on the article:
The story so far shows that what happened in January 6 was not spontaneous. It was part of a multifaceted attack on the transfer of power in America and on democracy itself.
What I find troubling is that people are still failing to connect the dots. While this centered around Trump, the entire Republican Party is now fully on board with the Big Lie. David Brooks did a quick summary of the problem, although he still gets the overall story wrong in his commentary today.
As Brooks observes:
"The core problem is that there are millions of Americans who have three convictions: that the election was stolen, that violence is justified in order to rectify it and that the rules and norms that hold our society together don’t matter."
What Mr. Brooks gets wrong is refusing to connect the dots. Those millions of Americans believe that because they have been fed a steady diet of lies from the Republican Party and right wing media like Fox, talk radio, etc. both before and after January 6.
The ad hoc attempts to overturn the 2020 election have been followed up by a determined effort on the part of the GOP to systematically undermine the next elections through gerrymanders, voting restrictions, changes to the way elections are administered, and by targeting key officials who can be counted on to guarantee the 'right' outcome.
I fear the media, Democrats, and Americans are not going to grasp that January 6 is not over - it's moving on to make sure the next time it will succeed.
Thom Hartmann's story on what Fascism will look like in America and how it will happen is a must-read. The Republican Party is following this playbook in plain sight. I really hope the hearings about to begin tonight will at some point move on to show this larger threat and how it is well underway.
It’s a bit late to be thinking of this now, but it would have been a smart idea if Democrats had prepped for this by suggesting people organize watch parties and topics for follow up discussions. Most people are probably not paying attention to the way Republicans are trying to tilt the playing field — talking about that would not hurt. It would be a good idea to actually do the messaging The NY Times tried to suggest this was all about.
NOTE: the hearings will likely be available by streaming afterwards so the parties don’t have to take place while the hearings are being carried live. It should be possible to set up watch parties to view them later and have material/talking points prepared to supplement them. Got your weekend free?
The GOP and their rightwing media are trying to spin the hearings away and change the subject. There will be 6 hearings — we still have time to organize this.
And one more thing. Try contacting your Congressman/Senator, and other Democratic officials, suggest they organize viewing parties with talking points as well, and use those constant fundraising emails and texts to pass the idea along.
The world is made up by the people who show up for the job.
UPDATE:
Digby’s place has multiple entries on the upcoming hearings and the GOP efforts to change the subject.
Charlie Pierce at Esquire observes The Republican Press Conferences Around the January 6 Hearings Have Been Full-On Geek Shows
WASHINGTON—The daily press conferences held by the Republican congressional leadership are generally good for a few laughs, rueful or otherwise. But on Thursday, on the morning of the first public hearing of the House’s special committee investigating the events of January 6 and the many maneuverings that led up to them, the daily briefings were full-on geek shows of the first order. Insurrection? What insurrection?
Wait, now watch me bite the head off this live chicken.
The rest is classic Pierce, with the GOP practically falling over themselves handing him material to work with, i.e.:
...But McCarthy’s tap-dancing was never clumsier than when he was asked if he considered Joe Biden to be the legitimate victor in 2020 and if he thought the previous president* has been wrong in calling the 2020 election rigged.
We’ve answered this question for a long time. Joe Biden is the president. You can look and there’s still a lot of problems with the election process. Just the other day — was it yesterday? — they arrested a former Democratic congressman in Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia…as we find more information out there. We want to make sure more people have the ability to vote and that it’s as secure an election…
Unless you're a Republican in the House of Representatives, the answer to that question is, “Yes, of course he is,” and, “He’s dead wrong, and a lying sack of old processed food into the bargain.”
This bit is not good news however:
And now, a word from the president of the United States:
“You know, he’s a guy that when he says something, he means it. I disagree with a lot of what he says, but he means it…Look, he’s the leader of a party that’s moved very hard right and so, in order to get anything done, he has a different problem than he did early on before Trump became president.”
That was the president talking to Jimmy Kimmel on Wednesday night about...
...Mitch McConnell.
I am not encouraged.
It’s statements like that which make it hard for me to not have concerns about Biden’s situational awareness...