Amidst today’s outburst of grievous remembrances, I reviewed my initial take about January 6 written right after it happened a year ago. Seems to hold up. So rather than indulge much of the melodramatic anniversary-related nonsense, I’m just going to re-publish that take here:
My wife and I have been happily married for 19 years. She is a lifelong Democrat. I am a recovering Libertarian. I don't particularly like Trump but she despises him. Tonight, the local news included a statement from Trump where he said that it is all political theatre. My wife unexpectedly said, "He's right."
I sat there in stunned silence. I think she caught herself by surprise. She followed up by saying, "That is the only thing he has EVER been right about but he's right." At that point, I still haven't said a word. It was like I had just witnessed the virgin birth. She then says, "You better not hold this over me." It was only then that I realized that it was safe for me to believe my ears and I burst out laughing.
"The most offensive is not their lying - one can always forgive lying - lying is a delightful thing, for it leads to truth - what is offensive is that they lie and worship their own lying." - Dostoevsky
Banana Republic USA performance theater. Shared your assessment then and now, for whatever that's worth. Despise almost all our cabal of elected politicians.
All day, I couldn’t stop thinking about Eric Weinstein’s comments regarding “kayfabe,” which is a practice used in professional wrestling to layer deceptions in order to mystify an audience. All the political spectacle today of candle-lit vigils and somber addresses from prominent politicians, including President Mumbles, felt like the layered kayfabe of a WWE extravaganza. BS on top of BS with tiny sprinkles of truth thrown in so that no one—even at MSNBC—has any idea what’s real and what’s fake. Does Biden really believe what he’s saying? Does Pelosi? No one knows—including Biden and Pelosi. Yet the consequences—like an actual fight breaking out in the stands of a wrestling match—will be real, and all for nothing.
Thank you for writing this, Michael. It's true. Though the election concerns are certainly real or you wouldn't see them trying to push through all the abuses they clearly used to quite likely steal an election (if changing rules illegally isn't fraud, and the media's purposely censoring real corruption and abuse doesn't count for you), they are pushing for no ID, no signature matches, expanded mail in voting. All this went on and more. I live in Antrim Co. If votes can be changed by mistake they can be changed on purpose. So nobody has confidence in fair and free elections. The only thing that is going to be funny is if they let in all these Hispanics and let them vote, they will find out within four to eight years that Hispanics are not socialists, are religious, hard working people (they've come from socialist places). This could backfire spectacularly on them and that would be divine justice. Anyway, thank you for some truth here.
What makes the sanctimony so insufferable is that the same people will be calling for a literal insurrection via the military when Trump or DeSantis wins 35 states in 2024. I can at least give them credit for consistently using the phrase "saving democracy", since every time it just means "my tribe has to win and then we get to do whatever we want".
Reposting this again from "Political And Media Class Solemnly Commemorates Six Months Of Overwrought Whining About January 6"
"Are they really trying to pretend I have memory loss? Almost 10 years ago protesters violently broke into the Wisconsin state capitol to block a vote. It was even praised by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the time. I remember the Kavanaugh hearings, I remember Maxine Waters telling people to get in Republican’s faces, and I remember the attempted assassination of Republican senators at a baseball field. Anyone remember when Rand Paul was swarmed by people demanding he say Breonna Taylor’s name after he wrote the Justice for Breonna Taylor Act?
Remember early last year? There was a successful protest against new Virginia gun laws. The protesters were actually peaceful and picked up their trash. What was the media reaction? “Domestic terrorists who should be shot.” Lockdown protesters? “Evil death cultists!”
Fast forward to the death of George Floyd. There were massive gatherings that were somehow immune to spreading Covid 19. Large scale rioting and violence was written off. I watched many livestreams of the riots. I saw arson, assault, and even attempted murder. Many died and billions of dollars of property was destroyed. The seriousness of it was just ignored. Rioters even took over part of a city and made it their own.
The major networks and newspapers just lied about it. According to them, suburbanites clearing gun store shelves was due to “economic uncertainty related to Covid 19.” The Vox crowd was cheering the entire time. Very few of the supposedly “principled” National Review writers even cared. They just wrote jokes about CHAZ and socialism and made fun of the rioters when they tore down another abolitionist statue. The riots were still ongoing in places for weeks afterwards! Portland is still the same old story! All the people pretending to care about violence and unrest now, have never cared. It is just a show. The whole thing has just been an excuse to expand government power, grow the surveillance state, scare the populace, piss off the people who voted the wrong way, give our elected officials an excuse to be attention whores, and give a lot of taxpayer money to their friends."
Anyone remember the original narrative? First Officer Sicknick had his skull caved in with a fire extinguisher then it turns out he died of a regular stroke and he was not bear sprayed either. The FBI was caught by surprise, oh wait, no it turns out they had people there the whole time who might have been involved in the whole thing and even the New York Times had to admit it. The rioters were heavily armed with "assault weapons", no wait, the weapon stories were actually bullshit. etc. etc.
Today's outpouring of pearl-clutching, cringe-inducing hyperbole issuing from the left wing press about the "Attempted Coup" and Attack on Democracy" leaves in mind of that line: "I think I just threw up a little in my mouth."
No liberals were hurt but their feelings were hurt. Jan 6th was compared to 911 and pearl harbour but in terms of overall therapy required, a better comparison might be to the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (combined), the holocaust, extinction of the dinosaurs or collapse of the universe before the Big Bang. All were Trump's fault by the way /s.
Which is "worse": those declaring 1/6 was the end of the universe or those declaring it was another day in paradise? There is no "in between".
There's no answer to the question. I just had to ask it.
All I am sure of is, if I vote -- it won't be for a Democrat or a Republican. The closest I could come to "none of the above" was the American Shopping Party.
I would think some enterprising Billionaire (it would have to be a Billionaire, no one else can do anything) should be able to read those tea leaves and take advantage of the situation.
If there is a coup, it will have little to do with Trump's leadership. He's just run to the front of the parade. He's the Oligarchy's useful idiot. They pay him a lot for that role. Just as they pay Hillary, Pelosi, Schumer and the rest.
Not much has changed in 1 year. The desperation to find something / anything is growing as the USA sets new coronavirus records. Yes, no one in the "MEDIA" has pointed out that more Americans have allegedly been INFECTED AND died under President Biden than President trump (of course with the caveat of "with" not "due" to CV). Nor have they pointed out that interest rates are now eating away at the American lifestyle and that wages are actually going down, Metropolitan Crime is increasing in double digit percentages...DURING THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION. The most vaccinated states see the largest increases...and we are now hearing that we need to mask harder and passport harder. Concurrent to that are photos of "certain" people who were attempting to incite the mob that have curiously escaped identification and arrest. Maybe they needed to wear bison horns?
We can assume that MEDIA attention will continue to focus on inequality, racism, insurrection and the dirty losers who don't want to get another booster for the ills that have befallen this great nation. I type this with tongue lodged in left cheek.
You are a very smart guy, doing very useful journalism (which is why I'm a subscriber), and I agree with you a lot of the time. However, this piece doesn't hold up at all well, actually. It is, by a considerable margin, the least thoughtful thing I have ever read from you.
Donald Trump was very obviously at the heart of a concerted effort by a great many people to have him retain the office of President in the face of a democratic election that voted him out. Part of that attempt involved the pre-emptive gaslighting of the American public with a drumbeat of pre-election pronouncements that if Donald Trump was not declared the winner of the election, that, by itself, would prove that the process was fraudulent. Part of that attempt involved pressuring the Vice-President to subvert the constitutional process. Part of that attempt involved packaging outright lies and dubious rumours into reports distributed from the White House to legislators to cast doubt on the validity of the electoral result. Part of that attempt involved Donald Trump personally contacting election officials in several States and pressuring them to take steps to invalidate or nullify the results of the election in their jurisdictions. On January 6 itself, part of that attempt involved gathering a large crowd, feeding it lies, and egging it on to physically disrupt the process required to confirm the results of the election and thus make the transfer of power official. These efforts--and all of the others that are now very well documented--are quite properly described as a coup attempt.
Like the January 6 effort in the U.S., many coup attempts in other places and other times have failed, and many for the same reasons that this one failed (idiots in charge, institutional resilience in the legislative branch, a lack of support in the judicial branch and in the military, no real appetite for overturning election results amongst most of the important elements in the business community, etc.). However, the obvious ineptitude and unrealism of the attempt does not make it any less a coup attempt.
Donald Trump is not, in any way, a figure comparable to Adolph Hitler, but it is worth remembering that one of the principal reasons Hitler was so badly underestimated by conservative German politicians in the run-up to his entry into government in 1933 was that his own 1923 coup attempt (the "Beer Hall Putsch", as it is usually derisively called) was so inept and obviously doomed to failure. Later, of course, albeit through formally legal means, Hitler accomplished the objectives of his earlier coup attempt, destroyed the legal structure of the Weimar republic, and established a new legal order in Germany.
Hugo Chavez's career had much the same arc. His 1992 coup attempt was a more serious effort, but it was never a credible threat to the existing government and quickly collapsed. Chavez spent two years in prison, but emerged a powerful political force.
In short, some very nasty things can grow out of thoroughly incompetent coup attempts.
You should go back and think through this event again. Just because most of the mainstream media are idiots doesn't mean that everything they say is always 180 degrees from the truth. Strip away the hysterical presentation and exaggeration and, underneath it all, you will still find that there was a coup attempt on January 6, and its instigator is still a force in American politics. Those are facts that need to be taken seriously.
My wife and I have been happily married for 19 years. She is a lifelong Democrat. I am a recovering Libertarian. I don't particularly like Trump but she despises him. Tonight, the local news included a statement from Trump where he said that it is all political theatre. My wife unexpectedly said, "He's right."
I sat there in stunned silence. I think she caught herself by surprise. She followed up by saying, "That is the only thing he has EVER been right about but he's right." At that point, I still haven't said a word. It was like I had just witnessed the virgin birth. She then says, "You better not hold this over me." It was only then that I realized that it was safe for me to believe my ears and I burst out laughing.
"The most offensive is not their lying - one can always forgive lying - lying is a delightful thing, for it leads to truth - what is offensive is that they lie and worship their own lying." - Dostoevsky
Banana Republic USA performance theater. Shared your assessment then and now, for whatever that's worth. Despise almost all our cabal of elected politicians.
You missed that even the war-vampire Dick was resurrected and "democracy-loving" Dems lined up to kiss his and his even-worse daughter's hands
All day, I couldn’t stop thinking about Eric Weinstein’s comments regarding “kayfabe,” which is a practice used in professional wrestling to layer deceptions in order to mystify an audience. All the political spectacle today of candle-lit vigils and somber addresses from prominent politicians, including President Mumbles, felt like the layered kayfabe of a WWE extravaganza. BS on top of BS with tiny sprinkles of truth thrown in so that no one—even at MSNBC—has any idea what’s real and what’s fake. Does Biden really believe what he’s saying? Does Pelosi? No one knows—including Biden and Pelosi. Yet the consequences—like an actual fight breaking out in the stands of a wrestling match—will be real, and all for nothing.
Thank you for writing this, Michael. It's true. Though the election concerns are certainly real or you wouldn't see them trying to push through all the abuses they clearly used to quite likely steal an election (if changing rules illegally isn't fraud, and the media's purposely censoring real corruption and abuse doesn't count for you), they are pushing for no ID, no signature matches, expanded mail in voting. All this went on and more. I live in Antrim Co. If votes can be changed by mistake they can be changed on purpose. So nobody has confidence in fair and free elections. The only thing that is going to be funny is if they let in all these Hispanics and let them vote, they will find out within four to eight years that Hispanics are not socialists, are religious, hard working people (they've come from socialist places). This could backfire spectacularly on them and that would be divine justice. Anyway, thank you for some truth here.
What makes the sanctimony so insufferable is that the same people will be calling for a literal insurrection via the military when Trump or DeSantis wins 35 states in 2024. I can at least give them credit for consistently using the phrase "saving democracy", since every time it just means "my tribe has to win and then we get to do whatever we want".
Reposting this again from "Political And Media Class Solemnly Commemorates Six Months Of Overwrought Whining About January 6"
"Are they really trying to pretend I have memory loss? Almost 10 years ago protesters violently broke into the Wisconsin state capitol to block a vote. It was even praised by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the time. I remember the Kavanaugh hearings, I remember Maxine Waters telling people to get in Republican’s faces, and I remember the attempted assassination of Republican senators at a baseball field. Anyone remember when Rand Paul was swarmed by people demanding he say Breonna Taylor’s name after he wrote the Justice for Breonna Taylor Act?
Remember early last year? There was a successful protest against new Virginia gun laws. The protesters were actually peaceful and picked up their trash. What was the media reaction? “Domestic terrorists who should be shot.” Lockdown protesters? “Evil death cultists!”
Fast forward to the death of George Floyd. There were massive gatherings that were somehow immune to spreading Covid 19. Large scale rioting and violence was written off. I watched many livestreams of the riots. I saw arson, assault, and even attempted murder. Many died and billions of dollars of property was destroyed. The seriousness of it was just ignored. Rioters even took over part of a city and made it their own.
The major networks and newspapers just lied about it. According to them, suburbanites clearing gun store shelves was due to “economic uncertainty related to Covid 19.” The Vox crowd was cheering the entire time. Very few of the supposedly “principled” National Review writers even cared. They just wrote jokes about CHAZ and socialism and made fun of the rioters when they tore down another abolitionist statue. The riots were still ongoing in places for weeks afterwards! Portland is still the same old story! All the people pretending to care about violence and unrest now, have never cared. It is just a show. The whole thing has just been an excuse to expand government power, grow the surveillance state, scare the populace, piss off the people who voted the wrong way, give our elected officials an excuse to be attention whores, and give a lot of taxpayer money to their friends."
Anyone remember the original narrative? First Officer Sicknick had his skull caved in with a fire extinguisher then it turns out he died of a regular stroke and he was not bear sprayed either. The FBI was caught by surprise, oh wait, no it turns out they had people there the whole time who might have been involved in the whole thing and even the New York Times had to admit it. The rioters were heavily armed with "assault weapons", no wait, the weapon stories were actually bullshit. etc. etc.
Excellent. Not a word need be changed.
Today's outpouring of pearl-clutching, cringe-inducing hyperbole issuing from the left wing press about the "Attempted Coup" and Attack on Democracy" leaves in mind of that line: "I think I just threw up a little in my mouth."
No liberals were hurt but their feelings were hurt. Jan 6th was compared to 911 and pearl harbour but in terms of overall therapy required, a better comparison might be to the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (combined), the holocaust, extinction of the dinosaurs or collapse of the universe before the Big Bang. All were Trump's fault by the way /s.
Which is "worse": those declaring 1/6 was the end of the universe or those declaring it was another day in paradise? There is no "in between".
There's no answer to the question. I just had to ask it.
All I am sure of is, if I vote -- it won't be for a Democrat or a Republican. The closest I could come to "none of the above" was the American Shopping Party.
I would think some enterprising Billionaire (it would have to be a Billionaire, no one else can do anything) should be able to read those tea leaves and take advantage of the situation.
Aged beautifully, go you, sanity and truth still have an audience!
If there is a coup, it will have little to do with Trump's leadership. He's just run to the front of the parade. He's the Oligarchy's useful idiot. They pay him a lot for that role. Just as they pay Hillary, Pelosi, Schumer and the rest.
Not much has changed in 1 year. The desperation to find something / anything is growing as the USA sets new coronavirus records. Yes, no one in the "MEDIA" has pointed out that more Americans have allegedly been INFECTED AND died under President Biden than President trump (of course with the caveat of "with" not "due" to CV). Nor have they pointed out that interest rates are now eating away at the American lifestyle and that wages are actually going down, Metropolitan Crime is increasing in double digit percentages...DURING THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION. The most vaccinated states see the largest increases...and we are now hearing that we need to mask harder and passport harder. Concurrent to that are photos of "certain" people who were attempting to incite the mob that have curiously escaped identification and arrest. Maybe they needed to wear bison horns?
We can assume that MEDIA attention will continue to focus on inequality, racism, insurrection and the dirty losers who don't want to get another booster for the ills that have befallen this great nation. I type this with tongue lodged in left cheek.
You are a very smart guy, doing very useful journalism (which is why I'm a subscriber), and I agree with you a lot of the time. However, this piece doesn't hold up at all well, actually. It is, by a considerable margin, the least thoughtful thing I have ever read from you.
Donald Trump was very obviously at the heart of a concerted effort by a great many people to have him retain the office of President in the face of a democratic election that voted him out. Part of that attempt involved the pre-emptive gaslighting of the American public with a drumbeat of pre-election pronouncements that if Donald Trump was not declared the winner of the election, that, by itself, would prove that the process was fraudulent. Part of that attempt involved pressuring the Vice-President to subvert the constitutional process. Part of that attempt involved packaging outright lies and dubious rumours into reports distributed from the White House to legislators to cast doubt on the validity of the electoral result. Part of that attempt involved Donald Trump personally contacting election officials in several States and pressuring them to take steps to invalidate or nullify the results of the election in their jurisdictions. On January 6 itself, part of that attempt involved gathering a large crowd, feeding it lies, and egging it on to physically disrupt the process required to confirm the results of the election and thus make the transfer of power official. These efforts--and all of the others that are now very well documented--are quite properly described as a coup attempt.
Like the January 6 effort in the U.S., many coup attempts in other places and other times have failed, and many for the same reasons that this one failed (idiots in charge, institutional resilience in the legislative branch, a lack of support in the judicial branch and in the military, no real appetite for overturning election results amongst most of the important elements in the business community, etc.). However, the obvious ineptitude and unrealism of the attempt does not make it any less a coup attempt.
Donald Trump is not, in any way, a figure comparable to Adolph Hitler, but it is worth remembering that one of the principal reasons Hitler was so badly underestimated by conservative German politicians in the run-up to his entry into government in 1933 was that his own 1923 coup attempt (the "Beer Hall Putsch", as it is usually derisively called) was so inept and obviously doomed to failure. Later, of course, albeit through formally legal means, Hitler accomplished the objectives of his earlier coup attempt, destroyed the legal structure of the Weimar republic, and established a new legal order in Germany.
Hugo Chavez's career had much the same arc. His 1992 coup attempt was a more serious effort, but it was never a credible threat to the existing government and quickly collapsed. Chavez spent two years in prison, but emerged a powerful political force.
In short, some very nasty things can grow out of thoroughly incompetent coup attempts.
You should go back and think through this event again. Just because most of the mainstream media are idiots doesn't mean that everything they say is always 180 degrees from the truth. Strip away the hysterical presentation and exaggeration and, underneath it all, you will still find that there was a coup attempt on January 6, and its instigator is still a force in American politics. Those are facts that need to be taken seriously.