By Andrea Widburg, AMER THINKER
A few days ago, the unconstitutionally conducted January 6 committee referred Donald Trump for criminal prosecution. Yesterday, it published its final, detailed report. In true Trumpian fashion, Trump came out swinging, calling out the lies and omissions that fueled the committee’s ludicrous referral. No wonder Trump’s supporters still stand by him.
The 845-page report looks comprehensive, but it’s not, and that’s one of the main points Trump makes in his statement. The report is honest about one thing, though. It insists that Congress must ban Trump from ever holding office again. And there you have the whole point of this exercise: Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans will do anything, no matter how corrupt, to keep Trump from returning to the White House.
It’s a silly recommendation because Congress lacks the power to ban Trump. The only limitations on a person’s running for office are in the Constitution: Thirty-five years or older, native-born American, a resident for 14 years and, via the 22nd Amendment, limited to two terms of office. Moreover, as noted here, we’ve already had a convicted felon run, so even a corrupt indictment and trial won’t stop Trump.
So, what does Trump have to say? Here’s his statement/rebuttal:
Trump points out that, even as America disintegrates under Joe Biden’s policies and derelictions, the media and Congress have fed Americans lies through the January 6 Committee. For example, the committee omitted the fact that, in his speech, Trump urged protesters to make their voices heard “peacefully and patriotically.” The committee also deliberately omitted that part of Trump’s tweet telling protesters to go home “with love and in peace.”
When it comes to the tweets Trump sent, Trump explains that the committee flat-out lies, falsely claiming he didn’t respond for 187 minutes. In fact, within 25 minutes of learning of the Capitol breach, Trump issued a statement calling for respect for law enforcement and tweeted out yet another statement to that effect 30 minutes later.
A key point Trump makes (and one the committee also omits) is that days before January 6, he urged the deployment of 10,000-20,000 National Guard troops to keep the event safe. That proves Trump’s intent was safety and security, not violence and insurrection. Or, as he says,
There was no insurrection, and there wasn’t going to be an insurrection. It was made up by these sick people. Nancy Pelosi and the D.C. Mayor refused. If they’d listened to me, my recommendation, none of this would have happened, and you wouldn’t have heard about January 6, as we know it.
It wasn’t just Nancy Pelosi and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. It was also the Pentagon that refused to convene the National Guard. And when it comes to security, says Trump, the committee ignored the catastrophic security failures at the Capitol.
Trump also took issue with the committee pushing the ridiculous, purely hearsay, and provably false story that Trump lunged for a steering wheel to commandeer a presidential limousine.
Ultimately, Trump emphasizes that there is “not a single shred of evidence” that he called for or wanted violence at the Capitol. The claim, he says, is “a monstrous lie,” just as the whole Russia hoax was a lie. It’s part and parcel of a package of “misinformation” and election cheating.
What happened, says Trump, is that a protest got tragically out of control. The Democrats then seized it and weaponized it. “It’s about taking away your speech, taking away your vote, and taking away your freedom.” For that, he says, the people on the committee are “Sick people,” “dangerous,” and “Marxists.”
Trump acknowledges the endless stream of “witch hunts” since he came down the escalator: the Russia hoax, the Ukraine hoax, the ludicrous impeachments, the raid on Mar-a-Lago, and putting a confirmed Trump hater in charge of the special prosecutor’s investigation. He even throws in the FBI’s laptop cover-up for good measure.
Ultimately, says Trump, the people aren’t going to stand for it. The “Unselect Committee” will be remembered as “a con job and a disgrace,” while we “make America great again.”
Trump may well be right. McLaughlin & Associates, a pro-Trump Republican polling outfit, claims that its poll, which looks at probable voters and properly balances party turnout, shows that Trump is as “strong as ever”:
John and Jim McLaughlin, who run McLaughlin & Associates, recently released their poll that shows the former president ahead of DeSantis 48%-23%, just as popular as he was on Election Day last month, and leading Biden 48%-45%.
As a wise person suggested, Trump won by such a large margin that the Democrats had to round up so many votes in the wee hours of the morning that Biden, a decrepit, demented, corrupt fossil, ended up allegedly winning by the most votes in history.
@Ted
Very good point. In fact, if Trump’s tweets had truly been damaging to Trump, the Never Trumper’s would never have cancelled his ability to tweet and further damage himself. His tweets were not damaging to him, but remained as a vital lifeline of communication between himself and his ever increasing base while the country was being hijacked by the political elites. Totalitarian regimes require above all else to control the narrative by making some speech more free than others, which is why the Uniparty and their Deep State allies in the FBI manipulated Twitter to cancel Trump’s account despite it having not violated Twitter’s policy. By doing so, they were not trying to prevent Trump from damaging himself, nor were they trying to preserve any stability in the country as they overthrew the govt. They were simply taking control, and to achieve this they needed to silence their most effective critic, Trump, by removing his ability to directly contact his 70+ million followers.
Who is to say that Trump’s tweets hurt him rather than helped him? The issue is not whether “never Trumpers”, liked his tweets but whether they were effective in making his points or enlarging his followers.
To my mind, Trump’s style and demeanor won him the election and built his base. That’s why his tweets were always criticized by the detractors.
Peloni, May I buy you a drink? You have such a way with words.
This is the one word that comes to mind to my mind. JUSTICE!
How can any thinking person look at what has happened since Trump came down the stairs/escalator and not demand that there must be “Justice” for the way this man has been treated. He has only wanted to do good for his country and the man and women on the streets of his country.
We American’s have always complained about our leaders in the “Other party” (the one we are not registered to) but history will show us without a doubt that never a President of the USA has ever been treated like President Trump.
And with a broad brush…. If you don’t see that then you care nothing for Justice, righteousness, fairness justness, fair play, fair-mindedness, equity, equitableness, even-handedness, egalitarianism, impartiality, impartialness, lack of bias, objectivity, neutrality, disinterestedness, lack of prejudice, open-mindedness, nonpartisanship, honor, uprightness, decency, integrity, probity, honesty, ethics, morals, morality, virtue, principle, right-mindedness, propriety, scrupulousness, trustworthiness, incorruptibility and did I forget JUSTICE!
@pdale5
I believe this is a grossly unfair statement. In what other presidency was so much achieved in a single term than was achieved by Trump, even as he faced multiple insurrections and treasonous acts leading up to and including a fake pandemic. Ignoring my own perspective for a moment, the American people are of the same opinion, as indicated by the fact that there was no election contest for Trump and why he was able to gain 10 million more votes in his reelection campaign (most if not all presidents lose support in their second election).
You do know that Hailey supported the Dems stealing the election with her open support of the RINO position on Jan 6. Meanwhile, Desantis has the complete support of the RINO donors. Whereas surrender is always an option, we should recognize why Trump ran for office in the first place and why he was so strongly supported and remains so strongly supported. The American people do not support the Uniparty corruption, their globalist agenda, nor their ever expanding forever wars.
Regarding the RINO’s preference of Desantis and Hailey, this ‘more attractive ticket’ (threw up a bit on typing that) have no chance of beating the regime in Washington, unless they surrender and join it, which they may well plan to do since they are being heavily supported by the RINO donors. But let’s pretend that Desantis and Hailey are not RINOs themselves (it’s a stretch). They have no appeal, absolutely none, for the blue collar MAGA voter. They couldn’t pierce the Blue Wall in a fair fight, and as Kari Lake showed us in AZ, they won’t be up against a fair fight if they don’t join the Uniparty regime.
There is no candidate which has as broad an appeal as does Trump, and he has actually performed for the country whereas Hailey and Desantis will simply promise to do more than Trump – eg, remind me how many presidents promised to move the embassy to Jerusalem since the law requiring it be done back in the 90’s? Only Trump had the political nerve to act where others promised on this and multiple topics such as Pharma, trade, China, Iran, etc…
Whereas Trump’s public support remains quite solid, these other RINO preferred ‘don’t question the fraud’ candidates have the support of the Uniparty machine. Consequently, the question you have to ask yourself is whether you believe that either of them will be Selected by the elites over the radicals currently in power, and if these RINO Approved Selectees are Selected, is that really what you want to govern the country, for you, your children and your grandchildren? It is a serious concern, and one which we should be considering as we consider choosing candidates who deny the election fraud which is taking place right in front of us in election after election after election.
In fact, the greatest disservice Trump could actually provide the country right now is to retire. It would be a complete betrayal of all of which he has advocated, which is why he won’t do so, much to the chagrin and consternation of the RINOs and their Dem allies, but much to the rejoicement of his 74 million supporters.
By the way, you raised Truman and Eisenhower, but you failed to mention Kennedy who had to be executed to prevent him upsetting the established order within Washington, which both Truman and Eisenhower only complained about. Something else to consider.
Here’s a more informative source:
https://rumble.com/v223pca-ep.-2956b-trump-just-turned-the-table-on-biden-this-is-just-the-beginning-b.html
Pdale5, I disagree with you concerning President Trump.
I cannot imagine Harry Truman or Dwight Eisenhower ever putting up with a mayor or a speaker who refused to make the legislature secure. And certainly the Pentagon would never have dared to oppose either President. Trump spent too much time tweeting rather than governing. He, like Nero, was fiddling while Rome was burning, Rome here being Washington. As I see it, he should retire and play the elder statesman in the Republican party. A much more attractive ticket would be Ron de Santis and Nicky Hailey.