So many lies sparked last Wednesday’s riot in Washington. Now new lies are being offered on the right-wing web to defend the indefensible. And President Trump’s cheering department is desperately trying to bury the riot in the memory hole.
Speaking of memories, let’s go back in time. A week ago, Timothy Snyder, the author of “On Tyranny”, warned on our “Reliable Sources” broadcast that “we are now dangerously headed for the terrain of a big lie.” He said, “The idea that Mr. Biden didn’t win the election is a big lie. It’s a big lie because you don’t have to believe all kinds of evidence to believe in it. It’s a big lie because you have to believe in a huge conspiracy to believe it. And it’s a big lie because if you believe it, you have to take radical action. So this is one way we’ve really moved forward toward authoritarianism and away from democracy. It’s reaching now a highlight . “
Wednesday was the highlight – maybe. More evidence of the attack is emerging every day. Much more reporting is needed. I agree with Yashar Ali, who said on Sunday night, “I feel we only know 5% of the story of the uprising.”
But we also need to look ahead. As Jake Tapper said at the end of “SOTU” on Sunday, “Will there be consequences? Will Kevin McCarthy remain the Republican leader of the House?” Can Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley ‘just pick up their commission assignments and try to move on? And what about the president of the United States? Will he be allowed to fly out of Washington on January 19 to spend his days luxuriously on the golf course, spreading more lies through the TV channels that were also part of this betrayal? “
Tapper concluded, “What will happen to us? What will happen to our country if we continue to pretend that leaders who played a part in this coup attempt, in this terrorist attack, are ultimately doing fine without any consequences? Will 6 January 2021) be remembered as just the beginning? “
Was Wednesday the highlight, or just the beginning?
That’s what brings me back to Snyder, whose book skyrocketed to # 1 on Amazon. He wrote the cover story for next week’s New York Times Magazine and it’s already online. The story is another warning, and it inspired the headline of tonight’s newsletter.
“The lie lasts longer than the liar,” Snyder wrote. “The idea that Germany lost World War I to a Jewish ‘stab in the back’ in 1918 was fifteen years old when Hitler came to power. How will Trump’s myth of victimhood function in American life in fifteen years’ time? Benefit?”
He concluded that “America will not survive the big lie just because a liar is separated from power. It will need a thoughtful reluralization of media and a commitment to facts as a public good.” Read more…
Trump will be impeached unless …
At this point, the CNN.com headline says the House will “act quickly on impeachment if pressure on the 25th Amendment fails.”
“It will be the first time that a US president has been impeached for the second time,” Wolf Blitzer said on Sunday evening.
→ Large Image: More than 104 hours have passed since Trump provoked a riot in the Capitol. And he is still in office.
