Tuesday open thread: And so it begins
A little more than six months ago, this country saw the greatest attack on it since the Civil War.
Greater than Pearl Harbor.
Greater than 9/11.
Why greater? Because the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and Al Qaeda's attacks on New York and Washington, were from external enemies. As a country, we tend to unite and rally 'round the flag when we suffer a foreign attack.
But January 6 was an attack from the inside. American citizens sought to overturn the results of a fair and free election. Much like their ideological ancestors did in 1861. They couldn't accept having lost to their opponents, and so they turned to violence to prevent that victory from being certified. This was an attack on the very nature of who we are as a people. This was one group of violent traitors seeking to traduce the Republic.
Today, the House Select Committee on the insurrection holds its first public hearing. Testifying today will be four of the police officers who tried to hold back the barbarian horde braying for blood. No, the noose was not merely a "symbol". Yes, if that rabid mob had found Mike Pence, or Nancy Pelosi, or Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, they would have killed them. Have no doubt about that. They would have killed anyone they had found, Democrat or Republican, in their blood lust.
And even now, cowardly and cynical Republican officeholders are trying their damnedest to sweep the insurrection under the rug, to say it wasn't as bad as we portray it to be, all to survive politically in a party given over to sedition. All to serve the orange monster who instigated the attack on the Capitol.
Our job is to not allow this to go down the memory hole. Our job is to wrap treason and sedition around the neck of the Republican Party. Our job is to support the members of the committee as they go about their needed work.
Accountability and consequences take a huge step today. It's only one step among many we will take. And maybe we'll be able to sew back this tattered flag and nation.
This is your open thread.