In his last tweet of Jan. 6, as order was restored in the Capitol and his mob was cleared out, President Donald Trump extolled the violent ransacking.
“These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!”
Of course, the day will be forever remembered not for the supposed heroism of “great patriots,” but for the shame that the then-president brought on himself for subverting the rule of law and democracy.
What will also be forever remembered is how Trump was unanimously subpoenaed by the bipartisan Jan. 6 committee after its nine members presented their findings that he knew all along that he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden, but tried every which way to cling to power. From asking Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find 11,780 more votes, to mounting phony court challenges, to cobbling together fake slates of electors to pressuring VP Mike Pence to violate his oath, to the final step of attacking Congress.
New evidence from the Secret Service and cabinet secretaries Mike Pompeo and Elaine Chao underlines Trump’s overwhelming complicity in the sacking of the seat of government to try to cling to power.
Of course, even after the subpoena, there’s next to no hope that the committee will ever hear from Trump under oath, as he — a man unfit for power in 2016, 2020, 2024 and any other year — will duck and stall and then invoke the Fifth Amendment at every turn. Should Republicans prevail in next month’s midterms, the Jan. 6 panel will be shuttered.
Thursday, we also heard of possible criminal referrals of Trump’s core conspirators and saw a remarkable video from Fort McNair of Congress’ bipartisan, bicameral leaders captured by Alexandra Pelosi, daughter of the House speaker, as they took refuge from the mob. As Trump said, “Remember this day forever!”
