The fencing around the Capitol is still up. It’s been up for more than half a year.
“Jan. 6 was worse than 9/11,” a guest and host agreed on MSNBC, above a chyron accusing the GOP of trying “to rewrite history.” The segment “nails” it, HuffPo gushed.
In interviews with Vice, reporters cried. They said they can’t sleep anymore and are afraid to go to work. “I used to call the Capitol my girlfriend,” one adult man said, choking back tears.
Democrats tried to launch a truth commission with unfettered authority and access to their political opponents’ records and communications. The riot, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi intoned, “was one of the darkest days in our nation’s history. ”
Some of them told CBS they’ve formed a support group and are in therapy now. Another donated his blue suit to the Smithsonian Museum for posterity. Perhaps some more ought to seek therapy.
Meanwhile, the raids on suspects continue, while some arrested months ago are still being held in solitary confinement. In the early days of the investigation, every available FBI agent was reportedly assigned to the case, which is still ongoing. Six months in they crowed that they’d seized a Lego set from one man’s home.
As a regular consumer of this cringe-inducing panic pornography, you could be forgiven for not knowing all the power of the FBI has failed to unmask the suspiciously Antifa-looking suspect who set live and deadly pipe bombs at the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee headquarters. He’s received nearly zero attention from either congressional Democrats or their media fixers. It’s funny.
You might also be forgiven for not realizing only one person was killed that day. Her name was Ashli Babbitt, she was one of the rioters, she was unarmed, and she was shot by an officer — although we still don’t know the officer’s name.
Corporate reporters don’t seem bothered by this. Nor do any appear bothered by their roles in spreading the lie that Officer Brian Sicknick was beaten to death with a fire extinguisher. Nor do any appear concerned with tracking down the suspects and instigators of months of national race riots that killed dozens of innocent people, destroyed hundreds of millions in property, and were cheered on by Democrats.
Also, while a “bipartisan report released by the top Republican and Democrat on both the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the Rules and Administration Committee” found that the Capitol Police failed to protect the the Capitol that day, and while six months later CNN reports they still are in complete disarray, the Capitol Police are busily expanding their authority beyond the Capitol they failed to secure.
The six-month anniversary of the Capitol riot not by Black Lives Matter exposes exactly how unserious the left is about the reality of that day — and how serious they are about using it for their own political ends.
It isn’t simple bungling that leads elected officials to lie about Sicknick practically disregarding an active terrorist and the shooting of Babbitt. It isn’t casual foolishness that brings the entire weight of the FBI down on one riot while many of the the leaders of last summer’s deadly race riots, including those at the White House targeting Republicans, remained uncharged or free. It’s not just a goofy side note that we’re barraged with daily updates on what toys were seized from which suspect’s home while calling down the memories of those American men and women who died and who gave their lives in the service of our country on Sept. 11, 2001.
Fear is an industry in politics. In Washington, fear earns votes, it mints money, and it concentrates power. But it’s a hungry thing: It requires fences, museum exhibits, and especially daily headlines to keep going, or it fades away and is forgotten.
Why did that MSNBC guest claim that one riot was worse than 9/11? Because, he said, it’s given “permission to people to pursue autocratic means.” By “people,” he doesn’t mean the people in power, but the targets of the people in power; the targets of their fear-mongering.
“Do you know what scares me the most?” the host replied, “That I’m not sure that most… elected Democrats in Washington agree with us or are as afraid as we are.”
We know she and her friends will do their best to change that. And fear is an industry that we should very much be afraid of.