6/18/21
The Republican Party has turned to another page in the authoritarian playbook as it whitewashes the history of Donald Trump's presidency. It's as if the fawning over Vladimir Putin never happened. Or Trump's assurance that Covid-19 would simply "go away" never passed his lips. Trump's acolytes have, meanwhile, rebranded the worst assault in American democracy in modern times into a January 6 tourist jaunt as they seek to cleanse the reputation of the former President who told rioters to "fight like Hell" and, months later, still holds enormous sway over the GOP. The attempt to reconfigure the often disastrous historical record of the Trump presidency comes as the former President eyes a political comeback ahead of a new round of political rallies this summer teeing up 2022 primaries. And it takes place as much of the Republican Party is engaged in a crusade built on the former President's lies about election fraud to make it harder for many Americans to vote and easier for GOP officials to interfere in free and fair elections. Since the truth is too painful for Republicans and is detrimental to their future political prospects, an alternative narrative must be constructed. "They are going to continue lying, they are going to continue coming up with ridiculous characterizations of what happened on that day."
In the most flagrant example of historic revisionism, some Republican lawmakers are now actively denying the heroism of officers who defended them from the insurrectionists on Capitol Hill.[/COLOR][/B] And by refusing to probe the invasion and by actively misrepresenting Trump's incitement of a mob attack on January 6, his allies are trying to cleanse his reputation as he eyes a comeback. The former President dictated the new narrative himself in a political appearance in North Carolina earlier this month, with the most outrageous lie so far in his post presidency: "Remember, I am not the one trying to undermine American democracy. I'm the one that's trying to save it." The Republican effort to cover up the truth of Trump's attempt to disrupt the certification of Biden's victory started within hours of the Capitol insurrection. "Your words have consequences, congressman," Capitol police officer Michael Fanone said on CNN's "New Day" on Thursday. "You're lying about what happened on January 6 and I'm going to be there to confront anyone who lies about January 6." And earlier this week, more than 20 House Republicans voted against legislation to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the officers who defended the Capitol, with some, like Greene, saying they opposed the use of the world "insurrection" in the legislation to describe what happened that day.
