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“LEGITIMATE POLITICAL DISCOURSE”??
COME ON, REPUBLICAN leadership! How incredibly bat-shit crazy can you be??
As reported by ABC News, The New York Times, The Guardian, and other news outlets, “In an extraordinary move, the Republican party officially said Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn his 2020 election defeat and the deadly attack on the US Capitol were ‘legitimate political discourse.’ ”
“Legitimate,” Merriam-Webster says, means “lawfully begotten,” “accordant with law or with established legal forms and requirements,” and “conforming to recognized principles or accepted rules and standards.”
We all saw this “legitimate” activity in and around the U.S. Capitol through real-time news coverage of January 6, 2021. We all heard of Vice President Pence and U.S. Congressmen going into hiding, protected from these “legitimate” political discoursers.
No, they were insurrectionists breaking into the U.S. Capitol building. Merriam-Webster defines “insurrection” as “a usually violent attempt to take control of the government.”
How can any rational person spin the actions of that January 6 mob into “legitimate political discourse”?
We are better than this. ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanatisSays.com, 2022
Simanaitis Says 
Alas, I don’t think we are better than this now. Sad to say and even sadder to see.
Amen, Dennis, Amen!
Love to see some reaction to this one.
Michael Rubin
>
Dennis,
Thank you! That needed saying and repeated every chance we get!
Pete Ginkel
Thanks for the kind words. I sense, of course, I’m preaching to the converted (in that the others have already expressed their dislike and left).
I hope when the Feds are surrounding Mar-al-Lago that their target doesn’t trigger a suicide vest. I’d hate to see any harm to come to the historic historic building…
“Legitimate political discourse” in a country with more guns than people and open carry laws is difficult to judge.
In any case, IMHO it would be VERY tough to call it an insurrection, as there was zero coordination with the military or police to actually take power or seize media.
As brutal as it sounds, people hunting down and killing members of congress wouldn’t put them in power, it would just make the people murderers. Killing Mike Pence wouldn’t make that Qanon Shaman LARPER VP. Ergo: no insurrection.
That being said, a lot of the people were rioting, looting, and vandalizing, and should be arrested and charged. Particularly the people who organized the rally turned riot. Note for later** that those people are known to authorities, but the ringleaders have not been arrested.
There were also multiple different groups. Those people who the police opened the barricades for? Tough to call them rioters.
Those who were crushing the police between doors and breaking down barricaded doors (two examples) to get in? They were definitely rioters and or assaulting police, and should be so charged.
It was a total shitshow, but IMHO it was an allowed shit show. Look at how the Capitol Police prepared for BLM six months prior. ** They knew it was coming. They had informants and spies in all the groups (as they should!) IMO the capital police wanted a shit show so that they could quickly pass a bunch more authoritarian laws.
And guess what? The Capitol Police got $2 billion dollars MORE dollars and now have branches all over the country. Oh, and not just by the way, the Capitol Police don’t have to honor FOIA requests. So we got a new secret police force in the US.
Congratulations, we sure showed those right-wing idiots!
Remember my post when the Capitol Police start arresting lefties for “threatening behavior” towards members of congress.