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I am a centrist and while Jan 6 didn’t bother me, this would. I interpret Jan 6 as mere bluster that nobody (including his supporters) took seriously. If he actually became president for a third term this would cause me to admit that the left was actually correct about the seriousness of Trump’s antidemocratic tendencies.
The American meltdown over Jan 6 was hilarious.
Century of toppling foreign governments, some of which were democratically elected by their people? I sleep
A bunch of Gen X wander around a government building for a few hours, largely make fools of themselves, and then nothing happens? Literally worst thing to happen to America since 9/11 / pearl harbor / the civil war.
I see this “They just walked around a government building for a few hours” thing all the time and I think it’s a pretty dishonest way of downplaying what happened. Was it a real insurrection attempt that had any chance of working, like the most hysterical people on the left say? In my opinion, no. But a police officer died probably as a result of it, and by all outward appearances it was intended to stop the certification of the election. And intentions do matter. Republicans would rightly freak out if a mob of libs tried the exact same thing and entered the Capitol during the certification of Trump’s win in 2024, even if it didn’t work.
And because the BLM riots always get brought up as a counterexample, yeah, those were also bad and did much more damage. There is a lot of hypocrisy in how these two events were covered and the subsequent reactions to them. I don’t have a problem saying both are bad, and we should be honest about what actually went down in both cases.
No, he didn't.
They did similar shit during the Kavanaugh hearings. Republicans freaked a little, no one else cared.
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That's fair
It was a legitimate attempt, just a horribly executed one.
It definitely makes it funnier to play it down to contrast the CIA coups vs "Gen X morons walking around and dying of heart attacks". But that was biased.
The meltdowns still hilarious though.
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I am convinced that the outrage in Congress was a reaction to the immense shame they all felt for blowing the chance of a lifetime: whoever went out and confronted the mob and pulled a calm, collected "have you no shame, have you no decency" response would've been elected President in 2024. Instead, they all ran away, and that knowledge will burn them forever.
I think it's truly the most banal of explanations - all those other riots, those didn't put them at risk. They saw the burning but the burning was for other people. But this one? Oh god that impacts me! Add a media class that identifies as part of the same DC elite that was terrified, and then you get the push.
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