Saturday, June 18, 2022

Good Testimony from Bad People

In many respects the January 6th Hearings have been something of a tremendous relief, as dozens of former aides of the former Criminal in Chief have been shown making the case we all knew was there: the former president knew he lost the election, knew there was no voter fraud, and purposely set about to undermine democracy in order to avoid at all costs the peaceful transfer of power to Joe Biden. He okayed the planned insurrection, personally set it in motion, and continued to stoke the flames while it was going on, including refusing to allow the national guard and military to stop it. And in the process he was perfectly willing to sacrifice the lives of his own vice president and members of congress in order to remain in power—in the same way he sacrificed the lives of District of Columbia police officers. But in experiencing that relaxation of tension we all feel from seeing the truth finally come out, it’s important to remember who these people are that we are watching. One of the best headlines I’ve seen since the public hearings began was something to the effect of “Good Testimony from Bad People.” This is vitally important to keep in mind. People like Bill Barr, Eric Herschmann and the presidential grifter’s family members who have testified are NOT HEROES. Far from it. They are criminals, every bit as much as the leader they were following and carrying out orders for. The fact that some of them told the truth to their fearful leader’s face was not heroic . . . IT WAS THEIR JOB. It’s what they were SUPPOSED to do. It goes without saying that the architects of the "big lie" like Rudy Giuliani, Peter Navarro, and John Eastman should be tossed in jail and the key thrown away—along with their seditionist leader and the Congressional traitors who supported him. But that doesn’t mean those who spoke out against them at the time should be given a free pass.

It’s important that we don’t forget the nightmarish four years that led up to the January 6 Insurrection. For four years this country’s grifter president was doing everything in his power to make underhanded deals and wield his presidential power to coerce others into making those deals—It’s not a stretch to believe that the only reason this idiot didn’t roll out the Covid vaccines when he should have is because Pfiser and Moderna weren’t giving him big enough kickbacks, so he decided to punish THEM by not purchasing any—forget the hundreds of thousands of American citizens actually dying from the disease. From strong-arming leaders of other countries, to screwing taxpayers out of money by funneling government funds to his hotels and other properties, to lining the pockets of his biggest sycophants, his children, and his own company, EVERYONE who worked for this criminal is culpable for enabling his illegal operations and they should be punished right along with him. THEY were the ones facilitating his crimes and in doing so broke their sacred oath to protect and defend the Constitution after it was clear he never intended on honoring his oath from the very beginning. These people were on the inside, they KNEW what he was doing, and in many instances they were profiting from the president’s illegal activities. These are not good people, and their testimony—often reluctantly given—does not whitewash their own culpability and does not atone for their sins against this nation.

Mike Pence is probably the most egregious example of this. This man was the presidential idiot’s most sycophantic, boot-licking, toady in his entire administration—and that’s saying something. For an entire month after the 2020 election he sat by and did NOTHING. And when the question was raised about possibly refusing to certify the votes of the electoral college, he seriously looked into it with his staff and his lawyers. Only then did it become clear that refusing to do his job would be a criminal offence. And THAT is the only reason that he refused to do it. PENCE IS NOT A HERO. Pence did not refuse to get into the limo because he was a hero, he refused because he did not want to be assassinated. Mike Pence’s actions on January 6th were not heroic. He is a coward. In the end, all Mike Pence can be said to have accomplished was doing his job—which is what he was supposed to do. What he did was no different than a criminal pulling his car into the parking lot of a 7-11 with a gun in the passenger seat, and then deciding not to rob the store because he could go to jail if he were caught. THAT’S IT. Believe me, if there had been some path to doing what the president wanted without landing Pence in prison, HE WOULD HAVE DONE IT. In the words of presidential historian Michael Beschloss: “Until the 6th of January [Pence] was a silent accessory to a president who was running a diabolical plot to fix the 2020 election against the will of the voters . . . and it almost cost us our democracy.”

The testimony these people have given—and will continue to give—does not absolve them of their crimes. They were an integral part of a criminal presidency that came to its ultimate fruition in the January 6th Insurrection. The former president is guilty of sedition and crimes against the Constitution and the United States of America. The January 6th Committee has already proven this. The only question now remains as to the strength of character of Merrick Garland and whether he will prosecute the former president to the fullest extent of the law. The former president belongs in jail. He is a criminal. He is a seditionist who betrayed his oath of office, betrayed the Constitution, and betrayed the American people. But those who aided and abetted him age guilty too, and it’s important to keep that in mind throughout their testimony. This country seems to be teetering on the precipice of fascist anarchy disguised as “libertarianism,” and the only way to restore law and order is to demonstrate the consequences of breaking what should be the most heavily penalized crimes in the country short of murder: the willful disregard of the Constitution and crimes against the state. So, while it has been good to finally hear the truth about the criminal activities of the former president and those in his inner circle, we must remember that those giving testimony are guilty as well, and should not be allowed to go unpunished for simply stating what actually happened in the days and weeks leading up to the Insurrection. It’s important not only because of who these people are—in all likelihood, if given the opportunity, they would do the exact same thing again—but for all those who have followed their example and continue to emulate their illegal activities. There must be consequences, commensurate with their crimes, and the failure to do so would be equally criminal.

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