As President-elect Donald Trump gets closer to being sworn into office, the temporary peace between the two sides following the election has been broken and the Trumpster is firing shots. During a Sunday interview on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Trump said that members of the January 6 committee should “go to jail,” and Trump resurrected his hate for former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney by saying she was “behind it.”
The J6 committee investigated Trump’s role as President in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. The attack on the Capitol was launched by Trump supporters who were attempting to stop Mike Pence from certifying the election results that showed Trump had lost the election. From Election Night 2020 up to and beyond January 6, President Trump falsely claimed he won the election and that the election had been stolen by the Democrats. With zero evidence to support the claim, Trump convinced many of his irate followers to join in the crusade to “Stop The Steal.”
Without retelling the entire story, the J6 committee investigated Trump’s role in inciting his loyal followers to physically attack the Capitol in an effort to stop Pence from certifying the election. The J6 committee found Trump to be “the center of the first and only effort by any United States President to overturn an election and obstruct the peaceful transfer of power.”
Many of the J6 attackers admitted that they interpreted President Trump’s words as a call to action, a summons to physically stop the certification of the election. The committee voted unanimously to refer Trump to prosecution with a list of criminal violations, including inciting, assisting, and comforting an insurrection. Former Republican representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger were the only Republicans on the committee.
The findings of the committee were rendered essentially moot after the Supreme Court ruled the presidents are basically immune from prosecution.
In the interview over the weekend, Trump said that Cheney and Kinzinger should be in jail, along with everyone on the committee. On Monday, Kinzinger challenged Trump in an article titled, “Bring It On, Donald: The January 6 Committee Stands on Truth.” Kinzinger said that Trump’s “latest threat to ‘jail’ members of the January 6 committee is nothing more than the desperate howl of a man who knows history will regard him with shame.” Kinzinger added, “The January 6 committee’s work was driven by facts, the Constitution, and the pursuit of accountability - principles that seem foreign to Trump,” Kinzinger wrote.
Attacking Trump, Kinzinger wrote, “If Donald wants to pursue this vindictive fantasy, I say bring it on. I’m not intimidated by a man whose actions on January 6 showed a cowardly disregard for democracy and the rule of law. A man too frightened to serve in the military, and who requires a strong man like Putin to feel secure.”
Fox News legal analyst Jonathan Turley bashed Trump for his comments about putting the J6 committee in jail saying the fact is “that there is no viable criminal case to be made against the J6 committee members for their investigation or report,” and “We need to move beyond the rage rhetoric if this country is going to come together to face the tough challenges ahead.” That leads to a bigger question: Does this country want to heal and come together? Or is the constant turmoil too compelling to end?
There is little doubt that countless Americans are suffering from political fatigue and are ready to move on, but it appears that Donald Trump has only one tone, and that is to continue to use ancient rhetoric and lies to rally his most loyal followers to support anything he says and attack anyone he tells them to.
The J6 committee had legitimate reason to investigate Trump and his role in the attack - stating the committee members should be in jail as a result of their investigation is nothing more than a desperate attempt to keep old lies alive, as if they are some kind of security blanket for the most infantile right-wing radicals and MAGA supporters!
Before he even takes office, Trump may be in danger of offending the very people who put him there, and that could bring on a repeat of a rejection of Republicans at the polls in the midterms in 2026 and the next presidential election in 2028. People voted for Trump in 2016, but his actions led to his defeat in 2020.
Trump may be feeding us stale rhetoric at a time when all Americans are looking for a fresh, new start.
