Knightly: There Was No “Incitement”

President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump disembark Marine One upon their arrival Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020, on the South Lawn of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian)

At Off-Guardian, Kit Knightly debunks the media’s misconstrued tale of the events of January 6 on Capitol Hill. He writes (abridged):

The Story Were Being Told Goes as Follows

Yesterday, as congress was preparing to pass the vote endorsing Joe Biden’s election victory, thousands of violent right-wing thugs stormed the Capitol building.

Acting according to Trump’s wishes, and with his endorsement, these domestic terrorists overran the police barricades in an attempt to overthrow the senate and preserve Trump’s presidency.

Fortunately the police were able to secure the situation, drive the violent rioters out and the democratic process was able to continue.

Not one single part of this story is true:

1. There was no “storming”. Rather videos show police opening barriers to let the “rioters” in. In the entrance hall, the “violent thugs” respected the velvet ropes and kept in orderly lines, took a few selfies with the cops, posed for the press and – when the main events were over – they were quietly allowed to leave.
2. There was no “incitement”. All of Trump’s social media posts on the subject instructed people to “go home” “with peace and love”.
3. There was no violence. Indeed whether or not Trump “incited” anything is moot, because there was no violence. Disregard the reports of chemical weapons, pipe bombs or IEDs – none of which ever appeared. None of the “rioters” are as yet shown to have hurt anyone. The only person reportedly killed or injured was a protester allegedly shot by the police.
4. The riot ended Trump’s presidency. Although the Congressional session was widely described in the press as the “confirmation vote” for Joe Biden’s election victory, it was actually rather more than that.

VP Mike Pence was chairing a joint-session which intended to allow full speeches from those opposing the election and maintaining there had been fraud.

The violence brought this session to an end prematurely, totally undermined Trump’s legal and procedural challenges and killed any chance he had of overturning the electrical college vote.

Kit Knightly.

Where’s the incitement?
Action Line: Time to figure out a way forward. Don’t “woke” the bear.