January 24, 2021 – We Lied, We Cheated…
Mike Pompeo, speaking at a Texas college, reminiscing about his time as Trump’s CIA director. “We lied, we cheated, we stole,” he chuckles. “It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment.” – America in Retreat by Michael Pembroke
versus John Adams to Abigail Adams, 3 July 1776:
“The new Government…will require a Purification from our Vices, and an Augmentation of our Virtues or they will be no Blessings. The People will have unbounded Power. And the People are extremely addicted to Corruption and Venality, as well as the Great. I am not without Apprehensions from this quarter.”
January 17, 2021 – Assaulting the Seat of Democracy
“We were getting chemical irritants sprayed. They had pipes and different metal objects, batons, some of which I think they had taken from law enforcement personnel. They had been striking us with those … And then it was just the sheer number of rioters. The force that was coming from that side. It was difficult to offer any resistance when you’re only about 30 guys going up against 15,000.” – Police officer Hodges Fanone, who was viciously attacked by rioters and subsequently suffered a so-called mild heart attack.
“The cries from right-wing politicians telling us we need to hear the feelings of Trump supporters are wearing thin, as is the idea that the mob at the Capitol was somehow ‘silenced’ or ‘censored’ for too long. In the hour before the deadly insurrection last Wednesday, President Trump told his supporters, ‘Make your voices heard.” Later, after they’d trashed the seat of American democracy, he told them he loved them and that they were “very special.’ So, let us look at some of the ‘very special’ people the President wants all of us to listen to — like the guy dressed up in the badger pelt, horns and face paint. Authorities say he’s a prominent QAnon crackpot and longtime Trump supporter. He was taken into custody on Saturday, charged with violent entry into the Capitol. I’m hard pressed to see what this malign Minotaur has to teach the rest of us.” – Alisyn Camerota, CNN anchor and co-host of CNN’s morning show, “New Day.”
January 10, 2021 – Storming the Capitol & Insurrection
“First, we need to hear directly from Christopher Wray, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. We don’t need background quotes, tweets or written statements; we need Wray, along with our federal law enforcement officials, to stand at a podium on live television and explain how Trump supporters, who had been organizing online for months, were allowed to storm the Capitol. The FBI might not have all the answers now — but we deserve to know exactly what they are planning to do to get them.
“Republican lawmakers have given domestic terrorists the justification to take matters into their own hands … Too many Republican leaders today are more interested in preserving their own power than protecting our democracy. But failing to act now could very well turn yesterday’s events from an ugly and shameful episode into a pivotal turning point that sparks the destruction of our democracy. It is impossible to overestimate what’s at stake if we don’t move quickly and decisively to crush the anti-democratic forces that threaten us all.” – Joe Lockhart was President Clinton’s press secretary from 1998 to 2000 and co-hosts the podcast “Words Matter.” This quote appeared on CNN.
January 3, 2021 – U.S. Elections are Not About Alien Abductions
“This is not about alien abductions. We’re talking about the United States of America and the Constitution. I’m sick of false equivalencies. I’m sick of people saying there is evidence of this [election fraud] somewhere. Or are we going down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories?
“Their reasoning is simple. It’s reelection, fundraising … making sure that we get those small dollar donors. A [Republican] friend I respect told me, “The crazier language we use, the more we raise.” We need to tell our voters: You can’t buy into this. We have to have fact based solutions. There are people saying that Vice President Pence is treasonous. This is absolutely insane.” – Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA) on Republican plans to oppose the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory. (As told to CNN’s Ana Cabrera)