Trump’s Insurrection

Trump Defends Capitol Rioters

March 26, 2021 Buck Banks

“Some of them went in and they’re — they’re hugging and kissing the police and the guards. You know, they had great relationships. A lot of the people were waved in, and then they walked in and they walked out.”

— “Former President Trump defended some of his supporters who rioted at the U.S. Capitol, saying Thursday that they posed ‘zero threat’ to the lawmakers who had assembled to confirm President Biden’s victory in the November election,” the Los Angeles Times reports. Trump also complained that law enforcement was now “persecuting” the Capitol rioters, hundreds of whom have been arrested, while “nothing happens” to left-wing protesters.

A Third of Capitol Riot Suspects Donated to Trump — AFTER He Lost

March 24, 2021March 24, 2021 Buck Banks

We know they were punk patriots, but now we also know that a good portion of the insurrectionists who stormed the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6 were gullible patsies, too. It turns out that 90 of the 311 people indicted on charges for their acts that day contributed to Donald Trump, the Republican National Committee or a Trump-related PAC after the Grifter-In-Chief became an ex-president, reported NBC News.

We know that a number of the rioters were out to overturn an election they didn’t even vote in, but finding out that many contributed to the $207.5 million Trump and related entities collected in the weeks after the electionputs the events of Jan. 6 in a whole new light.

12 Republicans Voted Against Honoring Capitol Police

March 18, 2021 Buck Banks

12

“A dozen Republicans voted against a resolution honoring U.S. Capitol police for their efforts to protect members of Congress during the insurrection on January 6,” The Guardian reports. “The House voted 413 to 12 on Wednesday to award congressional gold medals, Congress’s ‘highest expression of national appreciation,’ to all members of the Capitol police force. … The Republicans who opposed this honor included Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Matt Gaetz of Florida and Thomas Massie of Kentucky.”

Trump’s Insurrection Inspired a Wave of New Candidates

March 16, 2021 Buck Banks

11,000

The Daily Beast: “Seasoned political operatives say they’ve never seen anything like it.” Amanda Litman, who founded the nonprofit group Run For Something in 2017 to give first-time candidates for local office the tools they need to launch a campaign, said, “In the last two months roughly 11,000 people have registered with Run For Something to express an interest in a campaign for public office. … We saw January 2021 turn into our best candidate recruitment month yet since launching on inauguration day in 2017.”

Trump’s Defense Chief Blames Him for Capitol Riot

March 12, 2021March 12, 2021 Buck Banks

“Would anybody have marched on the Capitol, and tried to overrun the Capitol, without the president’s speech? I think it’s pretty much definitive that wouldn’t have happened. … It seems cause-and-effect. The question is, did he know he was enraging people to do that? I don’t know.”

— Former Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller told Vice News that he believes former President Donald Trump’s speech caused the violent mob to attack the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

Schumer Paraphrases Dickens

March 11, 2021 Buck Banks

“January 6 was the best of times, and it was the worst of times.”

— Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), quoted by the New York Times, about the day he became Senate majority leader and just moments later was evacuated to a safe room during the Capitol riot.

Threats to Members of Congress Rise Sharply in 2021

March 5, 2021 Buck Banks

93%

Associated Press: “The acting chief of the U.S. Capitol Police says there has been a more than 93% increase in the number of threats received by members of Congress in the first two months of this year compared with the same period last year.”

Pentagon Took More than Three Hours to Send National Guard to Capitol on 1/6

March 3, 2021 Buck Banks

3:19

William Walker, commanding general of the D.C. National Guard, will testify that it took three hours and 19 minutes for the Pentagon to approve a request for National Guard assistance during the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

CPAC — The Insurrection After Party

March 1, 2021 Buck Banks

“There was no introspection down in Orlando; no sense that conservatives needed to look an the mirror and ask themselves hard questions about violence, sedition, white supremacy, or cults of personality. … Less than two months after the insurrection at the Capitol, the event was scarcely mentioned. Even after the deaths of a half million Americans during the pandemic, there was no sense that the GOP needed to re-think its values. … In fact, there was remarkably little focus on policy at all — it was all culture war all the time. And, of course, Trump.”

— Charlie Sykes

Trump: Capitol Riot Was a ‘Lovefest’

March 1, 2021 Buck Banks

“The press doesn’t like to talk about it, but the real number was much, much bigger… It was tremendous numbers of people, not the Capitol, I’m talking about the rally itself, and it was a lovefest, it was a beautiful thing.”

— Asked in a Fox News interview if he regretted how he handled the Capitol riots, Donald Trump blamed Speaker Nancy Pelosi for poor security and then boasted about the size of the crowd that was there to support him.

“Some of them went in and they’re — they’re hugging and kissing the police and the guards. You know, they had great relationships. A lot of the people were waved in, and then they walked in and they walked out.”

12

11,000

“Would anybody have marched on the Capitol, and tried to overrun the Capitol, without the president’s speech? I think it’s pretty much definitive that wouldn’t have happened. … It seems cause-and-effect. The question is, did he know he was enraging people to do that? I don’t know.”

— Former Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller told Vice News that he believes former President Donald Trump’s speech caused the violent mob to attack the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

“January 6 was the best of times, and it was the worst of times.”

— Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), quoted by the New York Times, about the day he became Senate majority leader and just moments later was evacuated to a safe room during the Capitol riot.

93%

Associated Press: “The acting chief of the U.S. Capitol Police says there has been a more than 93% increase in the number of threats received by members of Congress in the first two months of this year compared with the same period last year.”

3:19

William Walker, commanding general of the D.C. National Guard, will testify that it took three hours and 19 minutes for the Pentagon to approve a request for National Guard assistance during the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

— Charlie Sykes

“The press doesn’t like to talk about it, but the real number was much, much bigger… It was tremendous numbers of people, not the Capitol, I’m talking about the rally itself, and it was a lovefest, it was a beautiful thing.”

— Asked in a Fox News interview if he regretted how he handled the Capitol riots, Donald Trump blamed Speaker Nancy Pelosi for poor security and then boasted about the size of the crowd that was there to support him.

Poetic Justice

Verbatim

“I hope that at the end of the day this resolves quickly for Matt because I don’t want him to miss the prom.”

— Michael Cohen, talking about Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) on MSNBC.

“I don’t beat anybody up, it’s not really my style, except that jerk.”

— Former House Speaker John Boehner, in an interview with CBS News, on Sen. Ted Cruz.

“A lot of people want me to. The Border Patrol and all of the people of ICE, they want me to go. I really feel I sort of owe it to them, they’re great people.”

— Former President Donald Trump told Fox News that he will visit the southern border “over the next couple of weeks.”

“Oh, come on. I don’t even think about — I don’t — I have no idea. I have no idea if there will be a Republican Party, do you?”

— President Biden, quoted by the Washington Post, when asked if he was going to run against Donald Trump in 2024.

“Some of them went in and they’re — they’re hugging and kissing the police and the guards. You know, they had great relationships. A lot of the people were waved in, and then they walked in and they walked out.”

Numerati

$13.7 million

Wall Street Journal: “Median pay for the chief executives of more than 300 of the biggest U.S. public companies reached $13.7 million last year, up from $12.8 million for the same companies a year earlier and on track for a record.”

35

“A new report examining voting access across all 50 states and Washington, D.C., finds that more than 70% of states offer all voters access to a mail ballot and early voting, while 15 others lag in the methods available to cast a ballot,” CBS News reports.

100

“More than 100 chief executives and corporate leaders gathered online Saturday to discuss taking new action to combat the controversial state voting bills being considered across the country, including the one recently signed into law in Georgia,” the Washington Post reports.

$3 trillion

60%

A new Pew Research poll finds the 60% of Republicans think the coronavirus pandemic — which has killed 550,000 Americans so far — has been made a bigger deal than it really is.