Column: Why’s it so hard to do the right thing and honor the true heroes of Jan. 6?

Los Angeles Times ^ | Jan. 19, 2025 3 AM PT | Mark Z. Barabak

[E. Pluribus Unum]

• House Speaker Mike Johnson has thwarted the installation of a plaque, approved by Congress, honoring officers who protected the Capitol.
• It is vital that partisans aren’t allowed to whitewash history simply because it makes some people uncomfortable.

On Monday, Donald Trump will visit the scene of a crime, laying his hand on a Bible and vowing to preserve and protect the Constitution as he swears a formal oath to become the nation’s 47th president.

The bloodstains of the Jan. 6 insurrection have long ago washed away. The shattered windows of the Capitol are mended, the broken doors replaced. You’d never know the terrible mayhem that was visited on the seat of our national government, or the way our country and democracy were defiled that pitch-black day.

Which is exactly how some would like it.

Trump and his acolytes have spent years rewriting history and burying the uncomfortable truth — the lies about a stolen 2020 election, the violent attempt to overturn the result — beneath a reeking blanket of deception, misinformation and falsity.

The attempted cover-up is so total it extends even to the physical premises, where House Speaker Mike Johnson has single-handedly thwarted legislation calling for installation of a plaque honoring the law enforcement officers who battled pro-Trump rioters to protect the Capitol and its inhabitants — including one Mike Johnson.

Disgraceful doesn’t even begin to describe the affront to their bravery and sacrifice.

“What they went through was just horrendous,” California Rep. Zoe Lofgren said of the men and women who threw their bodies into the breach to protect lawmakers, staff members and reporters covering Congress. “Honestly, they saved us. They saved my life and they saved democracy.”

Trump has said he plans to pardon some of the rioters...

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Never give up the con.

[BobL]

“Column: Why’s it so hard to do the right thing and honor the true heroes of Jan. 6?”

They’re about to honored, once Trump finishes signing their pardons.

[No name given]

That’s right.

[No name given]

That’s the fake news media to a t.

[Da Coyote]

No one expected the Spanish Inquisition.
And no one respects the Lost Angeles Times.
Shove it, mere journalists.
Get a real job.

[redfreedom]

They never will give up the con. They are loyal communists, they know no better.

[LegendHasIt]

This guy wants to honor the true murderers.

[BrexitBen]

How about a plaque honoring the FBI for inciting a peaceful protest into a near riot?

[piasa]

Where are the plaques honoring first responders from previous attacks on the Capitol, from Code Pinko to the Weather Underground to the Puerto Rican terrorist group, etc?

[JZelle]

I thought the new owner of the Times was trying to do better.

[Bob434]

a cop that shoots an unarmed woman is a hero? Cops that shoved people off balconies, several stories high are heros? Cops that trampled and beat a woman to death are heros?

[small farm girl]

My sis in LA (thankfully safe still) like to say she wouldn’t line the birdcage with this trash paper.

[sasquatch]

Likewise, material for my outhouse. Rather use poison oak.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

[cockroach_magoo]

Who exactly are the heroes of entrapment?

[Carry_Okie]

It is vital that partisans aren’t allowed to whitewash history simply because it makes some people uncomfortable.

Especially the editors of the LAT.

[oldplayer]

Insurrection? Insurrection? The Jan 6ers were so ill prepared they even forgot to bring weapons,

[Trump_Triumphant]

Hey Zoe, no one saved your life. None of the J6ers were murderers. Unlike you, the queen of baby killers.

[Fai Mao]

Burn LA down
Burn LA to the ground
Burn the ground

[grobdriver]

The bloodstains of the Jan. 6 insurrection have long ago washed away.

Oh - you mean Ashlie's bloodstains?