Perspectives on the Assault on the Capitol

Townhall.com ^ | January 7, 2021 | Terry Paulson

[Kaslin]

This was not a good day for our country. Congress should never be challenged to reverse election results. Election fraud cannot be allowed to win the day, but this is a states’ rights issue. If you have concerns, join those who will lobby state legislators to secure election integrity by passing state laws to ensure that.

But we must be clear. We are a nation of laws. The breach of the Capitol is totally inexcusable. Demonstration is one thing; breaking into the Capitol building while congress is working to certify the election results, is a step too far. This mob action has done only one thing. President-elect Joe Biden will still be inaugurated as the next president of the United States with a new righteous justification. Mob rule cannot ever win the day. But why did it happen?

President Donald Trump certainly bears part of the responsibility for the incursion. His comments on the capital mall to the demonstrators who had gathered from across the country to support his fight against what he claimed was clearly a fraudulent election definitely stirred up the passions of his supporters. The massive crowd came to demand that congress overturn the results, something congress really does not Constitutionally control. Trump blamed Vice President Mike Pence for not standing up to the challenge after he rightly communicated to Congress that he did not have the authority to reverse the certification process. Pence’s refusal was Constitutional. Trump implied that he could win the day, but that was an unrealistic expectation that added to the frustration of those who gathered to support him.

It’s also clear that there were not adequate resources in place to secure the Capitol building. Why? They never expected a Republican demonstration to become violent. They had resources in place to handle past BLM and Antifa demonstrations, but only one hundred National Guard were called in to support the local police and Capitol security for this demonstration. As a result, the most extreme agitators were able to break past security and enter the Capitol building. One woman was shot and died. The congressional session was ended, and Vice President Pence was escorted away by the Secret Service.

When peaceful demonstrators were pushed back from the Capitol, most cooperated and left the scene of conflict. Thankfully, Vice President Mike Pence immediately communicated with the military to arrange for 1,100 National Guard to be deployed to help maintain order. As a result, the joint session is meeting to certify the electoral college results. Biden most certainly will be quickly confirmed as the incoming President.

At the same time, there was reason for the frustration of his supporters. It's also clear that there was no time or available process to verify or dispute the allegations of election fraud. This frustration contributed to the anger of many attending the predominately peaceful demonstrations. As a result of the violent actions of a few, there is no doubt that these allegations will now unlikely never be adequately addressed. The chances of President Trump ever being elected again have all but disappeared. His comments were reckless. He told the crowd to be peaceful, but then incited them to not give up the fight. And fight they did! He was late in calling for them to stand down and continued to call the results illegal.

President Trump will most likely not concede, but the transfer of power is still assured. Even those who support the President, know that one person is not more important than our republic and our track record of peaceful transitions.

This day will be used to make sure that if there were extensive fraudulent actions, they will unlikely be fully addressed. No court or judge had yet provided a public airing and consideration of the serious allegations. Until that is done and our election processes are secure and transparent, trust in future elections is seriously in question.

The mainstream media should also accept some responsibility. Without a responsible, non-partisan media that do their job to investigate and fairly report actual evidence of fraud, people will remain angry and frustrated. President Biden will call for unity, but he would also be wise to call for an independent investigation into all the allegations of fraud.

Whatever his reaction, this should not change the response of responsible Republicans. Republican Senator Tom Cotton immediately and strongly condemned the violence and called for those responsible to be fully prosecuted. Unlike the rioters and looters from the left who were never prosecuted in many Democrat-controlled cities, Republicans should support holding accountable those who breached the Capitol.

Republicans should not let this embarrassing action deter them from calling for an investigation of election integrity and reform. Stand for principled disagreement, but civil disagreement. This event should not be used to silence dialogue and disagreements on social media. Freedom of speech is too important to let this justify such actions.

Finally, this is a sad way for President Trump to exit from office. His actions today hurt any legacy he might have had. May he find a way to take some responsibility for the actions of his more militant supporters he helped motivate. May he also further condemn any further acts of violence. Elections have consequences. Mob actions have consequences. It’s time for change. It’s time for making sure that future elections build back our faith in the election process.

[joethedrummer]

“They work for us!“

Yesterday, they gave us a dose of reality- the no longer work for us; rather, we are ruled by them. And there’s nothing we can do about it.

This is their message to us. BOTH parties.

[sport]

You are correct on that I believe. I also believed that the young lady that was murdered by the Police was judging by the posts I read , was viciously and unjustly attacked by bastards on here after she was dead and could not defend herself.

[Irenic]

Government can’t keep treating people in this way. It’s not just the election or the President.

Being dismissive and cracking down harder is just making the steam build much, much more.

[NotQuiteCricket]

I agree. 2020 demonstrated that “Some animals are more equal than others,” has taken root and flowered.

I am worried we are moving more French Revolution and less Roman Republic collapse.

[Kaslin]

I believe that normally they would have consequences, but these are not normal times.

You can bet Soros is the one who paid them to riot.

[joethedrummer]

Gee, I wonder if Neil Young, Stephen Sills or David Crosby are going to start writing anthems based on yesterday’s events??

[central_va]

Most of main stream red state Americans cheered on as the protesters marched on the US Capital. Some Freepers don’t get that. I did.
Can you imagine the rage, after your vote was stolen in WI or PA, how happy they were when the Capitol was stormed???

[antidemoncrat]

“They never expected a Republican demonstration to become violent.”

So was it the Republicans causing the riot or did antifa infiltrate the group and start it? There were a lot of dark hoodies, back packs and black helmets in the crowd. Just wondering.

[sport]

To : Terry Paulson Congress should never be challenged to reverse election results.

That is lie number one you lying SOB. Congress was never challenged to overturn election results. The results were obtained through fraud and never should been valid in the first place.

[central_va]

Especially since DC police helped the BLM/Antifa protesters get in the building.

IF that is true then the violence WAS justified.

[volunbeer]

“”President Biden will call for unity, but he would also be wise to call for an independent investigation into all the allegations of fraud.””

---

Right...... here is my prediction on this nugget.

IF this simply fades away from the public in the coming months they will do nothing.

IF this does not go away, they will appoint a congressional panel to look into the fraud and whitewash it.

I do believe there will be some actions to tighten up elections in the future by Republican legislatures, but they remain terrified of being labeled as “racist” or being accused of disenfranchising people of color (whatever that means).

IF Puerto Rico and DC are made states and blanket amnesty is granted it will not make much difference in the next election. They will not need fraud. “Blanket Amnesty” will give them Texas and Florida forever. This is the Chuck Schumer plan - he has been quite clear about it.

[Kaslin]

What do you mean Fearporn from Townhall.?

TOWNHALL IS NOT THE AUTHOR. SEE MY POST #37 TO kyryandil

[Bshaw]

“People are legitimately pissed off, they’re sick of all of this, and they don’t care anymore.”

“They bring a knife, you bring a gun!” Barack Obama

And who can forget these gems from Maxine Waters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJCDe7vdFfw

These people have NO ROOM to lecture MAGA on ANYTHING!

[libertylover]

Mob rule cannot ever win the day.

But that's what's really so sad: that mob rule DID win the day (for now). That's what the protest was all about. Five years of mob hatred from the media, Hollywood, and academia, resulting in years of rioting, burning, looting, murder, mayhem. The media encouraged Antifa/BLM riots. Hate, hate, and more hate. No intellectual discussion, just hate, misrepresentation, distortions, and revenge for misperceived grievances.

[Hoosier-Daddy]

The American people are legitimately angry at government. All the indignation I’ve heard from Congress is it load of bullshite. Congress is destroying the country.

[gw-ington]

Democrat Party Cabal (aka, Uniparty Globalist Cabal) on Jan. 6, 2021: "That was unacceptable violence at the Capitol! It's the fault of President Trump and the Republicans! It's a threat to the Constitution, a threat to Democracy, and a threat to the U.S.!"

Democrat Party Cabal (aka, Uniparty Globalist Cabal) before Jan. 6., 2021:

1. We had absolutely nothing to do with eight months of nationwide violent Marxist Black Lives Matter/Antifa wild thug mob riots throughout the 2020 Election Year. Many people claim those year-long violent BLM/Antifa riots were perpetrated to frighten Americans away from Trump and intimidate them into voting for Biden. We disagree.
2. Even some CNN hosts said our 2020 Democrat National Convention was a Zoom snooze-fest disaster. Those same CNN hosts admitted the Republican National Convention was a well-produced huge success. We disagree.
3. We believe it's totally normal for our Presidential nominee to snooze in his basement for 98% of his so-called "Presidential election campaign," as if he couldn't care less about winning the Presidential election. (In contrast, President Trump tirelessly campaigned to huge enthusiastic crowds throughout the U.S.)
4. We believe our enacted universal mail-in balloting (no postmark required, no photo ID required, no signature matching, no signature required, with mass mailings of unsolicited ballots, ballot harvesting, unmanned ballot drop boxes in Democrat areas, ballot receipt dates extended well beyond Election Day, etc.) is just as "secure" as standard in-person voting. And we think it's totally Constitutional for state Democrat executive & judicial branches to totally change Presidential elections laws without any input from the state Republican legislative branches.
5. We know absolutely nothing about all the sudden halts to vote-counting on Election Night and the subsequent 4AM massive "ballot dumps" (etc.) in Democrat-controlled cities.
6. Biden then accumulated an all-time Presidential election record-shattering 81.3 MILLION votes. The (Republican) VP Mike Pence-led Congress certified Biden's election.
7. That was the "most secure" Presidential election "in American history." That was a totally fair and free election. There was zero election fraud and no evidence of it. The (Republican) John Roberts-led SCOTUS even adamantly refused to hear any election-fraud cases in 2020.
8. Therefore, absolutely nothing we did during the 2020 Presidential Election Year was a threat to the Constitution, a threat to Democracy, nor a threat to the U.S. So you can totally trust the Democrat Party Cabal (aka, Uniparty Globalist Cabal) as we progress into the future!

[Hoosier-Daddy]

The election and our vote were stolen from us. The author does not address that fact but instead gaslights. If the elections are not fixed and votes are properly counted expect rising violence as people realize they are no longer free.

[chopperk]

The destructive individuals were ANTIFA.............

[bobbo666]

I call BS.
This is not a States-right issue. Read the USConstitution!

If a Rep and Senator formally object to any slate of electors(votes) submitted, the USConstitution (not State) has a procedure on how to resolve. This was cut short. This congress did not resume following the USConst and complete the process, which could well have returned the entire issue to a 50-state vote. THis congress violated the USConsst.
As did SCOTUS on refusing to hear the Tx suit, BTW.
The US government is violating our rights as citizens, as humans with inalienable rights. It has come to the point of using any means necessary.