Officer Michael Fantone appeared on CNN with Don Lemon and, in a truly heartbreaking moment, said, “It’s been tough watching elected officials try to whitewash what happened at the insurrection.” On that day, Officer Fantone was stunned-gun twice and beaten with a flagpole by angry Trump supporters who now admit they were doing “what their president told them to do.” In the cultist’s minds, Trump’s lie made police officers the enemy of democracy and justified the brutal attack on them as they defended the Capitol. Trump has yet to join in the narrative supporting Capitol law enforcement efforts to protect the execution of our democratic election.
HOW DID A LOW-CHARACTER, CARTOONISH, INCOMPETENT LIKE TRUMP DEGRADE AN ENTIRE POLITICAL PARTY THAT ONCE STOOD FOR ULTRA-PATRIOTISM, MORAL PRINCIPLE, AND THE CONSTITUTION? WHY ARE BIZARRE, EXTREME CONSPIRACY THEORISTS NOW LEADING A GOP AGENDA WHICH IS LACKING IN POLICY AND REPRESENTS THE BIG ELECTION LIE, MISINFORMATION, DEMONIZATION OF THEIR OPPONENTS, AND THE CORRUPT PURSUIT OF POWER?
A significant lie about Donald Trump is that he was a law and order president. He endorsed law enforcement during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations because he opposed the pursuit of racial justice and equality, not because he cares about the safety of police officers. The proof of this shows in his lack of action about or concern for the assault on the Capitol and DC Metropolitan police since the January 6th Trump-inspired attack on the Capitol. The police were attacked and injured by his violent supporters because he told them to stop the certification of the election that he lost. The police were fighting to protect democracy while the former president was sabotaging it.
His “big lie” and the resulting insurrection cost three police officers their lives and injured many others. On that day, Trump addressed the violent mob saying, ” We love you; you are special.” His concern on that dark day in our history wasn’t for the safety and bravery of the police who were trying to protect the Capitol and members of Congress. Instead, he was focused on thanking the rioters for believing his lie and trying to steal the victory from Joe Biden.
Despite his overall incompetence, Trump is skilled at gaslighting. He declares others are doing acts that he is committing to deflect attention away from his crimes and lies. The judiciary branch of our government decidedly invalidated his lie about Democrats and never-Trump Republicans stealing the election from him. In truth, it was the former president on tape, asking the Georgia Secretary of State to find votes to put him one point ahead of Joe Biden that constitutes the only actual attempt to steal the election.
Trump’s abandonment of law enforcement could not be more evident in his embracing of the rioters, touting their “passion and patriotism” to defend his lie, and his subsequent silence about the death, trauma and injury the police officers suffered and continue to suffer at the Capitol that day. Democrats must organize their efforts to retain the House during the mid-terms to send the message to the Republican party that Trump is irrelevant, he is hurting their party, and they need to dump him.
Civil lawsuits have been filed by several Capitol and DC police officers for the physical and emotional injuries they suffered at the insurrection. Calif. Rep Eric Swalwell and other members of Congress who were present at the insurrection have also filed lawsuits naming Trump responsible for the trauma they suffered. Many officers current at the insurrection are reaching out to elected officials, to tell the truth about what happened to them at the Capitol, while despicable Republican Rep Andrew Clyde says, “there was no insurrection; that’s a bald-faced lie.” He proved his “break-with-reality” mental state of mind by saying, “if you didn’t know the TV footage was a video of Jan. 6th, you’d think it was a normal tourist visit.”
