Tom Nelson restates his assertion that President Donald Trump on January 6 encouraged the protesters to “peacefully and respectfully walk to the Capitol.” He is absolutely correct. President Trump encouraged the protesters to go peacefully, right after he told these same people that if they wanted their country back, they would have to “fight like hell.” Rudy Giuliani added to this that it would be a “trial by combat.”
President Trump then spent the next two hours watching these same protesters on Fox as they attacked Capitol police, smashed windows and crashed through doors in an attempt to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s victory. In those two hours, as President Trump watched the mayhem, he did absolutely nothing. He did however manage a tweet in which he blamed Vice President Mike Pence for the riot, the vice president having failed earlier to stop the certification, to which the protesters entering the Capitol shouted, “Hang Mike Pence.” During those two hours, President Trump ignored White House staff who tried several times to encourage him to put a stop to the riot, which he finally did two hours after the riot began.
President Trump incited good people to behave badly, and no amount of semantics changes that. We are a nation of laws, and we will let the courts decide who is guilty of insurrection and who isn’t.
As for a stolen election? Seven million more Americans across all 50 states voted for Vice President Biden rather than President Trump. More than 60 lawsuits were filed and subsequently tossed out by the courts for lack of evidence. If we want evidence, look no further than Maricopa County, Arizona, where the Cyber Ninjas conducted a recount. The results of the recount were that 94 votes that went to Donald Trump should have gone to Joe Biden. And then there were 243 votes for Donald Trump that no one knows where they came from. Turns out there was cheating, and it was Republican supporters doing it.
Stephen Brees
La Center
