EDITORIAL: Jan. 6 riot not 'legitimate political discourse'

Feb. 19—Any sensible person who has seen video of the angry mob storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — and certainly almost everyone has seen it — would instantly recognize that the insurrectionists acted violently and illegally.

Members of the Republican National Committee, clearly, aren't sensible people.

Early this month, GOP officials censured Republican U.S. Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois for participating in the House's investigation of the insurrection. Cheney and Kinzinger, in the RNC's view, were joining in the "persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse."

After voting on the censorship of Cheney and Kinzinger, RNC leaders changed their tune, claiming that the "legitimate political discourse" statement did not apply to the assailants at the Capitol but to thousands of others who had gathered in Washington to demonstrate against the outcome of the presidential election as Congress was in the process of certifying the results.

The GOP clarification made no sense, given that the House is investigating the mob that stormed the Capitol, not the peaceful demonstrators.

Defenders of former President Donald Trump have sought to minimize the significance of the insurrection by deflecting the conversation. The vast majority of demonstrators, they note, were peaceful. Many left Washington before the insurrection, and many others who were there played no direct role in the attack on the Capitol.

They're right about those facts, but the idea that there were just a few insignificant bad apples in a sea of thousands is way off base.

More than 700 people have been charged with federal crimes stemming from the insurrection, and the FBI hopes to identify and charge 250 more people caught on video joining in the attack and about 100 others for related crimes.

At least seven deaths have been tied to the insurrection, more than 140 law enforcement officers were hurt, and the insurrectionists wrought in excess of $1.5 million damage on the Capitol building. More significantly, the riot was a direct attack on the foundation of American democracy.

The most powerful Republican in office, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, disagreed with his party's characterization of what happened on Jan. 6, 2021, saying, "It was a violent insurrection for the purpose of trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election from one administration to the next."

To which, one could imagine an RNC response of, "Yeah, but what about those who were there but didn't join in the attack?"

The answer, of course, is that the House investigation isn't about them. It's about the thousand or so people who perpetrated violent acts against the U.S. Capitol and the U.S. Constitution, and it's about Trump's role in sparking the riot.