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An insurrection against the American republic was indeed launched that day, but not by the protestors who strolled like tourists through the Capitol.

On January 6, 2021, I attended the Save America March in Washington, D.C. On January 7, Intellectual Takeout published my account of that rally.

A friend had obtained VIP tickets for our little band of adults and children, giving us seats about 20 yards from the speaker’s platform. As I mention in the article, the crowd seemed more in a party mood than an angry mob. Though we left immediately after the speakers had finished and though we didn’t go anywhere near the Capitol, I also raised some questions about how the media was already reporting the “insurrection” taking place there.

The last three years have confirmed the fact that an insurrection against the American republic was indeed launched that day. That revolution, however, came not from the protestors who strolled like tourists through the Capitol.

No, the insurrection that began on January 6 was initiated by our federal government.

Since January 6, 2021, we’ve seen court after court refuse to examine evidence accusing various states of fraudulent vote counts. We’ve seen more than 1,100 people arrested for being in the Capitol building that day or for simply attending the rally, with one arrest occurring in Florida as recently as December 18. We’ve seen the ex-president indicted for questionable-at-best reasons, a terrible precedent for the future of our politics. And most recently, we’ve seen a Colorado and Maine attempt to disqualify Donald Trump from the primary ballot this spring because he led an “insurrection.”

The lies have flown thick and fast about Trump’s role in the riot at the Capitol. Chief among these deceptions is that he instigated the chaos that ensued, yet, as I said in my previous article, I heard his speech firsthand and felt no urge to rush off to Capitol Hill, more than a mile away. Instead, my friends, relatives, and I all headed back to the van.

Did Donald Trump Lead an Insurrection?

So, some points about this “insurrection” and its aftermath.

The tens of thousands of people who gathered on that cold day were protesting possible fraud in the recent election. So, was that election stolen, as those who gathered in D.C. claimed? Based on evidence I have read, I will believe so to my dying day. You may agree or disagree, but in America, we are supposed to be able to do so, and we are supposed to be able to peacefully protest with those opinions.

Did Donald Trump call for an insurrection on January 6? Absolutely not. In fact, the riot at the Capitol began before his speech had ended.

Have the elite powers in Washington, D. C.—Democrats and some Republicans, members of our intelligence agencies, and the Department of Justice—waged war with everything but bullets and bayonets against Trump and his millions of supporters since that day in January? Definitely.

Have these people weaponized the legal system against Donald Trump and some of his supporters? Again, yes. From the un-American incarceration of January 6 participants to the many legal battles imposed on Trump & Co., the unending attacks have no precedent in U.S. history.

Have they waged a war of propaganda against MAGA (Make America Great Again) supporters? Another affirmative. On September 1, 2022, two months before that year’s elections, Joe Biden proclaimed such people, who constitute a large portion of the population, threats to democracy. Since then, and especially in the last few months, we’ve heard repeatedly that Donald Trump is the next Adolph Hitler. What can such attacks hope to accomplish aside further division?

The reasons behind these egregious acts, and more, are now clear. The D.C. powers and the media fear anything that disrupts their status quo, and they’re determined to cling to their power.

The Death of Civil Discourse

But the damage they have done goes far beyond these intentions.

Whatever political party they claim as their own, many Americans are looking at these assaults by our government and our courts as daggers aimed at the heart of our country rather than the ruination of a man. The lack of trust in the federal government, the press, and the courts is at or near all-time lows. Whatever your opinions of Trump, the harm these institutions have inflicted on themselves in their pursuit of Trump they have also inflicted on all of us, wounds and disgrace that will last for decades.

In addition, the words and deeds of these people have manufactured distrust among the American people. Declare Donald Trump an American version of Hitler, and by extension you have labeled as Nazis those millions who wish to restore his presidency. These tactics of smears and deceptions have killed civil discourse and turned neighbor against neighbor.

“I have seen corruption boil and bubble / Till it o’er-run the stew,” wrote Shakespeare in Measure for Measure.

In the last three years, this confection of bubbling corruption and chicanery has besmirched all that it has touched. The way forward? Call out the lies and speak the truth.

Originally published at Intellectual Takeout. Image via Unsplash.