GOP Cowards Just Twiddling Thumbs, Waiting For Trump’s Next Insurrection
Republicans are eager to downplay or outright ignore the January 6 attack on the Capitol, but authorities are still arresting members of the MAGA mob. John Getsinger Jr. and Stacie Hargis-Getsinger from South Carolina are the latest contestants on the ongoing reality TV series, “So You Wanted To Start An Insurrection?"
The Getsingers were charged this week in Charleston with "entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building, violent entry and disorderly conduct, demonstrating in a Capitol building and parading in a Capitol building." That's Joe Biden's America for you. Even parades are illegal.
Four people reportedly contacted an FBI tips line separately with incriminating information about the couple, who had boasted on social media about their involvement in the January 6 attack. The criminal complaint alleges that video exists of the Getsingers entering the Capitol Building saying, "This is war! We're storming the Capitol!"
The FBI confirmed from cell phone data that John Getsinger's phone was inside the Capitol during the riot. A search warrant was served on Stacie Hargis-Getsinger's Facebook page, where she'd allegedly posted, "The (presidential) election was rigged, and this ain't over."
Unfortunately, this isn't over, because Republicans continue giving cover to insurrectionists. We don't need a January 6 commission to understand a few key points: Donald Trump and his Republican cronies spent months spreading the Big Lie about the 2020 election. The Big Lie was primed to explode on a specific date and place, the US Capitol when Congress certified the election results. History is currently repeating itself in Arizona, where morons are conducting a jacklegged “audit" of the presidential and Senate races (because those are the ones Republicans lost).
"What we're seeing from McConnell, from McCarthy, from the RNC, from all of the Republicans in Washington, is an ex… https://t.co/eGhch4kjiO— Deadline White House (@Deadline White House) 1623795343.0
The audit's results are scheduled to be announced later this month. No one imagines that those responsible will declare, “Everything checks out! Biden is the undisputed winner. Democracy stands!" No, the audit will “reveal" that Trump actually won by a billion votes or that there was so much fraud we can't (and shouldn't) trust Biden's victory. It's a mistake to treat this as a sideshow. As Tim Miller notes in The Bulwark, people are taking this very seriously, and the intensity is eerily similar to what we saw in the weeks leading up to January 6.
Activists in the QAnon movement have described the audit as the first step in "The Great Awakening." And Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward has threatened "arrests" of those who did not comply with the audit. (N.B.: The Arizona Republican Party does not yet have the power to detain citizens for crimes against MAGA.)
One Arizona GOP precinct committeewoman, Gail Golec, has quit her job as a real estate agent to focus on uncovering "fraud" full-time, which she details on her Facebook and YouTube pages. One America News has hired a local propagandist, Christina Bobb, to "cover the audit"—while also fundraising for it.
Trump has also threatened to primary any Republican who doesn't support an audit in Pennsylvania, a state he lost by 80,000 votes. This cancer is spreading because it remains untreated. Anti-MAGA Republicans such as Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger won't leave the GOP, which just strengthens the disease. They're refusing the necessary chemotherapy and are instead sticking crystals up their asses.
During Tuesday's “Deadline White House," host Nicolle Wallace described the Arizona audit as "the single animating event for the Stop the Steal movement," which endures even after directly leading to a domestic terror attack. This isn't some crazy stunt that will help turn out the MAGA vote next year. It's a looming threat.
MILLER: What we're seeing from McConnell, from McCarthy, from the RNC, from all of the Republicans in Washington, is an exact replay of what they did before January 6th - put their head in the sand, hope that this crystalizing event does not become violent, and they can just move on to the next thing.
But John Getsinger Jr. and Stacie Hargis-Getsinger haven't moved on. They're free on a $75,000 unsecured bond. So far, 521 Trump supporters have been arrested and charged with crimes related to the Capitol insurrection. The Republican Party still embraces the twice-impeached thug while marginalizing Cheney and anyone else who dares refute the Big Lie. William Faulkner wrote, "The past is never dead. It's not even past." The same is true for the January 6 insurrection. Only the date might change.
[The State / The Bulwark]
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Stephen Robinson is a writer and social kibbitzer based in Portland, Oregon. He writes make believe for Cafe Nordo, an immersive theatre space in Seattle. Once, he wrote a novel called “Mahogany Slade,” which you should read or at least buy. He's also on the board of the Portland Playhouse theatre. His son describes him as a “play typer guy."
