MAGA-Jesus, Take the Wheel
Speculation has flourished for more than a year about whether Donald Trump wanted to escort the mob that descended on the Capitol in January of 2021, or was it just more of his empty bravado and bluster. In the latest January 6, Committee hearing, Cassidy Hutchinson, former advisor to Donald Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, told a story allegedly related to her by then-Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations Anthony Ornato. Hutchinson said Ornato told her Trump said, ‘I am the f-ing President, take me up to the Capitol now!” Hutchinson told a rapt and packed hearing room and millions on tv that the former President was so “irate” that he tried to grab the wheel of his secret service car and subsequently grabbed at the driver’s throat. That action, she said, was an attempt to force the driver to take the former POTUS to the Capitol and not back to the safety of the White House and away from the insurrection.
For all the Sturm and drang resulting from a game show host and reality tv star running the most powerful nation in the world, this is the latest distraction from what should have been the real story of the hearing.
We’re going to get charged with every crime imaginable
Former White House Attorney Pat Cipollone conveyed a warning to Hutchinson on January 3, meant for her boss[Meadows] and the President’ pushing’ the idea of going to the Capitol on January 6 and the legal peril involved. Cipollone’s fears remained, obviously, because he again told Hutchinson on the morning of January 6 that if the President went to the Capitol: ‘We’re going to get charged with every crime imaginable.’
Conservatives have alibied for the insurrectionists for over a year. Outlets like Fox News, Newsmax, OAN, and Senator Ron Johnson ( R-WI) floated the lie that the mobs were either welcomed visitors, unarmed, or members of Antifa and Black Lives Matter. As it turns out, the radio communications between Capitol Police, Metropolitan Police, and the Secret Service revealed that some marchers carried AR-15s, pistols, and spear tips affixed to flagpoles. Mr. Trump also wanted the magnetometers removed from what now appeared to be a staging area because “they’re not here to hurt me.” The report of Trump saying they are not here to hurt me blows a big hole in Senator Johnson’s theory of the groups being liberals in MAGA disguise.
Ms. Hutchinson, for all the accolades she is receiving for her testimony, it was disturbing that she saw her loyalty to the Trump administration as primary over being an American.
“As a staffer that works to always represent the administration to the best of my ability and to showcase the good things that he had done for the country, I remember feeling frustrated, disappointed. And really, it felt personal. I was really sad.” She went on to say, “As an American, I was disgusted. It was unpatriotic. It was un-American,” testified Hutchinson.
Knowing Trump’s history of (alleged) extortion of a foreign president[Zelenskyy], the literal warm embrace of two murdering leaders, Putin and Saudi Prince Al Saud, and recruitment of White Supremacists, “stand back and stand by” turning a blind eye is far from patriotic. Kudos to Hutchison for testifying and being braver than retired General Mike Flynn and her former boss Mark Meadows, but with multiple allegations of rape, sexual assault, and racism, it would have been nice had her Americanism kicked in a little sooner.
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