DAY OF WRECKONING

I could call this Friday-‘Round-the-Horn-Except-on-Monday, as I did last week, but I’m mainly here to tell you today’s Roy Edroso Breaks It Down is about the fourth anniversary of Tubby’s attempted coup, and that it’s free to non-subscribers.

I say my say there, with a few examples of the Jan. 6 gaslighting at overtly MAGA press outlets. (The Prestige Press outlets are mostly taking an “Ah! Well. Nevertheless” approach; NBC News lards some Jan. 6 facts into its report on today’s electoral college tally, but under the headline “Capitol heavily secured for election certification as Trump's Jan. 6 pardon plans remain largely a mystery” -- which is probably all most people will read, and which suggests that the event needs “heavy” protection in case of an attack by ravening mobs of Kamala Harris supporters, since, you know, Everything is Bothsides now.)

Speaking of Bothsides, I will mention this lulu I found today, from Minnesota Public Radio: “Jan. 6 still divides people. Is there a productive way to move past it?” If you smell professional difference-splitters, collect your winnings: in this case, it’s Bill Doherty from Braver Angels (formerly Better Angels), and his response to the question “why is this issue so fraught?” is… well, have a look:

If you believe that the election was stolen and that there were people there to protest … you’re sympathetic with them. You’re thinking that this is what democracy is about. You say, “Well, 90 percent of the people were perfectly fine.” On the other hand, if you think their cause was not just, you understandably focus not on the folks who just went home, but on the people who attacked the Capitol.

A few bad apples! The solution, says Doherty, is “not to argue about the past when people’s minds are made up” – let’s not bicker and argue about who insurrected who! – “but to talk about how would we go forward.” Of course “we” in this case is a bunch of people meeting in gyms and conference rooms that are nowhere near the levers of power, which in a few weeks will be in the tight grip of people who think insurrection is great when they do it and ever better if it works – and, having gotten away with their last attempt, will not scruple to try another if things aren’t going their way; JD Vance ain’t Mike Pence. Stay strong, y’all, and don't let them tell you shit is Shinola.