There was Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde (R) casting the insurrection as “a normal tourist visit.” And Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson (R) insisting that it wasn’t an “armed insurrection” despite loads of evidence that it was. And House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R) trying to cast Trump as blameless.
But all of these efforts were aimed at downplaying what happened that day. Which is what makes what Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) said in an appearance on Steve Bannon’s podcast Tuesday all the more fascinating and appalling.
“January 6 was just a riot at the Capitol and if you think about what our Declaration of Independence says, it says to overthrow tyrants,” Greene told Bannon.
Greene was attempting to draw a contrast between the Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020 — “an attack on innocent American people” and the January 6 riot at the Capitol. That comparison, of course, makes no sense.
But consider what Greene is advocating here. She isn’t saying that January 6 wasn’t as bad as the media says it was. She’s saying that it was an entirely justified action — necessary to “overthrow tyrants” as outlined in the Declaration of Independence.
Which is some argument! Especially when you consider that five people died that day and more than 100 police officers were injured. Or that more than 600 people have been charged with criminal behavior that day.
Greene’s comments to Bannon should be condemned by every elected Republican in Washington — who knows that using the phrase “just a riot” and trying to somehow use the Declaration of Independence to justify the violence that day is idiotic, disrespectful and wrong.
That such condemnation almost certainly won’t happen speaks to the current state of the Republican Party.
The Point: “Just a riot” is not a phrase any serious person should utter about January 6.
