On Wednesday, Republicans in the House showed that they were completely done with even pretending to be concerned about threats to democracy. First, with the expulsion of Rep. Liz Cheney from Republican leadership, Republicans made it clear that the Big Lie is now not just acceptable, but a required part of Republican canon. Then at the House Oversight hearing, Republicans fully embraced the Jan. 6 insurgency, declaring it a “normal tourist visit” and engaging in a session of ugly gaslighting that denied there was an insurrection, denied there were Trump supporters involved, and denied that there was any violence. Where Republicans are going could be best seen in the statements from Rep. Paul Gosar, who flipped the truth on its head and declared that even investigating what happened on Jan. 6 represented an assault by the “deep-state” on “law-abiding citizens.”
There’s absolutely no doubt: When it comes to be even the slightest bit embarrassed about supporting either Trump’s outrageous lies concerning the election, or the deadly attack on the Capitol in which insurgents attempted to find and execute congressional leaders, Republicans are more than done. Far from condemning efforts to end democracy, they’re embracing them. They’re all in.
So it shouldn’t be a surprise that efforts by a member of the D.C. Metro Police to talk to Republican leader Kevin McCarthy are not going well. Officer Michael Fanone has been trying to get in touch with McCarthy for weeks. He wants the Republican leader to see what actually happened to him on Jan. 6, to see how the crowd of Trump supporters really acted. Fanone tried again this week, hoping that since it’s National Police Week, McCarthy might give him a few minutes. Instead McCarthy’s staff hung up on Fanone. But last night, CNN released Fanone’s body camera footage.
In an interview two weeks ago, Fanone said, “I experienced the most brutal, savage hand-to-hand combat of my entire life. Let alone my policing career, which spans almost two decades. It was nothing that I had ever thought would be a part of my law enforcement career, nor was I prepared to experience."
“I experienced the most brutal, savage hand-to-hand combat of my entire life.”
Footage shot by one of the insurgents (starting around five minutes into the video below) shows Fanone being dragged down the Capitol steps after he was tased, beaten, and pulled away from a group of officers protecting a tunnel that led to Congressional chambers. As one man shouts, “I got one,” and the crowd exhorts his capture, another Trump supporter waves a “thin blue line” flag over Fanone’s unconscious form.
At that time, Fanone indicated that he wanted his body camera footage released, and it was this footage that he wanted to show to McCarthy. Only McCarthy refuses to talk to him.
The body camera shows the exultant Trump supporters after Fanone has been tased and dragged from the building. Over and over, he tries to get through to the people who are carrying him away, crying out for his life and reminding them that he has a family as he is beaten and mocked. Part way down the Capitol steps, one person begins to shout, “Don’t hurt him,” and, “We’re better than this.” For a moment, it seems as if they’re listening to Fanone’s pleas and cries of pain. But then the assault resumes. Eventually Fanone is recovered by other officers and brought to safety behind the front lines of the assault.
By the time he’s recovered, the camera may still be running, but Fanone himself is unconscious.
Throughout the incident, Trump supporters are grabbing at Fanone’s gear, stripping away his protection, and attempting to make off with his gun. In several sections the camera is blacked out because Fanone has been flipped over face down while insurgents continue to beat him with fists and clubs.
These are the images of what the GOP is now selling as “a normal tourist visit” from “patriotic Americans.” This is the event where even bothering to investigate is an effort by the “deep state” to repress the rights of “law-abiding Americans.”
Republicans are not just ignoring Jan. 6, they’re endorsing it. On that day, with insurgents still occupying the Capitol and searching for victims, Donald Trump sent out a tweet.
“These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!”
At the time, every line of that tweet seemed monstrous. Now Republicans have embraced it from beginning to end. Expect them to demand a statue—not for Fanone and the others who defended the Capitol, but for the people who dragged him screaming down the stairs.
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