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ACTIVISM
PUBLIC CITIZEN
GOP talking point: ... January 6 was just 'legitimate political discourse'
Burgess COMMENTARY
Violence is rarely 'legitimate'
I was born in 1940. During the war (WWII) we lived in Surbiton just outside London. We were in the track of the V1 rockets that were aimed at London, and when they overflew London they ran out of fuel around where we lived. When you are attacked, it is perfectly legitimate to push back with all the violence that is needed. Churchill never apologized for the violent British push back that he orchestrated.
But the GOP messaging that what happened on January 6th at the US Capital was merely 'legitimate political discourse' is offensive. and, frankly, difficult to explain.
It has been known for a long time that hate is a more powerful motivation to action than anything else, and this has been applied at scale within social media algorithms ... and this same sort of messaging design seems to be in play within the GOP political playbook. It may work ... but that does not make it right ... and it will do irreparable damage to a healthy democracy.
Peter Burgess
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January 6 was just 'legitimate political discourse'
Public Citizen robert@citizen.org via salsalabs.org
Saturday, February 5th, 2022 ... 3:26 PM
“Legitimate political discourse.”
As of yesterday, the official position of the Republican Party is that what happened on January 6, 2021, was just “legitimate political discourse.”
Let’s recap:
- Donald Trump flat-out lied that the election was “stolen” from him.
- Fox “News” and its ilk — assisted by corrupt social media algorithms — force fed that lie to tens of millions of Americans.
- Trump then incited a violent mob to storm the U.S. Capitol in a deadly insurrection.
- The objective was nothing less than a coup d’etat to keep Trump in power.
- And now the Republican Party is saying that it was all “legitimate political discourse.”
A simple message for every Republican in Congress:
You can revere democracy. Or you can resort to fascism. But you can’t do both. Silence in the face of your own party’s effort to whitewash January 6 — an outright assault on democracy — will make you not just complicit but an active enabler. You must publicly disavow your party’s latest depraved submission to the cult of Trump or you will go down in history as a willing participant in the nation’s slide to authoritarianism.
Add your name now.
Thank you for taking action.
For democracy,
- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen
Public Citizen | 1600 20th Street NW | Washington DC 20009
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