Commentary: The January 6th re-boot: what some Republicans didn’t want to see
Photo courtesy of CNN.com
By Dr. James B. Ewers Jr.
Chicken Little said famously in his folktale that the sky is falling. That is probably what some Republicans are feeling these days.
It could be that their mean-spirited world is being exposed and coming to an end.
If you are a hard-line and unreasonable Republican, last Thursday evening was a nightmare for you. You must repeat again that January 6th was a harmless event.
On the other hand, if you are a moderate and reasonable member of the GOP (Grand Old Party), you are just shaking your head and embarrassed.
The horror of what happened on that day will be talked about for years to come. History will be unkind to the Republicans who vouched for the madness and the mayhem. It is a sad but true chapter of our nation’s history.
If you have no shame and no remorse, then you are minimizing the event and calling it just a minor distraction.
If you are in that pathetic and pitiful number of minor minions, then you wear a badge of disgrace forever. Your legacy is attached to disgrace and dishonor.
Some high-ranking Republican senators said it was a terrible event and those responsible should be punished. Within a week’s time they changed their positions. What happened? You know what happened.
There is a Southern Republican governor who believes he is the front runner to be the next president. He is self-proclaimed and it is just his imagination running away with him.
All the unnamed men are covered in wrongdoing. You and I know who they are. Their integrity was snatched from them.
They are infamous and not famous.
Their reputations have been tarnished and stained never to be washed clean again.
Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi and chairman of the January 6th committee laid out the charge of the committee quite well.
He said, “We can’t sweep what happened under the rug. The American people deserve answers. So, I come before you this evening not as a Democrat but as an American who swore an oath to defend the Constitution.”
Clear-thinking and constitutionally-driven Americans will want to know the details of what happened. These hearings will be based upon the facts, nothing else.
Some on the other side will say that the committee is full of Democrats. There are seven Democrats and two Republicans. Is there a Democratic truth and a Republican truth as to what happened on January 6th? The answer is no.
The facts will give us the truth.
What occurred on January 6th of last year was in plain view for all of us to see. These insurgents just broke into one of our most treasured and historic buildings. If you voted in the last presidential election, then you know why this took place. The former president lost the election and claimed foul play. Yet we know that he ran afoul of the election rules. He lost and was a sore loser then and he is still sore and totally out of sorts.
A part of America followed his disjointed thinking and came to Washington, D.C. to cause trouble. Reports say 140 police officers were injured on that fateful day. A Capitol police officer, Caroline Edwards, testified last week about this riot. She was injured and assaulted on the Capitol steps.
These hearings will last a few weeks and the unvarnished truth will come out. Those responsible will have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. We know who is responsible for this loathsome act which betrayed the public trust. He is hiding in the Sunshine State. His time is coming and he will be held accountable. Right still matters in America and it will trump wrong.
The Republican Party is in a state of flux right now. They probably do want the sky to fall.
They might be better off.
James B. Ewers Jr., Ed.D., is a former tennis champion at Atkins High School in Winston-Salem and played college tennis at Johnson C. Smith University, where he was all-conference for four years. He is a retired college administrator. He can be reached at overtimefergie.2020@yahoo.com.
