In the wake of the breaching of the Capitol Building last week, there has been much speculation about who was really behind the events of that day. Mainstream media — who maintained either silence or support for the burning, looting, and rioting done by BLM and Antifa in more than 200 cities across America over the summer — somehow managed to find their indignant voices and feign shock as they condemned “right- wing Trump supporters” for a “failed coup” and “insurrection.” Many on the Right have claimed that Antifa agents provocateur, flying under a false flag of Trump support, were responsible. Now, President Trump has weighed in, telling House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (shown) that “Antifa people” were behind the whole thing.
In the tense 30-minute phone call, President Trump told McCarthy that while he believes last Wednesday’s tumult at the Capitol was the work of “Antifa people,” he does accept some blame for the violence that ensued, according to reports citing four unnamed Republican sources on a private call. The violence of last week caused the deaths of four rioters and one Capitol Police officer. It also led to dozens of injuries and substantial damage to the Capitol Building.
Daily Mail reported that McCarthy pushed back against the outgoing president, saying that it was not Antifa, but actual Trump supporters, who breached the building and caused the violence. And Axios reported that McCarthy told President Trump, “It’s not Antifa, it’s MAGA! I know; I was there.”
According to those unnamed sources who claim to be familiar with the call, President Trump continued to say that the election was stolen. Despite mountains of evidence to corroborate the president’s claim, McCarthy reportedly fired back, “Stop it. It’s over. The election is over.”
McCarthy followed up on that call by telling House Republicans in a two-hour meeting that there is “undisputedly” no evidence that people linked to Antifa participated in the breach of the Capitol Building.
In the contentious phone call, McCarthy told President Trump that he should call Biden and follow the tradition of leaving a letter on the presidential desk in the Oval Office welcoming Biden to the office of president. Trump reportedly responded that he is unsure whether he will do so.
This afternoon, the House voted 232-197 to impeach President Trump for “incitement of insurrection.” It is uncertain how the Senate will respond, if at all.
And while Democrats have cranked up the impeachment machine all over again (rather than wait the seven whole days until Trump leaves office anyway), his own party seems more than willing to sell him down the river in less dramatic ways. In a memo to Republicans, McCarthy said that while he does not support impeachment, he favors Congress censuring the president. This is a clear case of adding insult (censure) to injury (the stolen election). Short-sighted Republicans can’t seem to focus on anything other than the party and the next election.
And that is bad news for America.
As to the president’s response to reports of the call or the impeachment proceedings, don’t look to social media; President Trump and his allies have been silenced in the buildup to this attack. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, Reddit, and Twitch have burned those accounts to the ground.
That is also bad news for America. Free speech is dying before our eyes. So is America.
All that is left is for concerned patriotic Americans to work together with a longer vision than any particular party and see past the next election. This magazine’s parent organization, The John Birch Society, would be a great place to start.