USA ǀ Chinese bamboo fiber – Friday

by time news

Was that a “coup” that former President Donald Trump and his followers wanted to pull off? What term is appropriate for the endeavor to overturn the election victory of Democrat Joe Biden? Six months after the violent intrusion of Trump loyalists into the U.S. Capitol on January 6, numerous Republicans deny the illegality of the failed onslaught. Next time – should it ever happen – right-wing America could proceed more competently.

In the US Congress, a committee of inquiry is currently supposed to examine the motives and the actions of the men and women who stormed the supposed sanctuary of democracy on this winter day, waved Trump flags, erected a symbolic gallows, smashed windows, wounded around 140 police officers and MPs have threatened to prevent certification of the November 3rd election result. The television broadcast of the first hearings was marked by indignation from democratic politicians. Most Republicans don’t go along with it, or they shake it off. So far, the Democrats have not uncovered anything new.

Trump saw “a lot of love”

The few hundred Capitol strikers, starting with the frequently photographed “QAnon Shaman” who are read the riot act, offer an easy target for democratic outrage. In the end, the Trump rioters tend to be more violent supporting actors or even pawn victims in a nationwide drama in which democratic pillars were questioned much more effectively elsewhere than in the chaos in the Capitol. Many Republicans continue to doubt Joe Biden’s election victory. In Arizona, “experts” and volunteers are still checking the authenticity of ballot papers. Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and other states should also count. The courts and electoral authorities have nowhere found the challengers right. The conspiracy theories were too nonsensical. In Arizona it was alleged that ballot papers were tested for bamboo fiber as evidence of Chinese tampering.

Four police officers gave testimony at the beginning of the committee’s meetings. They feared for their lives in the face of the intruders armed with batons, flagpoles, fire extinguishers, electric batons and tear gas. The official Aquilino Gonell compared the consequences of the riot with a “medieval battlefield”. He would “die on his knees”, Trump supporters yelled at him, said police officer Daniel Hodges. More than 500 of the “terrorists”, as another official put it, have to answer in court. What one learns from the indictments: Almost all of them are white, mostly men from different income groups, some members of right-wing extremist groups such as Oath Keepers and Proud Boys. And most of them lead active lives among like-minded people online. Many say they acted for Trump and against election fraud.

At the trial of the Minneapolis policeman who killed George Floyd in May 2020, the prosecution stressed that the jury should trust their own eyes and the horrific images of the policeman kneeling on the dying man’s neck. Hours of nasty material are available online from the attack on the Capitol, but it doesn’t really work with “your own eyes” this time. Many Republicans do not see violent criminals. According to a poll by the broadcaster CBS in mid-July, 55 percent of Trump voters are of the opinion that the rioters have “defended freedom”. “There was so much love at the rally. We had more than a million people, “Trump said on cable broadcaster Fox News about the Republican rally before the rush. Trump had called out to the crowd on January 6th: “If we don’t fight like hell, we have no more land!”

Ashli ​​Babbitt, 35, an Air Force veteran and co-owner of a swimming pool cleaning company in California, wanted to fight. She has left numerous traces on social media. In one photo she is wearing a QAnon t-shirt. A sign at the entrance to their company announced that they were entering a “mask-free zone”. On January 5, she wrote on Twitter that the storm had broken out and that it would hit the capital “in less than 24 hours”. Videos show Babbitt in a group smashing a glass window to the boardroom. Babbitt climbs through. A police officer shoots. And Babbitt dies. Some Republican politicians who stay away from the committee of inquiry are calling for an investigation into the incident. Ashli ​​Babbitt has achieved martyr status. Trump said Babbitt was an “innocent, wonderful, incredible woman, a military woman.”

Fudge the right to vote

Author Jane Mayer wrote in the magazine that large amounts of money from right-wing foundations went into attempts to question the 2020 elections New Yorker set out. Election deniers apparently learn. In the future, there is no longer a threat of a “coup” that is supposed to reverse a vote with conspiracy theories. Tools would be new laws to influence voting, especially the counting, so that the republican-ruled parliaments of the states can intervene in the election result (Friday 29/2021). Because according to the constitution, these bodies regulate the election process. It has not yet been legally tested how far they can go to influence the results. In more than 20 states, the Republicans have a majority, including the electoral law expert Richard Hasen of the University of California in the online magazine slate.com noted: In the 2024 presidential election, Republicans may not win with the “big lie” of electoral fraud, but with legal papers about the rights of state parliaments.

The committee of inquiry in Congress would have more than enough to investigate. The hearings are reminiscent of the two impeachment trials against Trump, when the Democrats felt they had to do something about the abuse of power and then only strengthened firmly lashed views. The ex-president has a firm grip on many of his people.

.

You may also like

Leave a Comment