Baptist News Global: Trump's False Narrative on January 6th is Gaining Traction
One of my favorite spots on the face of the earth is the famous "Copse of Trees" along Cemetery Ridge, above the field where Pickett's Charge took place during the Battle of Gettysburg. The trees at the top of the ridge represent "the high watermark of the Confederacy," the furthest advance of the Confederate army against Union troops on the battlefield. That's as far as Confederate troops got in their attempt to break the Union lines along the ridge. It was the point of defeat for Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, and the end of the Confederate advance, the point at which the Union was saved.
I have a canvas print of a photograph taken at that spot by a parent of former students, while on a field trip to Gettysburg. It was taken right at sunset, after the clouds had broken up on a rainy day, so the pink and orange color behind the trees helps make a beautiful picture of a place that represents a small, but significant step toward freedom.
January 6th was an Attack on Freedom and on American Values
We have vivid descriptions of everything that happened on July 3, 1863, including the facts which eventually show that the Confederate soldiers who briefly reached the Copse of Trees along Cemetery Ridge during the Battle of Gettysburg were at what would become known as "the high watermark of the Confederacy." There's no video of the event, everything that happened there was described out of the collective memory of those who were there and experienced it.
So how is it, with more video of the Trump Insurrection on January 6, 2021, that the false narratives coming from Trump about what happened that day are "gaining traction"? What does that say about the value that many Americans place on truth, and integrity?
I'm going to say this here, because it needs to be said. Those who are Trump followers do not value truth and integrity, because Trump does not value truth and integrity.
And there's the bad side of the first amendment. Freedom of conscience means that even a conscience that lies, or that believes lies, and is intentionally deceitful, is protected under the Constitution of the United States.
It takes a deliberate choice to be blind to January 6th. Too many people were there, saw it, experienced it, lived in fear of their lives during it, to deny that it happened, and there are too many facts, openly stated by the more than a thousand individuals currently tried and convicted for participating in it, to put the blame anywhere else but on Trump. So the only way that the false narrative surrounding January 6th, whether it's the belief that it was just a protest, or that it was peaceful, could gain any traction is for multiple individuals to be willing to surrender their own integrity and intentionally lie about what happened.
So are lack of integrity, dishonesty and lying the new values of Evangelicals, the GOP and Trump supporters?
I've Had This Conversation With a Trumper, and it Wasn't Productive
A friend of mine flatly told me that the attack on the Capitol was the work of Antifa.
"Do you know what 'Antifa' stands for?" I asked.
"No, they're just terrorists. They are the ones who attacked the Capitol," he said.
I decided to take the plunge anyway. "Antifa stands for 'Anti-Fascist'," I said. "They believe that Trump is a Fascist, and they are against Fascism, and so they are against Trump. They would not attack the Capitol and disrupt Congress to support a lie they don't believe, and are fighting to stop," I said.
I got a blank stare, then, "Well that's what they said on Fox News."
The theory here is that "Antifa," which is a general term for all anti-Fascists, they're not just one large group, attacked the Capitol to blame Trump and make him look bad.
My response was, "So name one person associated with Antifa, or with any anti-Fascist group, that has been arrested and charged for what they did in this riot. Because I can show you that every person being charged is a Trump supporter, and those who organized the break in and gave instructions to the rioters on where to go and what to do are either Proud Boys, or Oath Keepers, both of whom are rabid, violent Trump supporters. And they're testifying they got their orders from Trump."
And we're now at the point in the conversation where the facts have brought about an awkward silence. So I point out that everyone arrested and charged either pled guilty to get a reduced sentence, or went to trial and were found guilty were all Trump supporters who claimed that they got their marching orders from Trump himself. I point to the electronic communications sent out by Trump, calling the protesters to come to Washington. And I ask one important question.
"Didn't you watch the video footage of what went on, and what they did? There's as much as you want to see."
And the response to that question was, "No, I haven't seen it."
That's deliberate ignorance. That's choosing to be ignorant, and I don't even know how to respond to that. That is a whole new level of dishonesty, a lack of integrity that undermines the trust I have in our relationship, and undermines our friendship. I can't trust someone who lacks the integrity I think is necessary to sustain a friendship. This isn't just a difference in perspective, this is a choice to deliberately ignore facts and deny reality because it doesn't fit the political agenda. I'm not going to get all judgmental and angry, I'm just going to abandon the friendship and walk away. Maybe, eventually, he will realize what he did.
A Paradigm Shift in What We Value
This is not the kind of thing we can just ignore while walking past, or pretend it didn't happen, or chalk it up as another historical event. This represents a paradigm shift in our cultural values. The politician who claimed the election was stolen, and who continued to press that claim in spite of evidence to the contrary, which is itself an indication of emotional and mental instability, incited an insurrection intended to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power and to overturn the results of a free and fair election, for the first time in American history. There's so much that's wrong with just those things, it's hard to even put into words the lack of integrity and honesty that represents.
And then, after obviously inciting an insurrection and sitting in the oval office doing nothing to put a stop to it while law enforcement officers died as a result, which is a crime from any perspective, we, the people, are stymied in efforts to prosecute these crimes. Letting him walk free is bad enough, but turning around and putting him back in the White House without suffering any consequences of his actions represents a paradigm shift in the values and integrity of Americans. Clearly, a large segment of the population of this country no longer cares about telling the truth, or about honesty or integrity.
And the irony of the situation is that those who whine the longest and loudest about the collapse of American values are the ones present who will be helping facilitate this and bring it along. Thanks to Evangelicals, who clearly value money and power over truth and integrity, our nation may be on the brink of collapse. We've put a criminal who belongs in prison into the White House. How much longer do you think it will be before we start putting honest people with integrity in prison for their honesty?
One who justifies the wicked and one who condemns the righteous are both like an abomination unto the Lord. Proverbs 17:15, NRSV
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