January 6, 2025
January 6th Was an Attack on the United States — And It Worked
My wife incredulously asked me this morning, “Wait, January 6th was four years ago??” The question was rhetorical but reasonable. On this day, four years ago, a mob of hyped-up, right-wing supporters of Donald Trump stormed the Capitol and attacked Congress in an attempt to prevent the certification of Joe Biden becoming the 46th President of the United States. And today? Biden’s Vice President, Kamala Harris, as President of the Senate, oversaw the certification of her opponent, Donald Trump, returning to the White House. Thanks to the glacial pace of criminal cases against Trump by Merrick Garland’s Justice Department and various state attorneys general, Trump avoided any consequences from what he incited on that day. In short: Trump not only won the election, but he ultimately won the coup of January 6th.
Blogger Jason Kottke has an excellent summation of the day, both the events leading up to the attack, as well as some thoughts about the effects. The key point he makes, after sharing some of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) thoughts are:
“This was not an attack on the Capitol Building. This was an attack on Congress, the United States Government, and elected members of our government. It was a coup attempt. […] Saying that this was an ‘attack on the Capitol’ is such an anodyne way of describing what happened on January 6th that it’s misleading. Words matter and we should use the correct ones when describing this consequential event.”
–Jason Kottke
Canada’s Trudeau Resigns
Shifting focus a bit to the north, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced this morning that he is resigning, after nearly a decade holding the position. He is stepping down as the leader the Liberal party immediately, and will remain as a “place-holder” Prime Minister until a new one is chosen. Current polling shows that the Conservatives are in place to win a majority, but that could shift depending on who the Liberals choose as their new leader.
This is all largely happening due to the low approval ratings and political scandals dogging the once rising-star of global progressive politics. The resignation last month of his deputy prime minister and minister of finance, Chrystia Freeland, only furthered Trudeau’s tenuous position. As part of her resignation statement, Freeland warned about the dangers of Trump’s “America first” nationalism and his threats of 25% tariffs on Canadian exports. That and her public criticism of Trudeau’s ability to deal with the incoming American president, show her as a strong potential successor to her former boss.
WaPo Cartoonist Resigns in Protest of Censorship
Pulitzer-Prize-winning political cartoonist Ann Telnaes drew a cartoon depicting Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, LA Times publisher Patrick Soon-Shiong, Mickey Mouse, and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos all prostrating themselves before a statue of Donald Trump. See it below:
Telnaes’ editor killed the cartoon. In response, Telnaes announced her resignation from the organization whose purported motto is “Democracy dies in darkness”. Telnaes’ editor has since issued a dubious statement attempting to explain that he was trying to avoid “repetition” on the editorial page.
A while back, an attorney for singer/actress Barbra Streisand attempted to suppress the publication of a photo of her clifftop residence in Malibu. The effect of the lawsuit, though, was that the photo gained a great deal more exposure than would have occurred had she done nothing. This form of unintended consequence has become known as the “Streisand Effect“. I bring this up because I strongly suspect, had the Post published Telnaes’ cartoon without fanfare, it wouldn’t have captured nearly the attention — nor been viewed by as many — as it has within the past few days.
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