A Democratic member of Congress Finally shows us how to Label Trump supporting Republicans

Rep. Jamal Bowman shows the way

“He’s endorsing an insurrectionist!” declared Democratic Rep. Jamal Bowman about Donald Trump loving, GOP Rep. Byron Donalds on CNN Wednesday night.

Bowman did what other Democratic officials--and the corporate media--must do and that is make every Republican officeholder who endorses Trump answer for Trump’s attempted coup and incitement of the Jan 6 insurrection. Anything less allows the normalization of Trump—which has been made easier by the failure of DOJ to charge Trump 2 years and 104 days since Jan 6. (I remind people daily on Twitter how many days it has been since Jan 6 yet Trump has still not been charged.)

Rep. Bowman’s powerful line that Rep. Donalds was endorsing an insurrectionist was the crescendo of a series of statements slamming Donalds’ laughable claim that Trump is ready on “Day One” to get America “back on track.”  That is when Bowman laid out a powerful argument that hopefully other Democrats will repeat. 

Bowman began by correctly noting that under Trump, “We had the first attack on the U.S. Capitol since the War of 1812!” (The British burned our Capitol during that war on August 24, 1814.)

The fiery Congressman continued: “The first attack on the U.S. Capitol by U.S. citizens in U.S. history. Who facilitated and nurtured this attack?!” Answering his own rhetorical question, he stated: “Donald J. Trump on Twitter!”

When Donalds responded, “That’s actually not true,” Bowman laid out the receipts. First, he noted that Trump “said in his speech [on Jan 6], ‘I’m gonna meet you down there,'” directing his angry supporters to head to the Capitol to “Stop the Steal.” 

As we all lived through, Trump had spent months lying about the 2020 election being stolen and then—when all legal efforts to overturn the results had been exhausted—he called his supporters to be at the Capitol on Jan 6 promising a “wild” time.  And as we learned from the Jan 6 hearings, Trump supporters travelled from across the nation to be there on Jan 6 because they were answering the call of their leader, Trump. Those who responded to Trump’s call to be “wild” on Jan 6 included many in the Oath Keepers militia who have since been convicted of “seditious conspiracy” for their role in the Trump inspired terrorist attack. (And yes, Jan 6 was an “act of domestic terrorism” per the FBI and DOJ.)

Bowman, however, was not done.  He continued to make his case that Jan 6 attack was a Trump production, which GOP Rep. Donalds was now endorsing. Bowman reminded us that Trump “tried to ride with the Secret Service” to the Capitol. (Bowman was alluding to testimony of former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson before the Jan 6 committee of Trump demanding Secret Service agents to drive him to the Capitol on that day.)

Bowman added in what should be a famous line going forward, “They was like, ‘Chill, President Trump – you buggin! You can’t ride with us!'”  

That is when Bowman gave us the line that needs to be repeated about any GOP official who is supporting Trump for 2024: “He’s endorsing an insurrectionist!”

Thankfully, Rep. Bowman always speaks the blunt truth—as he did on my SiriusXM show about Ron DeSantis’s bigoted book bans (Clip below). But it’s not just Democrats who need to speak out, the corporate media needs to press Republicans on why they are supporting a man who attempted a coup and incited the Jan 6 insurrection designed to overturn the 2020 election.

To do this, journalists can simply read to the Trump backing Republicans excerpts from the Jan 6 committee’s report asking them for comment such as: “The central cause of January 6th was one man, former President Donald Trump, whom many others followed. None of the events of January 6th would have happened without him.”  

The media should ask GOP elected officials why they have endorsed Trump who—as the Jan 6 committee has detailed--“was directly responsible for summoning what became a violent mob to Washington, DC, urging them to march to the Capitol, and then further provoking the already violent and lawless crowd.”

Reporters can also probe why the Trump endorsing Republicans would support a man who per the Jan 6 committee committed four felonies: 1. Obstruction of an official proceeding in violation of  18 U.S.C. Section 1512(c); 2. Conspiracy to defraud the United States in violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 371, 3. Conspiracy to make a false statement in violation of 18 U.S.C Section 1001 and, 4. Incitement of a rebellion or insurrection in violation of 18 U.S. Code Section 2383.  

Plus press GOP officials on Team Trump why they are endorsing Trump who undisputedly refused to put out a statement calling on his supporters to stop the attack on our Capitol for more than three hours despite pleas to do so by his aides—-and even his own daughter.  Instead, Trump simply watched the attack play out on television. As the Jan 6 committee wrote about Trump’s intentional inaction during the insurrection: “This appalling behavior by our Commander in Chief occurred despite his affirmative constitutional duty to act to ensure that the laws are faithfully executed.”

Alarmingly, Trump has in recent months increasingly defended the Jan 6 terrorists by publicly bemoaning how unfairly they have been treated and promising pardons for those who waged the attack on his behalf if he returns to the White House.  Every GOP Rep who endorses Trump should be asked if they support or denounce it?!

Even if the Republicans deflect instead of answer, the media will be reminding viewers of Trump’s crimes and role in Jan 6.

Of course, calling out Trump’s role in Jan 6 will not lose him any Republican support. As I’ve written about in the past, a June CBS poll found that 51 percent of Republicans view the Jan 6 attack as an act of “patriotism”—up from 47 percent six months before.  Today’s GOP is a fascist movement. We all know that.

I may be asking too much of the corporate media to press Republicans given they don’t want to lose access to elected officials since they view it as bad for ratings/revenue.  That is why it will take Democratic officials who appear in the media to follow Rep. Bowman’s lead and repeat that an endorsement of Trump is an endorsement of his attempted coup and the Jan 6 attack.

Too many of us have moved on from calling for Trump to be held accountable for Jan 6. But ask yourself: Why didn't we move on from holding Bin Laden accountable until he was brought to justice? Simple, because we knew if Bin Laden was not held accountable, he would wage even more 9/11’s. The same mentality must apply to Trump. If he is not held accountable, he will wage even more 1/6’s.

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