We can’t allow ourselves to become numb to the monstrous things Trump did, is still doing, and would do again with more sophistication if he returns to power. Consider just a few revelations tucked in Thursday’s retelling of the grisly tale of Jan. 6:
- Trump adviser Steve Bannon, before the election, declared that Trump is “going to declare victory, and that doesn’t mean he’s the winner. … So when you wake up Wednesday morning, it’s going to be a firestorm.”
- Trump friend and longtime adviser Roger Stone, before the election, said that regardless of the outcome, “the key thing to do is to claim victory. Possession is nine-tenths of the law. No, we won. F--- you. … We’ll have to start smashing pumpkins, if you know what I mean.”
- Trump, knowing privately that he had lost, signed an order on Nov. 11 requiring the immediate withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and Somalia.
- Trump, acknowledging defeat, told Meadows (according to video testimony from former Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson): “I don’t want people to know we lost, Mark. This is embarrassing. Figure it out.”
- Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, in video testimony, testified about Trump introducing her to lawyer John Eastman, who tried to enlist the RNC’s help with his fake-elector scheme.
- Nancy Pelosi, in newly released video, pleaded for help from the Pentagon, the Virginia governor and the attorney general. She reacted in horror to the violence and talked with Vice President Mike Pence about “defecation” and defilement of the House floor.
In a largely symbolic gesture, the panel closed with a unanimous vote to subpoena documents and testimony from Trump himself. He’ll surely refuse — as did Stone, Eastman and some 30 others who took the Fifth.
“We have sufficient information to consider criminal referrals from multiple individuals,” Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said — though, as she noted, “the vast weight of evidence presented so far has shown us that the central cause of January 6th was one man: Donald Trump.”
After the overwhelming case the committee has made, a criminal referral that doesn’t name Trump would be criminal.