Donald Trump Goes All in Defending Jan. 6 Mob and Karl Rove Goes Off
Predictably, such performative exercises sugarcoat Trump’s own role in inspiring some of his supporters to storm the Capitol.
For two months before the deadly insurrection, Trump falsely claimed the election was stolen from him and encouraged his supporters to march to the Capitol and “show strength” on the day the election was certified.
As Rove said, it would be a critical mistake to let Trump off the hook for claiming, “I’m going to pardon those people because they’re hostages.”
“No, they’re not,” said Rove. “They’re thugs. There were people — some of them had automatic weapons at a hotel in Virginia hoping to be able to be called up.”
One would think full-throated support of such people wouldn’t be a political winner. Yet polls show the campaign continues to be remarkably close. As in all major campaigns, there still are a lot of voters who describe themselves as “undecided.”
That amazes me since, to me, the choices could hardly be more stark as we consider what kind of leadership we ought to have in these challenging times.
Yet a lot of people, as I have been reminded by other political consultants, vote less by research or knowledge of the many issues than by “feel” as they consider whether a certain candidate is on their side.
With that I am reminded of a popular T-shirt slogan among some in the MAGA crowd: “F— your feelings.”
I don’t remember reading anything like that in my civics books. But obliterating such quaint notions as civics is kind of what Trump is all about, isn’t he?
========
(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)
©2024 Clarence Page. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
(c) 2024 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
