Republicans attempt to paint Jan. 6 as a peaceful protest—but the latest video violently disagrees

There’s a good reason that the video of events from that day begins with a warning. Because the level of violence displayed is just part of what makes these clips disturbing.

The video shows officers being punched, beaten with objects, doused with bear spray, and being literally crushed by a crowd working together to grind them between a closed door and a wall of shields. Trump supporters rip away officer’s masks, hurl heavy objects, smash down on officers with stolen shields, and drag them along the ground while genuinely grunting in anger and effort. 

Contrast this with the celebration at CPAC, with Roger Stone dancing along as the insurrection was described as “Patriots, coming up knocking on the Capitol.”

Or Boebert complaining that people can’t petition the government by assaulting police, smashing open doors, and searching out a few officials to hang.

Or Ron Johnson describing the people who stalked through the halls of Congress with guns, tasers, baseball bats, clubs, spears, and handcuffs as “people who love this country.”

Johnson claimed that he wasn’t at all concerned that a deadly riot was going on outside and inside the Capitol building. Because white Republicans on a rampage is just good American fun. On the other hand …

SEN. RON JOHNSON: Now, had the tables been turned, Joe, and this’ll get me in trouble—had the tables been turned, and President Trump won the election, and those were tens of thousands of Black Lives Matter and antifa protesters, I might have been a little concerned.

Republican efforts to downplay Jan. 6 will continue. Because they have to. They can’t both support Donald Trump and acknowledge the level of antidemocratic violence that occurred on Jan. 6, because the two things are absolutely wedded. It doesn’t take the latest FBI video to know that what happened on Jan. 6 was violent. Everyone in Congress—including Boebert and Johnson—know the truth.

Source: http://feeds.dailykosmedia.com/~r/dailykosofficial/~3/kY0wKWhzooY/-Republicans-attempt-to-paint-Jan-6-as-a-peaceful-protest-but-the-latest-video-violently-disagrees