Politico calls Jan. 6 as 'one of the darkest days of American history'

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Outnumbered - Monday, January 3

On today's episode, Jason Chaffetz is 'Outnumbered' as New York receives criticism over prioritizing COVID treatments for non-whites. Plus, Twitter banned Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene’s account.

Politico Playbook began its Jan. 6 anniversary coverage with a dire perspective of the riot. 

Politico's daily briefing report on Monday heavily focused on the upcoming one-year anniversary of the Capitol riot and went so far as to label it "one of the darkest days in American history."

JAN. 6 ANNIVERSARY: WASHINGTON POST MEDIA COLUMNISY URGES MORE ‘PRO-DEMOCRACY’ COVERAGE ‘BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE’ 

Capitol police officers in riot gear push back demonstrators who try to break a door of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) (AP)

"It’s going to be an emotional week for a lot of people on Capitol Hill. With the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol siege Thursday, Congress is planning an array of memorials and speeches to commemorate one of the darkest days in American history. Lawmakers will have the opportunity to tell their personal stories of what it was like to hide from angry rioters. Cable news will blanket the airwaves with harrowing footage of the assault. Leaders of the Capitol Police will testify before the Senate Rules Committee about the security situation one year later," Rachael Bade and Ryan Lizza wrote.

Politico’s report also shared how Democrats hope to use the anniversary to push forward their election overhaul legislation. More specifically, Bade and Lizza described an alleged plan to persuade Sens. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., to vote to eliminate the filibuster for the Democrats voting rights bill.

"But Democrats are hoping that Thursday will be more than just a day of remembrance. In the Senate, we hear from well-positioned sources, there’s a desire to take the opportunity to supercharge the party’s long-stalled voting rights legislation — possibly even using the anniversary to try to get Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to go nuclear on the filibuster or embrace rules changes," Politico wrote.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-WVa., who has been a key holdout on President Joe Biden's ambitious domestic package, peers out from an elevator after a vote, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021. Progressive and centrist lawmakers, particularly Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., have fought over details of the sprawling 1,600-page package. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) (AP)

This report was published hours before Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced efforts to force a vote in the Senate on the federal voting rights legislation, using the Jan. 6 anniversary as a backdrop. Schumer argued that recent state voting laws were enacted by Republicans who "seized on the former President's Big Lie about widespread voter fraud to enact anti-democratic legislation and seize control of typically non-partisan election administration functions."

"Let me be clear: January 6th was a symptom of a broader illness – an effort to delegitimize our election process, and the Senate must advance systemic democracy reforms to repair our republic or else the events of that day will not be an aberration – they will be the new norm," Schumer wrote. "Given the urgency of the situation and imminence of the votes, we as Senate Democrats must urge the public in a variety of different ways to impress upon their Senators the importance of acting and reforming the Senate rules, if that becomes a perquisite for action to save our democracy."

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of N.Y., speaks to the media after a Democratic policy luncheon, Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) (AP)

NY TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD CALLS FOR NUKING THE FILIBUSTER, PROCLAIMING ‘EVERY DAY IS JAN. 6’ 

With the anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot, news publications have been pushing a narrative that United States democracy is close to being dismantled. On Saturday, the New York Times editorial board published a piece titled "Every Day is Jan. 6 Now," warning that "the Republic faces an existential threat from a movement that is openly contemptuous of democracy and has shown that it is willing to use violence to achieve its ends." 

Washington Post columnist Margaret Sullivan wrote that it was "unquestionable" that American democracy "is teetering" and demanded news publications to up its "pro-democracy" coverage in the wake of Jan. 6.

"In other words, shout it from the rooftops. Before it’s too late," she wrote.

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Fox News’ Cortney O’Brien and Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report.