Tucker: Jan. 6 was not a terrorist attack
‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ host discusses the media’s response to Jan. 6 on the eve of its one-year anniversary.
Today is Jan. 5th — or as it will henceforth be known to all civilized peoples around the world, Jan. 6th Eve. Tonight at midnight, just hours from now, we will begin the first of many annual remembrances of the horrifying atrocities that took place exactly one year ago at the United States Capitol.
How do you commemorate something like this – a history-changing event that’s horrible to think about, yet so significant in the life of the country? Body counts are the traditional measure.
When the nation was wracked by unimaginable loss in years past, that’s how we remember it: 40,000 casualties at Gettysburg. 2,400 lost at Pearl Harbor. Nearly 3,000 Americans dead on 9/11.
But this is a new time, a different age. Those antiquated metrics won’t work as we observe a moment of silence for the fallen of January 6th.
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On January 6th, there was… well, let’s see, actually, there was just Ashli Babbitt. Ashli Babbit wasn’t a Union soldier, or a deckhand on the Arizona, or even a heroic fireman rushing into a collapsing office tower. She was just a Trump voter. She was unarmed. She was shot to death without warning by a Capitol Hill police officer with a documented history of reckless behavior. Ashli Babbitt was the death toll on Jan. 6.
But, honestly, so what? It’s not really about the numbers, is it? It’s not about how many people were killed on January 6th. In fact, the list of those who weren’t killed that day is quite long. It includes all 535 members of Congress, as well as their staff and the entire press corps that covers them. None of them died. They’re all still around. But, again, who cares? It’s not about body counts.
Protesters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
It’s about feelings — how the survivors feel, especially the reporters who survived. The feelings of reporters in Washington matter a great deal in America. They certainly matter a lot more than how you feel at the moment. How you feel, as you’ve probably realized by now, is totally irrelevant to anyone. No one cares. But the journalists of Capitol Hill? They do care. And they’re upset. Many still haven’t recovered from what they saw that day. As they lie down to sleep at night, the horrible images replay on a loop on the back their eyelids: The deafening thunder of cannon volleys. The smoke from the remorseless artillery fire, blotting out the sun. The screams of the mortally wounded calling out for their loved ones, echoing like some demonic soundtrack against the walls of the speaker’s lobby. Hell in a very small place.
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Unless you were there, you cannot possibly understand what it was like. Imagine the Tet Offensive, plus Fallujah, plus the night before Thanksgiving at Whole Foods. On Jan. 6th, you couldn’t tell who the enemy was, unless you looked down and saw they’d bought their shoes at Walmart. Then you knew. But otherwise, it was the fog of war, my friends.
Kasie Hunt was there that day. Hunt is now something called the "chief national affairs analyst" over at CNN. As a veteran of the siege of the Capitol, Hunt took to Twitter today to give hope to her fellow survivors. "Tomorrow is going to be a tough one for those of us who were there or had loved ones in the building. Thinking of all of you and finding strength knowing I’m not alone in this….#January6th"
That was just a tweet. But, someday, you’ve got to believe, because this is a hopeful country, Hunt and her fellow survivors of the insurrection massacre of Jan. 6 will come together in some more formal way: Annual reunions, held in the shadow of Washington’s certain-to-be-built Jan. 6 memorial, the one they’ll have to bulldoze the Washington Monument to construct. Hunt and graying grizzled veterans of the Washington Post and Bloomberg News, and Politico, and The Daily Beast and the Atlantic Magazine will raise their White Claws as one, and remember how they cheated death that terrible day.
Ok, we’ll stop. It’s way too embarrassing. We’re feeling shame even making fun of it. And in fact, as a political matter, the anniversary of Jan. 6th is not a joke. It’s a very serious thing. Pretending that a protest was actually a failed coup is the Democratic Party’s entire strategy to win this year’s midterm elections. At this point, it’s all they’ve got. Governing didn’t work. That’s why today, the attorney general of the United States, one of the most political men in Washington, announced the department of justice will continue to harass and arrest people voted for Donald Trump.
MERRICK GARLAND: The Justice Department remains committed to holding all Jan. 6th perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law — whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy. We will follow the facts wherever they lead.
"Everyone who was responsible." The Department of Justice already had the largest manhunt in history. John Dillinger is laughing from the pit of hell. Jan. 6 trumped him, and it trumped the manhunt after 9/11. It trumps all manhunts. So people who were just standing there taking pictures on their phone got picked up by the FBI, some of them got sent to jail, but it’s not ending, there’s still more to come.
Protesters climb the west wall of the the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
But of course, Merrick Garland never speaks alone. The chorus always joins him, because they always move as one.
Frank Figliuzzi, for example, was a high FBI official who now working at NBC News, tweeted this prediction/observation: "AG references Watergate. Get it? Merrick Garland pledges pursuit of Jan 6 suspects at 'any level.'" A former NBC executive named Mike Sington wrote, "Don’t give up hope, Trump could still be arrested."
Arrested for what? I guess there wasn’t room in the tweet to explain. But just arrested. Bad people should be arrested, that’s the point. What’s interesting is there are a lot of actual criminals who got no space in the Garland speech.
Garland made no mention at all of the "pipe bomber" of Jan. 5. – We’re observing the anniversary of the pipe bomber right now. That individual was caught – we would say man but we don’t want to get to specific in the current environment - on surveillance tape. He used his phone several times. That’s all traceable. Where is that person? But Merrick Garland didn't mention it. Here's what he focused on instead:
MERRICK GARLAND: We have received over 300,000 tips from ordinary citizens, who have been our indispensable partners in this effort. The FBI’s website continues to post photos of persons in connection with the events of Jan. 6th, and we continue to seek the public’s assistance in identifying those individuals.
Be sure to check the FBI website. They’re posting photos, and not of people who actually work for them who were there that day. They’re not only posting photos, they’re taking them off the site, including the most wanted list. Remember Ray Epps? He’s on video several times encouraging crimes, riots, breaches of the Capitol on January 6th. He was on the FBI website. Now he’s gone. Hasn’t been charged with anything, apparently. Why is that? That’s a real question. No one in Congress seems to care, even supposedly conservative Republican senators.
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What are they busy doing? Well, they’re busy repeating the talking points Merrick Garland has prepared for them.
SEN. TED CRUZ: We are approaching a solemn anniversary this week and it is an anniversary of a violent terrorist attack on the Capitol, where we saw the women and men of law enforcement demonstrate incredible courage, incredible bravery, risked their lives to defend the men and women who serve in this Capitol.
Let’s be honest, everyone who’s conservative appreciates Ted Cruz. You may not like him, but you’ve got to appreciate him. He’s legitimately smart, and he’s one of the more articulate people to serve in Congress, maybe the most articulate. He doesn’t use a single word by accident. Every word Ted Cruz uses is used intentionally, he’s a lawyer.
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He described Jan. 6 as a violent terrorist attack. Of all the things Jan. 6 was, it was definitely not a violent terrorist attack. It wasn’t an insurrection. Was it a riot? Sure. It wasn’t a violent terrorist attack. Sorry. So why are you telling us it was, Ted Cruz? And why are none of your Republican friends who are supposed to be representing us and all of the people who were arrested during this purge saying anything?
What the hell is going on here? You’re making us think the Republican Party is as useless as we suspected it was. That can’t be true. Reassure us, please, Ted Cruz.
This article is adapted from Tucker Carlson's opening commentary on the January 5, 2022, edition of "Tucker Carlson Tonight."
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