From TPM Reader JB …
Nothing from the Wisconsin Republican delegation to Congress as yet on Ashli Babbitt or interfering with prosecution of January 6 insurrectionists. Sen. Ron Johnson’s Twitter account today, for example, rails about “the border,” health issues following Covid19 vaccinations, and climate change extremists.
I get that sense that the official Republican party, most of the press and perhaps even Democrats in Washington, DC have not gotten the message that Trump is sending. But let’s start with the Republicans. I don’t get the sense it’s registering with them that Trump is going to make the insurrection central to the 2022 campaign, at least for his role in it. He’s telling us. The Big Lie is everything for Trump and the insurrectionists are the warriors and victims of the ‘rigged election’. The two are inseparable.
In his press conference today, President Trump returned to his claims that Ashli Babbitt was shot for “no reason.” He also demanded the name of the Capitol Hill police officer who shot her and the release of insurrectionists currently in jail or charged with crimes. The comments came in response to a question at a press conference announcing Trump’s lawsuits against social media platforms.
Video after the jump …
Have you seen your member of Congress or your Senator comment about President Trump’s new remarks about freeing the Jan 6th insurrectionists or lynching the Capitol Police officer who shot Ashli Babbitt. We have been trying to get comments from members of Congress. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, they’re not being very responsive. If you’ve seen remarks from your member of Congress or Senator in your local media, let us know. Or if you’ve seen responses we haven’t seen in national media we’re interested in that too.
While the conservative fever swamps’ fear mongering over critical race theory intensifies to new, unhinged heights, the nation’s largest teachers unions are vowing to stand behind educators if they are punished due to new state laws that try to limit or outright ban critical discussions on race, discrimination and the role it plays in American history.
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One thing that was clear to me when I read about Trump’s comments on the January 6th defendants and the death of Ashli Babbitt is that he intends to make these claims and demands centerpieces of the 2022 midterm election. For Trump everything is the Big Lie, everything is the “rigged election”, which is to say everything is payback, retribution and grievance about being driven from power.
International news orgs reporting that the President of Haiti, Jovenel Moïse, was assassinated overnight in an attack on his private residence.
This is a developing story.
With the rising demands on the right to release or drop charges against the Jan. 6th insurrectionists and seek retribution against the unnamed cop who shot Ashli Babbitt, Josh Kovensky has some important context about the mounting movement to valorize and make a martyr of Babbitt. Relatedly, Rep. Paul Gosar, Congress’s most prominent white nationalist and antisemite, calls for the unnamed officer to be charged for what he earlier termed Babbitt’s execution. This of course comes just days after the leader of the GOP, ex-President Donald Trump, suggested the unnamed officer should be lynched.
A few more points on Ashli Babbitt.
Following the July 4th holiday weekend, President Biden has one item on his public agenda today: a speech addressing COVID-19 vaccination progress in the U.S.
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Yesterday I noted ex-President Trump’s vainglorious recital of events at his two recent rallies in Ohio and Florida. But there were a string of comments he made at his Sarasota, Florida rally that I only learned about after the fact. They are highly important going forward and particularly in the context of the 2022 election. The comments aren’t terribly surprising coming from Trump. They’re perhaps implicit in things he’s said before. But they represent something new. In short, he now seems to be demanding the release of the various insurrectionists facing charges for storming the Capitol on January 6th. “How come so many people are still in jail over Jan. 6?” he asked the crowd.
He also went further and began to suggest or demand (the ambiguity is a central feature of all Trump incitement) the lynching of the Capitol Police officer who shot insurrectionist Ashli Babbitt.