This column, from the weekly opinion piece MATTER OF FACT, first appeared on BrooklynReporter.com, the Home Reporter and Spectator dated January, 23, 2023
January 20 marks two years since Joe Biden was inaugurated as President and Donald Trump’s one term in the White House came to an end. That inauguration came exactly two weeks after months of election lies culminated in the insurrection at the Capitol, where an angry mob attacked law enforcement and democracy in general, in an attempt to prevent the peaceful transfer of power and instead effectuate a coup.
I recall five days after the insurrection, watching video that had been compiled from inside the mob that stormed the Capitol. Watching it now, the words from those attacking America’s seat of government that day are still chilling.
“We can take that place!” angrily exclaimed a scowling man in a Make America Great Again hat. “And then do what?” asked the man next to him. “HEADS ON PIKES!” he shouted back.
A man waving a Trump flag outside the building, ralying those around him, said, “All these politicians… they need to pay the ultimate price! An example needs to be made!” Someone urging the crowd to surge, yelled, “Get the f**k in there! Let’s get them!” “Every single bastard in there is a traitor,” said another man. “String them up!” could be heard from someone in the mob, followed by many chanting in unison, “HANG PENCE!”
“Walk down to the Capitol… You will never take back our country with weakness… We’re going to walk down to the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you.”
Then-Presidnet Trump at January 6, 2021 Stop The Steal Rally at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C.
These insurrectionists were responsible for their own actions, but this did not come out of nowhere. Just before they marched to the Capitol, Rudy Giuliani told them, “Let’s have trial by combat.” Congressman Mo Brooks said, “Today is the day American Patriots start taking down names and kicking ass.” Donald Trump, Jr. warned members of Congress that “we are coming for you.” Trump said, “Walk down to the Capitol… You will never take back our country with weakness… We’re going to walk down to the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you.”
After they stormed the Capitol, terrorized people, and beat cops with American flags, Ivanka Trump referred to them as “patriots” and President Trump’s first message was, “We love. You are very special.” Lies, coupled with support for the extremists who believe these lies and act out on them, is dangerous.
Election denials continued through the recent 2022 election. I wrote last week about newly elected Congressman George Santos, who seemingly lied about everything in his history, and the parallels his actions have to Trump’s. Santos is a serial liar who needs professional help after he duped voters, and he cannot serve in Congress. Those were the words from New York Republican leaders from his county, including Chair of the Nassau GOP Joseph Cairo, as they called for Santos to resign at a press conference Wednesday, January 11.
Four Republican Congressmen from across New York State have also officially stated that Santos should resign. However, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, who served in a House GOP leadership position under Kevin McCarthy during the 117th Congress, has not joined that chorus, nor has Speaker McCarthy, who has said that the voters elected Santos and he sees no reason for him to leave. Malliotakis endorsed Santos last year and she took money from his campaign.
Cairo shared that after Santos’s unsuccessful 2020 campaign, he insisted that he had really won and the election was stolen from him, at the same time Trump was spreading the big lie and fomenting a coup in Washington. The acceptance of lies within the GOP makes it no surprise that a conman who made up his entire background out of whole cloth, could not only be elected, but that his party leadership would support him remaining in office even after his lies have come to light.
The State Assembly allowed Lester Chang to be seated earlier this month, after an investigation they conducted found that his claim he had satisfied residency requirements could not be corroborated. To the contrary, Chang having voted in Manhattan a year earlier and receiving subsidies on his rent-stabilized Manhattan apartment indicated that his primary residence was not in Kings County, as the law requires.
Lester Chang is not George Santos, but all evidence points to him being untruthful about his residency and thus not being eligible to hold the seat he won in November. He and the local GOP have only ever said that Brooklyn is his home, without providing documentary proof to refute the evidence he lived in Manhattan. Again, another lie that is accepted by the GOP and is met by none of the consequences required by the law and the Constitution.
