The following is presented as part of The Columbian’s Opinion content, which offers a point of view in order to provoke thought and debate of civic issues. Opinions represent the viewpoint of the author. Unsigned editorials represent the consensus opinion of The Columbian’s editorial board, which operates independently of the news department.
‘I hope they get to the bottom of it,” Biff said, metaphorically casting a line.
“Bottom of what?,” Bubba replied, unable to resist the bait.
“I hope they get to the bottom of what happened last January at the U.S. Capitol.”
“You mean when a bunch of people stormed the Capitol? And breached the Senate chamber? And occupied congressional offices? And tried to stop the counting of the electoral votes?”
“Yeah, that’s the one. I hope they get to the bottom of it.”
“Same here. You know, there are a lot of theories about what happened. It sure looked like Trump held a rally and said, ‘If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore’ and then people wearing Trump hats and waving Trump flags invaded the Capitol.”
“Yup, it seems pretty clear.”
“But some people disagree, you know. They even send emails to the newspaper insisting the insurrection wasn’t violent or wasn’t carried out by Trump supporters or wasn’t that big of a deal.”
“Tell me about it. But, you know, five people died during the attack or shortly after. And four Capitol Police officers died by suicide in the following months. And the seditionists spread feces on the walls and hit people with flagpoles and chanted that they wanted to hang Mike Pence.”
“Yeah, it was pretty serious. But I heard that it was actually Democrats who stormed the building and that it’s all a big conspiracy.”
“Do you believe that?”
“Well, I saw it on Facebook, so it must be true. Maybe. Kind of. Sort of.”
“Ummmmm, OK.”
“And what about the riots in cities the previous summer, when Black Lives Matter protests turned violent?”
“Violence was wrong then, too; and people should be prosecuted. But at least they didn’t try to overthrow the government. That seems like a false equivalency.”
“And what about the theory that the FBI was behind it? Tucker Carlson said the FBI instigated the whole thing. Or that Nancy Pelosi was responsible? Newt Gingrich blamed Pelosi. Or that it was antifa? You know, you can’t trust those antifa guys.”
“Well, it seems like Trump told supporters ‘you’ll never take back our country with weakness, you have to show strength and you have to be strong.’ And many of those facing criminal charges have links to groups such as Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. I don’t think they would appreciate being called antifa.”
“That’s for sure,” Bubba said. “But wait, what do you mean by you hope they get to the bottom of it? Who? Most of the people on my social media have already made up their minds.”
“Exactly. That’s why I hope the congressional committee gets to the bottom of it.”
“Congressional committee? We can’t trust that; it’s almost all Democrats.”
“Doesn’t that tell you something?” Biff continued. “If Republicans voted against a commission to investigate the attack, and then most of them voted against the formation of a House committee, and then almost all of them refused to serve on the committee, doesn’t that tell you something?”
“Um, I don’t know, like what?”
“Like maybe they are afraid of the truth? Like maybe they would rather rely on lies spread by social media and conservative media to shape the narrative?”
“That sounds pretty callous. What kind of American would not want to know what happened when our nation was threatened? That’s not very patriotic.”
“No, no it’s not. It’s also not very smart. If the attack was some nefarious inside job, you would think they would want to hear about it. If it really was the FBI, I think patriots would be willing to testify about that. You know, if they’re truly concerned about our democracy.”
“Have they testified about that?”
“We don’t know for sure,” Biff said. “But the committee has interviewed more than 300 people. I’m sure they’ll get to the bottom of it.”
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