I didn’t think lefty propagandist Politifact was going to choose any of the million whoppers Joe Biden told as their Lie of the Year but I wasn’t prepared for it to be this lame. This year they have decided that downplaying the January 6 “insurrection” is the worst lie told. It’s not even a specific lie told by someone and it’s a lie in of itself. Over-hyping January 6 is a lie but downplaying it is an accurate description.
With much fanfare and bullshit, here’s 2021’s Lie of the Year:
In the days that followed, Trump, some of the loudest and most influential members of the Republican Party and vocal partisan media personalities offered a deluge of justifications, excuses and conspiracy theories to reframe the events of Jan. 6 as no big deal.
They said Jan. 6 was instigated by undercover left-wing activists who were part of antifa. That was proved false.
They said the rioters hadn’t used force and one Republican congressman likened the events to “a normal tourist visit.” Video proved that wrong.
They claimed the attack on the Capitol had nothing to do with race, even though white supremacists and far-right militia groups were among the most active participants, and many rioters wore racist t-shirts.
They suggested the whole affair was staged by the government, a false flag operation. Others suggested it was entirely a peaceful protest. All of that was wrong.
They said that the rioters were political prisoners and shouldn’t face serious charges. A host of federal judges and courts have held otherwise.
So those are 5 “lies” of the year that are generalizations loosely attributed to Donald Trump and his supporters. Those aren’t specific lies and in fact aren’t lies at all:
Several members of Antifa, Black lives Matter, and other leftist groups were filmed inside the Capitol on January 6.
Capitol Police opened the door and welcomed protesters in.
Even Nancy Pelosi has yet to offer anything resembling evidence that the Capitol protests were racist.
There’s compelling video showing what looks to be government agents breaching the Capitol building. The January 6 protest was more peaceful than the violent George Floyd riots the liberal dubbed “Fiery but mostly peaceful.”
Nobody who has been arrested for January 6 has been charged with anything like insurrection and most of them have been hit with trespassing or illegal parading.
These non-specific lies are simply not true, but if Politifact is looking for some bullshit on January 6, they should have been focused on the democrats who tried to turn a minor protest into armageddon:
“This was a terror attack. 138 injured, almost 10 dead.” – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
“The violent domestic attack on Congress on January 6th was the worst assault on the Capitol since the War of 1812 & the worst domestic assault on American Democracy since the Civil War.” – Nancy Pelosi
“The first thing I should do as part of my briefings on the Capitol Bombing are briefings with Director Wray.” – Merrick Garland
“The Confederates, back then, never breached the Capitol as insurrectionists did on January 6th.” – Joe Biden
“Franklin Roosevelt set a day aside that will live in infamy. Unfortunately, we can now add January 6, 2021 to that very short list of dates in American history that will live forever in infamy.” – Chuck Schumer
3 people died on January 6 of natural causes and one unarmed Trump supporter was murdered by the Capitol Police. No cops died, there was very little damage, and no Member of Congress was ever close to being in danger. January 6 was not worse than than Pearl Harbor, 9/11, or the Civil War. It wasn’t even worse than Travis Scott’s Astroworld concert.
In one of the most meta-moments in fake news history, Politifact’s 2021 “Lie of the Year” is the actual lie of the year.
