It has gone from a partisan slogan to fake history: “Republicans are undermining democracy.”  Our own Nancy D’Alessandro Pelosi, Speaker of the House, may not have authored the line but is perpetuating it. But is her narrative undermining our Republic? 

Last week we were reminded somberly (and theatrically) of the so-called “insurrection” this nation witnessed on January 6th 2021 – an assault on our Capitol by disgruntled Trump supporters who disrupted the 2020 election certification.  The mastermind of this American version of England’s Guy Fawke’s Day, which celebrates the nixing of a plot to blow up the English Parliament in 1605, is Speaker Pelosi.  Complete with a candlelight vigil and a cameo performance of a song from Hamilton at the Capitol last Thursday, Pelosi announced that the ceremony was “about establishing and preserving a narrative of that day.”  Clearly, it is to be an annual event with her narrative embedded in our national memory. 

For the record, I denounced both Donald Trump and the Capitol invasion in my 1/10/21 blog.  I prefer he not run for office ever again and stop harping on the 2020 election.  However, he did not undermine democracy by holding a rally and legally challenging his loss.  Democrats challenged the Electoral College vote in 2017 and both Hillary Clinton and former president Jimmy Carter, as well as many in the media, continuously denounced Trump as an “illegal” president.  They spent four years undermining his presidency by pedaling a Russian conspiracy.  Their “peaceful” protests in 2020 were violent enough to send him into the presidential bunker one night. On another occasion, their inflammatory rhetoric led to the shooting of Italian American Congressman Steve Scalise (R-LA).

Nancy Pelosi never got over that election.  Before the shameful events of January 6th, the most shameful thing I witnessed was Pelosi shredding President Trump’s State of the Union speech on national television (right).  Her reason: it was a “manifesto of mistruths”, and it was “appropriate” to demonstrate her disdain behind his back.  The same lady who claimed to often pray for President Trump had this to say about the shredding: “and considering some of the other exuberances within me, [shredding] was the courteous thing to do.”  

January 6th was a godsend for Pelosi’s “exuberances.”  She managed to squeeze in a second impeachment of Trump on his way out and take control of the Capitol break-in narrative.  Winston Churchill protected his legacy by writing his version of WW II.  Nancy Pelosi has done him one better by undermining any other version of January 6th but hers.

She refused to seat two Republican appointees to the special House Committee investigating January 6th; instead she picked two Trump-hating Republicans so she could call it bipartisan.  She is demanding Trump’s presidential communications from that week and testimonies from all Trump aides.  But she refuses to provide her own communications with the House Sgt-at-Arms concerning security preparations prior to the break-in.  Nor will she allow the former Sgt-at-Arms or Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser to testify.

Trump claims he offered 10-20,000 National Guard troops to protect the Capitol prior to his rally on January 6th.  (The president can offer the troops but only a governor or mayor can accept them.)  Who undermined this enhanced security?  A report from the Defense Dept supposedly contains proof that Mayor Bowser refused the troops.  Will Pelosi request that proof?  Was Pelosi in this planning loop?

According to Reuters (20 August 2021) – “The FBI has found scant evidence that the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was the result of an organized plot to overturn the presidential election result, according to four current and former law enforcement officials. Though federal officials have arrested more than 570 alleged participants, the FBI at this point believes the violence was not centrally coordinated by far-right supporters of then-President Donald Trump, according to the sources, who have been either directly involved in or briefed regularly on the wide-ranging investigations.”

Will Pelosi’s committee investigate why a man named Ray Epps repeatedly harangued the Trump crowd to enter the Capitol on January 6th but has not been charged with any crime?  The videos clearly show him inciting a break-in.  How to explain his immunity from arrest when the FBI is charging people for mere trespass? Can we trust Pelosi to reveal the whole truth about January 6th?

She may very well be undermining our Republic as we watch. -JLM