A wide variety of Democratic members of Congress issued unflinching statements on the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack, including House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, who wrote that the insurrectionist riot “shook our Republic to its core.”
The California Democrat, who led the chamber on this day four years ago, added, “We must never forget the extraordinary courage of law enforcement officers on January 6th who stood in the breach and stared down the insurrectionists to protect the Capitol, the Congress and the Constitution.”
Pelosi’s intraparty successor, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, added that the “American people must never be allowed to forget the events” of Jan. 6. The New York Democrat went on to say that “history will always remember the attempted insurrection and we will never allow the violence that unfolded in plain sight to be whitewashed.”
The sentiments expressed by some of their GOP colleagues were … different.
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, for example, published an online statement that referred to Jan. 6 criminal suspects as “political prisoners,” adding that the rioters simply “protested an election … for a few hours.”
But to fully appreciate just how far some far-right members of Congress are willing to go, consider what Republican Rep. Mike Collins of Georgia published online on the fourth anniversary of the assault on the Capitol:
On #ThisDayInHistory in 2021, thousands of peaceful grandmothers gathered in Washington, D.C., to take a self-guided, albeit unauthorized, tour of the U.S. Capitol building. Earlier that day, President Trump held a rally, where supporters walked to the Capitol to peacefully protest the certification of the 2020 election. During this time, some individuals entered the Capitol, took photos, and explored the building before leaving.
It reads like a caricature of someone trying to make congressional Republicans appear foolish, but there was no indication that Collins was kidding or trying to promote a satirical perspective.
On the contrary, after describing the attack as a “self-guided … tour” — a phrase that dovetails nicely with Republican Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia’s description of the assault as a “normal tourist visit” in June 2021 — Collins added: “Since then, hundreds of peaceful protestors have been hunted down, arrested, held in solitary confinement, and treated unjustly. Countless hours and taxpayer dollars have been spent pursuing innocent grandmothers and raiding President Trump’s home, while terrorists and millions of illegal immigrants continue to cross our nation’s borders, causing havoc in our communities.”
The congressman concluded his bizarre missive by welcoming Jan. 6 pardons from Donald Trump. This is the same federal lawmaker who responded to the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, by complaining about “wokeness” at the Department of Transportation, and who wrote after an assassination attempt against Trump, “Joe Biden sent the orders.” Collins also is known for promoting a strangely edited photograph of Vice President-elect J.D. Vance and for responding to the story about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s reported brain worm by writing, “You either die a Kennedy with a hole in the brain or live long enough to become a Kennedy with a hole in the brain.” In the November election, Collins won re-election in his Georgia district with roughly 63% support.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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