The leading GOP candidate for 2024 continues to rationalize political violence
There’s no mystery undergirding the death of Ashli Babbitt in the Capitol on Jan. 6. She was part of a large group of rioters who swept into the building with the aim of preventing the finalization of Joe Biden’s presidential election victory. During a brief moment when police officers stepped away from a barricaded door protecting an area through which legislators had been evacuated, rioters smashed a window and Babbitt began to climb through. A Capitol Police officer defending the area fired a single shot, fatally striking Babbitt.
And yet, in the months since that day, Babbitt’s death has become a catalyst for right-wing actors to reframe the day’s violence. Even supporters of Donald Trump were cautious in defending Babbitt’s actions immediately after the riot, but that caution has been abandoned. Her death is now presented as something akin to martyrdom, the most extreme example of how a nefarious government is lashing out at its political opponents. And central to this recasting of Babbitt and other Jan. 6 rioters as political targets is Trump himself.
“There was no reason Ashli should’ve lost her life that day,” Trump said in a recorded video aired at an event centered on her birthday last weekend. “We must all demand justice for Ashli and her family, so on this solemn occasion as we celebrate her life, we renew our call for a fair and nonpartisan investigation into the death of Ashli Babbitt.” He then offered his “unwavering support” to her family.
There was an investigation into Babbitt’s death, of course, one for which there’s no reason to assume any lack of fairness. It determined that the officer who shot her, Michael Byrd, acted appropriately.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/the-leading-gop-candidate-for-2024-continues-to-rationalize-political-violence/ar-AAPnITE
= new reply since forum marked as read
