I Am Responsible for the January 6 Coup Attempt

Scott and Paul have already talked about Turley’s diarrhea-flecked word salad today. But they missed the ending, where Turley blames me for creating the atmosphere that led to January 6. Here are the last three paragraphs of it:

Fired FBI director James Comey has been given to reckless rhetoric, too. He recently said: “The Republican Party needs to be burned down … It’s just not a healthy political organization.” Likewise, Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin declared that “We have to collectively, in essence, burn down the Republican Party. We have to level them because if there are survivors, if there are people who weather this storm, they will do it again.” Since the Republican National Committee was targeted with a pipe bomb on Jan. 6, would that constitute incitement to arson or violence? Not under Brandenburg.

Such rhetoric even extends to academics, who historically abhor violence. One professor recently called for more Trump supporters to be killed. Rhode Island Professor Erik Loomis, who writes for the site Lawyers, Guns, and Money, said he saw “nothing wrong” with the killing of a conservative protester — a view defended by other academics.

While they are not the president, the fact is that politicians, pundits and professors regularly engage in more direct, violent speech than what Trump said on Jan. 6. While certainly not responsible for the disgraceful riot in the Capitol, many of them remain accessories to stoking our politics of hate and division. Many of their statements have been defended as appropriate calls to action to combat great social injustice. The question is whether we want shifting majorities to decide whether a statement is inciteful or insightful — a dangerously fluid standard.

I take the blame. January 6 is my fault. I am responsible for the first coup attempt against the federal government in American history.

In conclusion, Jonathan Turley is a very serious thinker and his ideas are also very serious.