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President BidenJoe BidenHouse Democratic campaign arm outraises GOP counterpart in final quarter of 2021 Putin's 'Brezhnev Doctrine' involving Ukraine could backfire Rising inflation adds pain to student loan debt MORE and Vice President Kamala HarrisKamala HarrisJoe Biden's disastrous 48 hours The Hill's Morning Report - For Biden, it goes from bad to worse Voting advocates focus on next steps after Biden speech MORE missed a unique opportunity to generate some much-needed national unity when they commemorated the one-year anniversary of Jan. 6, 2021.

They rightly recalled the disgraceful events of that dark day and characterized them correctly as an attack on American democracy, a deliberate attempt to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. The tragic irony is that most participants on the ground had been convinced by the apocalyptic urgings of former President TrumpDonald TrumpThe fates of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump Resolution to honor Capitol workers on Jan. 6 would have been voted down by Hawley, senator says Trump to rally supporters in Texas MORE and his coterie that they were the ones defending American democracy against an attempt to subvert it by forces on the left.

The unprecedented measures taken to enable voting during the pandemic provided fertile ground for conspiracy theorists and election losers to manipulate public opinion with charges of fraud. The arguments reflected a lack of faith in the integrity of U.S. institutions and the fundamental resilience of the American system. It was fed by Trumps own refusal to accept democracys self-correcting capacity through regular elections. For all the rioters claims of resisting tyranny, Jan. 6 resembled less a skirmish in the Revolutionary War than a foray during Americas Civil War. The display of Confederate flags showed that some of the Capitol invaders openly welcomed that comparison.

Trumps selfish intentions were actually foreshadowed less than 24 hours earlier when Georgia held an election for two Senate seats that would determine the fate of the Republicans 52-48 majority. If Trumps own doomsday rhetoric was to be believed, the fate of the republic was at stake on Jan. 5, 2021, every bit as much as on Nov. 3, 2020 even more so because by then the House of Representatives and the White House were already destined to be in the hands of progressive Democrats.

Yet, instead of rallying Georgias Republicans to reelect at least one of their GOP senators and keep control of the Senate, Trump spent most of his speech again bemoaning his Nov. 3 loss and the alleged fatal flaws in Georgias election process. He managed to depress enough of the Republican vote to squander both seats and give Democrats control of the U.S. Senate.

Trump followed up his Georgia fiasco by repeating his subversion of Republican prospects in Virginias gubernatorial election last November. He questioned GOP candidate Glenn YoungkinGlenn Youngkin150 ex-EPA staffers ask Virginia lawmakers to oppose Wheeler nomination Republicans: Be optimistic, but not complacent Biden seeks to avoid referendum with sharp attacks on GOP MOREs devotion to the MAGA cause, and thus his electoral suitability, and even calledon Republicans to boycott the 2022 and 2024 elections if his 2020 defeat was not retroactively undone.

After Youngkin won, despite Trumps belated and counterproductive endorsement, and Trump took credit anyway, he circled back to his Georgia obsession. He gratuitously observed that progressive Democrat Stacey Abrams would have been a better governor than Republican

Brian KempBrian KempStacey Abrams's shocking snub of Biden, Harris signals possible 2024 aspirations Kemp pads out campaign war chest ahead of tough reelection bid The hero of Jan. 6 whose name must not be spoken MORE, who defeated her in 2018 and refused to obey Trumps directive to overturn Bidens 2020 victory. Trump is now supporting a primary challenge to Kemps reelection by the same Sonny PerdueSonny PerdueThe hero of Jan. 6 whose name must not be spoken With soaring demand for meat, it's time to fund animal-free protein research Perdue on possible run for Georgia governor: 'I'm concerned about the state of our state' MORE whose Senate reelection defeat he helped cause.

Trumps betrayal of the Republican Party pales in significance to his attempted subversion of the U.S. Constitution on Jan. 6, which Biden and Harris greatly relished in reliving and inappropriately linked to todays Democratic legislative agenda. But they failed to offer a well-earned grace note that would have gone a long way to advance the nations healing.

Harris recalled the resolve I saw in our elected leaders when I returned to the Senate chamber that night not to yield but to certify the election; their loyalty not to party or person but to the Constitution of the United States. She did not mention the name of the one person most exemplary of that resolve former Vice President Mike PenceMichael (Mike) Richard PenceMcCarthy says he won't cooperate with 'illegitimate' Jan. 6 probe Jan. 6 panel asks McCarthy to cooperate Majority in new poll backs reforming law Trump tried to use to subvert Electoral College MORE, who was uniquely targeted by the rioters and positioned to submit to or defy their unconstitutional demands. He alone held the power to further disrupt, or to restore, the constitutional process. Despite all the pressure from Trump and his allies, Pence refused to abandon or subvert his constitutional responsibilities.

Harris likened Jan. 6 to other traumatic dates in modern U.S. history Dec. 7, 1941, and Sept. 11, 2001. But she might also have included Nov. 22, 1963, April 30, 1968, and June 4, 1968, when John KennedyJohn Neely KennedyMORE, Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, respectively, were assassinated for political reasons. Some of the Capitol invaders were quite explicit in their own murderous intentions, shouting Hang Mike Pence, while, as Biden said, literally erecting gallows to hang the vice president. Pence did not flinch.and the words Harris used when she introduced Biden a public servant with the character and fortitude to meet this moment could well have been used to describe Pences unwavering stand.

Bidens speech made a passing reference to some courageous men and women in the Republican Party trying to uphold the principle of that party, but like Harris, he failed to credit Pence for his brave defense of the Constitution. Biden could have reminded the country that just as he performed his vice presidential duty in 2016 and declared Trumps electoral victory over Hillary ClintonHillary Diane Rodham ClintonNYT columnist floats Biden-Cheney ticket in 2024 Centrist Democrats urge progressives to tamp down rhetoric Stacey Abrams's shocking snub of Biden, Harris signals possible 2024 aspirations MORE, Pence carried out his constitutional responsibility to ensure a peaceful transfer of power. Biden and Harris could have noted that no vice president in the history of the nation has had to perform that normally routine function under more difficult and extreme circumstances, with intense pressure not only from a mob threatening his life but also from the president himself.

Oddly, Biden instead seemed to claim personal credit for the stand that Pence took, as if he, rather than Pence, had been the man in the arena on Jan. 6: I did not seek this fight brought to this Capitol one year ago today, but I will not shrink from it either. I will stand in this breach. I will defend this nation. Thats what Pence actually did.

Biden stated: To me, the true patriots are the heroes who defended this Capitol. Congressmen,

Democrats, Republicans stayed. Senators, representatives, staff they finished their work the Constitution demanded. They honored their oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Chief among them was the unmentioned Vice President Mike Pence. Biden and Harris would have served the country well had they singled him out for special appreciation. But like some of the Trump bitter-enders to whom Pence is now anathema, his name is not to be uttered.

Joseph Bosco served as China country director for the secretary of Defense from 2005 to 2006 and as Asia-Pacific director of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief from 2009 to 2010. He is a nonresident fellow at the Institute for Corean-American Studies and a member of the advisory board of the Global Taiwan Institute. Follow him on Twitter @BoscoJosephA.

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The hero of Jan. 6 whose name must not be spoken | TheHill - The Hill

Donald Trump must have awoken on the morning of Jan. 6 last year with a terrible sense of foreboding. It was the day his nemesis, Joe Biden, was scheduled to be certified as the winner of the presidential election. He had spent two whole months, November and December, trying to forestall what was going to happen that day. We now know from reporting on the period after the election that he didn't do anything except play golf and talk to his outside lawyers, like Rudy Giuliani, and outside advisers, like Steve Bannon, about possible ways the results of the election could be overturned.

He spoke with Bannon on Dec. 29 from Mar-a-Lago. Bannon told Trump he had to return from Florida and be present in Washington to prepare the ground for what they had planned for Jan. 6. This meant he would have to skip his big annual New Year's Eve celebration at his club in Palm Springs, no small matter in the world of Donald Trump, who loves to be surrounded with adoring fans who have paid big money to be in his presence. But Bannon pushed him and pushed him hard. He had to work on Mike Pence. He had to pay attention to the memos written by another of his outside lawyers, John Eastman, laying out in two scenarios how Pence who would preside over the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6 could refuse to certify the electoral votes from battleground states and throw the election into the House of Representatives, where, as one memo delightedly declares, in all caps, "TRUMP WINS."

Trump had been after Pence to help him overturn the election for weeks. On Jan. 5, he cornered Pence in the Oval Office and called Eastman, who was in the "war room" in the Willard Hotel across the street, and the two of them pressured Pence to refuse to certify enough electoral ballots from states like Arizona and Pennsylvania and Michigan such that neither Trump nor Biden, would have achieved the 270 electoral votes necessary to win. Supposedly, in that scenario, the ballots would be returned to the states where the Republican-led legislatures would convene and appoint new slates of electors and, again in all caps, "TRUMP WINS."

RELATED:Ex-Trump aide Peter Navarro says 100 House members were "ready" to carry out election coup

According to Bob Woodward and Robert Costa's book "Peril," which uncovered the Eastman memos and provides the bulk of the reporting on what transpired between Trump and Pence, the vice president demurred during that Jan. 5 Oval Office meeting with Trump. The next morning, Pence spoke to the conservative retired judge J. Michael Luttig, who had been Eastman's boss in the Justice Department, about a letter he would release later that day. Following the legal advice of Luttig, as well as that of another conservative lawyer, John Yoo, Pence wrote that "my considered judgement [is] that my oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not."

According to "Peril," Pence remained at the vice president's residence in the Naval Observatory on the morning of the 6th and did not go to the White House. Trump had begun tweeting veiled threats directed at Pence at 1 a.m. and continued at 8:17 a.m. with this: "All Mike Pence has to do is send them back to the States, AND WE WIN. Do it Mike, this is a time for extreme courage!" But Pence went straight from his home to the Capitol, leaving Trump in the Oval Office making his final preparations for the rally on the Ellipse, which he had advertised with a December tweet: "Be there. Will be wild!"

Woodward and Costa made a valedictory tour of the cable shows on Thursday, appearing on "Morning Joe" and later the same day on "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell." Woodward displayed his own copy of the Eastman memos on the air and referred several times to another sheaf of papers he described as a file of research from the office of Sen. Lindsey Graham that showed no evidence whatsoever of election fraud. Liz Cheney appeared on CNN, telling Jake Tapper: "'The president of the United States is responsible for ensuring the laws are faithfully executed; he's responsible for the security of the branches.So for the president to, either through his action or inaction, for example, attempt to impede or obstruct the counting of electoral votes, which is an official function of Congress, the committee is looking at that, whether what he did constitutes that kind of a crime. But certainly it's dereliction of duty."

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Cheney has talked about possible crimes committed by Trump on or around Jan. 6 before, but it was Woodward's appearance on MSNBC that really caught my attention. I've been a sort of Woodward tea-leaf reader since the Watergate days, throughout his various tomes on presidents as the years have passed. What has always amazed me about Woodward has been his almost congenital refusal to draw conclusions from the extensive reporting he's done on presidents and their administrations. He'll interview them and come up with extraordinary quotes and documentary evidence, but all he ever does is present it without comment. He has been called a "stenographer" for good reason, because of his reluctance or outright refusal to analyze or draw conclusions from some of the groundbreaking revelations he has reported over the years.

But not this week. Brandishing handfuls of documents and looking as animated as I've ever seen him, Woodward made repeated charges that what Trump had done in attempting to overthrow the election of 2020 was "a crime against the Constitution." I'm not going to review my Woodward library on a quote-hunt, but I'm pretty sure it's the first time I've ever heard him accuse a president or former president of a crime.

I'm dwelling on Woodward's recent appearances on television for a reason. Ever since his famous work on Watergate, he has made a point of not reporting anything unless he's confirmed it with multiple sources or has seen it written in a document he has in his possession. For that reason, Woodward has always known a lot more than he has written. He's not necessarily withholding information from his readers, he is simply meticulous about what he feels he can report as true and what he can't. In his appearances on television, he always seems beyond buttoned-up. He's clearly a guy who's not just careful about what he says, but obsessively so.

Not on the anniversary of Jan. 6. Bob Woodward looked like he was about to burst, holding out his sheafs of documents like they were tablets that had been passed down to him on a mountain. Woodward is reticent. He is careful. But he also reflects very accurately what the Washington establishment is thinking and talking about amongst themselves the behind the scenes chatter of the "permanent government," if you will.

Watching him on TV and reading my Bob Woodward tea leaves, it looked to me on Thursday that he has heard talk from friends and sources amounting to more than rumor that Trump is going to end up charged with a felony, or multiple felonies. He made clear that he thinks the House Jan. 6 committee is being thorough, almost to a fault, in the way they're going about their investigation of the events before, during and after the day itself. Woodward is a Washington Whisperer par excellence. He's been at it for almost 50 years. He is one of the least excitable guys I've ever met. But on Thursday, as he was being interviewed by Lawrence O'Donnell, he looked like he was about to levitate out of his chair.

That's why for Donald Trump, Jan. 6 this year was even worse than Jan. 6 last year. As Richard Nixon discovered, when Bob Woodward says you're in trouble, you've really got something to worry about.

Will the wheels of justice ever catch up with Donald Trump?:

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Donald Trump should be very afraid: This anniversary was not good news for him - Salon

The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set newsroom policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or onbangordailynews.com.

Phil: How did Jan. 6 become so divisive?

Ethan: You mean like how come almost every single Republican in the Maine House of Representatives voted against commemorating the anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection?

Phil: Rather, how Vice President Kamala Harris used the anniversary to compare thousands killed at Pearl Harbor and 9/11 to an event where five people died. And the only death on Jan. 6 found to be a homicide was an unarmed American woman who was killed by a Capitol Police officer.

Ethan: Harris didnt compare the deaths, she compared the attacks on our democracy and the legacy they hold in our collective and individual memories.

Phil: House Republicans didnt vote against commemorating Jan 6. They objected to the incendiary language in the resolution. If Senate President Troy Jackson sincerely wanted to bring the Legislature together, he could have spent more time working to get Republicans to co-sponsor the resolve and he would not have called the Jan. 6 protesters domestic terrorists.

Ethan: What would you rather we call them?

Phil: Rioters, trespassers, the crimes they have actually been charged with. Just as we should be calling all rioters not peaceful protesters anywhere in America.

Ethan: Please dont tell me you are among the fringe who claim individuals committing arson is the same as a mob trying to overthrow our government?

Phil: I am among those who see a problem with then-U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris encouraging people to bail out rioters in Minnesota but not in Washington, D.C.

Ethan: Except she didnt. She solicited people to help post bonds for low-income protesters. Very few of them were tied to the riots (maybe two), but Im confident every person who broke into the Capitol was committing domestic terrorism. According to the Patriot Act, Domestic Terrorism is a criminal act occurring within the United States that is intended to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; [and/or] affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction. That sure describes what happened at the Capitol that day.

Phil: They were almost entirely gun-free activists believing the election was fraught with irregularities and that Vice President Mike Pence actually could have overturned the election.

Ethan: It was actually former President Donald Trump who believed those things. They just followed his lead.

Phil: The protesters should not be charged as a terrorists for speaking their mind, or trying to steal a lectern, or for perching their feet upon Speaker Nancy Pelosis desk. All unbecoming, but miniscule in comparison to flying planes into buildings or blowing up sleeping soldiers at a U.S. Naval Base.

Ethan: Look, I understand your point that the loss of life on Dec. 7, 1941, and Sept . 11, 2001, not to mention the sacrifices made in the wars that followed, are uniquely powerful. But, can you at least acknowledge that what happened a year ago is uniquely significant in American history? Not since the War of 1812 has our Capitol been violently besieged, and never has a legitimate election been threatened like this.

Phil: Sure. But when put into context, approximately 75 people out of thousands have been charged for using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer. The rest, approximately 640, are summoned for entering or remaining in a restricted area.

Ethan: Unfortunately, that is wrong. Hundreds have been charged with assault, destruction of or stealing government property, obstructing government operations, etc. But I am not sure why the number of people matters. Only 19 flew the actual planes on 9/11 and approximately 350 pilots initially attacked Pearl Harbor. Whereas 2,000 to 2,500 attacked our Capitol.

Phil: Because equal justice for rioters, wherever they create mayhem, matters.

Ethan: So does the truth.

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Former Vice President Mike Pence has reportedly promised to support incumbent Republican governors against their Trump-backed challengers.

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Pence made the comments to the Republican Governors Association in a private speech this week.

"I want to be clear," Pence said. "I'm going to be supporting incumbent Republican governors."

About half of the 16 Republican governors up for re-election next year are facing primary challenges from opponents endorsed by Former President Donald Trump or otherwise inspired by him, the paper reported.

Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich told the Journal that the former president will remain an "active and defining voice in gubernatorial races" to challenge "radical Democrats" and "weak Republicans."

"Just like in cycles previous, successful Republican candidates must earn the support of President Donald J. Trump."

For next year's gubernatorial races, Trump has endorsed Idaho challenger Janice McGeachin who he called a "true supporter of MAGA," and Massachusetts challenger Geoff Diehl, who he described as "a true patriot."

He has criticized Massachusetts' incumbent governor Charlie Baker, who he called a RINO a "Republican in Name Only."

The former president has regularly lashed out at members of the Republican establishment who he feels have not been supportive enough of him.

He has vowed to oust "disloyal" Republican lawmakers who voted against him in his second impeachment trial and has reportedly sought to depose Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.

Despite Trump still holding sway over the Republican Party, several GOP governors have decided they are better off giving priority to local issues and constitutional obligations than blindly supporting the former president, the Journal's report said.

Pence's promise to support incumbent Republican governors could signify a deepening rift with his former boss.

During Trump's tenure, the vice president never broke ranks with his boss or spoke out publicly against him.

A split between the two emerged following the January 6 Capitol attack, which Pence has said he and Trump might never "see eye to eye on."

Trump had publicly railed at his vice-president for not having the "courage" to reject the results of the 2020 election.

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Mike Pence backs incumbent GOP governors battling Trump challengers: report - Business Insider

AOC and Rep. Jamie Raskin made a livestream of their reactions to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's interminable speech about how bad the infrastructure bill is. They zeroed in on the rouge's gallery of Trump cultists flanking McCarthy as he bloviated, including Rep. Greg Pence of Indiana, who proudly aligns himself with the bloodthirsty fanatics who demanded to execute his brother on the capitol steps earlier this year.

Choice quotes:

AOC: "Here we have Representative Clyde, who said that January 6th was a collection of tourists. Meanwhile, I heard that he was crying like a little baby on the day that it was happening."

Raskin: "Are you moved by the fact that Vice President Pence's brother is sitting next to a group of people who defend the insurrectionists who were chanting 'Hang Mike Pence!'"

AOC: "I mean, you have Ted Cruz, that the President humiliates his family. And he goes to bat for him. And then you have this man, sitting next to people who were encouraging folks who literally wanted to harm his own family. I don't understand it. I don't understand it. But I mean, hey. Anywho this man clearly will not stop talking, but has nothing to say."

Full transcript:

Raskin[McCarthy's] more upset about climate action, and universal pre-K and Medicare-covering hearing than he is about his own guy, Gosar, creating a violent homicidal cartoon that he put up on the internet and refused to take down for you. And they're really upset, because we censured him for it yesterday. And I heard you made a beautiful speech yesterday, and I missed it. But I'm gonna check it out tonight after I hear this one of the greatest speeches in American history. I mean, not since the Gettysburg Address. Has America witnessed a speech like this?

AOCI mean, the Gettysburg address was elegant and brief.

RaskinYou could fit 100 and maybe 20 Gettysburg addresses in what he has done already.

AOCLet's look at let's re examine this peanut gallery right over here. Okay, ready? All right, this right here, Mike Pence's brother, also a member of Congress. I mean, you know, whatever. Okay. Here we have Representative Clyde, who said that January 6th was a collection of tourists. Meanwhile, I heard that he was crying like a little baby on the day that it was happening. Um, and I mean look at all this folks, again, stunning diversity in the House Republican caucus. And then of course, we have their leader. So you know, I mean

RaskinWell, but are you moved by the fact that Vice President Pence's brother is sitting next to a group of people who defend the insurrectionists who were chanting "Hang Mike Pence!"

AOCI mean, you have Ted Cruz, that the President humiliates his family. And he goes to bat for him. And then you have this man, sitting next to people who were encouraging folks who literally wanted to harm his own family. I don't understand it. I don't understand it. But I mean, hey. Anywho this man clearly will not stop talking, but has nothing to say.

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AOC and Jamie Raskin livestreamed their reaction to seeing Mike Pence's brother proudly standing beside Jan 6 riot enablers - Boing Boing