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Co-hosts Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman discuss the insurrection and how it's changed over the course of a year. The Republicans continue to rewrite history while Joe Biden continues to reach across this mythical aisle, which is exactly that - a ridiculous myth. Then they discuss Don't Look Up and how well it captures the current political and cultural zeitgeist.
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Welcome to the Weekender Edition of the Muckrake Podcast.
I'm Jared Yates Sexton.
I'm opening a beer, and I want to tell everybody most of the time, this is performative.
It's a bit.
It's a way to open the thing.
Welcome in the weekend.
Today, January 6th, the one year anniversary of the attempted coup.
It is necessary.
I've been pissed off by the whole thing all day.
How are you, Nick?
You know, I've been pretty good, you know, reflecting about where I was a year ago now.
But, you know, I keep myself busy.
What's the thing?
Idle hands?
Something other about the devil?
I don't know, but that's how I am today.
Yeah, you know, it's actually funny you say that where we were a year ago.
I remember us doing like the emergency podcast to talk about this thing.
We, of course, had our patrons to come and sort of share in the moment.
of that.
Reminder for anybody listening to the preview, go over to patreon.com slash punkregg podcast.
You can be involved in that stuff, too.
I just remember, you know, and we'll get we'll get into the anniversary stuff today, but I just remember being not just pissed off, but just being like, here it is.
Most of us who paid attention to this knew that this was coming, that this was this was a possibility.
And in a way, that's A little bit how I feel again today because America continues not to learn its lessons, it continues not to look at itself in the mirror, think about things, put things into context, and as a result we're almost damned to repeat it again unless we can figure this shit out.
Oh, I think I was afraid.
I remember being literally scared on that day.
And then, you know, also anticipating a lot more violence that would spread across different, you know, local capitals and whatnot.
And that luckily didn't happen.
But I know we talked about it probably on that show where it seemed perfectly reasonable to think that they were going to then plan more of these, which is still reasonable to assume that they're going to do that, which is what's so frightening about it.
I don't know.
I think there was some encouragement right around that time that the Republicans were going to finally call it like it is.
And we had some, you know, blips of that.
But man, oh man, gracious sakes alive, Jared, have you been looking at what the Republicans have been saying today?
I, you know, I had a moment and we'll get to Joe Biden's speech in a second because there's some real problems there.
I stopped looking at what the Republicans were saying.
One, when Lindsey Graham had the temerity to say that Joe Biden was politicizing January 6th, which Incredible.
That's incredible.
That's like really, really incredible stuff.
And then of course when it started going around that multiple Republican parties around the country are holding anniversary parties, fundraisers, They're calling it a protest.
You name it.
So I kind of, for my own sort of mental health and well-being, I had to tune it out.
What are the good people of the Republican Party saying today?
Well, I'm glad that you brought up Lindsey Graham, your friend and mine, who we've talked about on the show before, but he laid out a pretty interesting thread.
Oh!
Lindsey Graham wrote a thread today.
Oh, I can't wait.
This is great.
I mean, would you like me to read it?
It wouldn't take that long.
I'm just gonna sit here, I'm gonna drink my beer, I'm just gonna enjoy this.
This is great.
This is my Rachel Maddow impersonation.
I get to read the transcript of Lindsey Graham's tweets.
I still cannot believe a mob was able to take over the United States Capitol during such a pivotal moment certifying a presidential election.
It would have been so easy for terrorists to bootstrap onto this protest and wreak even further destruction on the U.S.
Capitol.
Shut up, that's what he said.
Yeah, how's that for like a pivot here, right?
We're thinking, okay, he's got it, he understands it, he's criticized Trump before, it's just great.
But this really kind of feels like a slam on just on the security of the whole thing, right?
Oh my God.
So basically what happened is that Lindsey Graham took an attack on American democracy And somehow or another took a very real, tangible thing that he was a part of and turned it into a pretend tragedy?
Well, he sort of turned it into a thing like, gosh, it would have been worse if terrorists had decided to come in.
Now, if he's worried about terrorists bootstrapping onto what was there, then what do we consider the people that were there?
Because aren't those the people who are basically terrorists?
Well, and I'm glad that you brought that up because one of the things that I've been paying attention to, which undoubtedly you and I are going to talk about in the near future, is I've been unfortunately paying attention to what's going on with Steve Bannon, one of the people who helped organize this thing, push this thing.
And lately he's been having Marjorie Taylor Greene on his show.
They've been talking.
And for the record, by the way, she cannot keep up with people.
Like, say what you want about Steve Bannon.
The guy is smart.
Marjorie Taylor Greene can't keep up.
And in fact, it's obvious that Bannon understands that and just kind of sees her as a celebrity and maybe a possible pawn to use on the chessboard.
And they were getting into their two favorite targets at this point.
One is Ted Cruz, who has now said that the January 6th insurrectionists were terrorists.
And also Dan Crenshaw, which goes back to what you and I were talking about a little while back, which is this weird split that's happening between the Marjorie Taylor Greene Patriot Caucus and this militant conservativism It gets better.
Or worse.
I'm not sure.
Depending on your point of view.
Stop it.
No.
Time out.
Stop it.
That is not something that Lindsey Graham typed out.
That's not true.
start laying the groundwork in terms of what is terrorism and what isn't.
That's great.
It gets better or worse.
I'm not sure.
Depending on your point of view.
The next tweet is, regardless of the reason for the assault on the Capitol.
Stop it.
No, time out.
Stop it.
That is not something that Lindsey Graham typed out.
That's not true.
Really?
It kind of feels like his fingers are out.
Can you read that one more time?
And just let it breathe.
Yeah.
It's a really great... What's it called?
You're the English professor.
Beginning phrase of a sentence.
What's it?
A German?
A preposition.
Preposition.
Whatever that.
Prepositional phrase.
He goes, regardless of the reason for the assault on the Capitol, We're all trying to figure out who did this.
We don't even need to get into that.
Why are we parsing hairs here?
Jared, it's immaterial.
It's moot.
To lose control in such a fashion 20 years after 9-11 is stunning.
Now this is some he's doing some lifting here man like he's got he's been training for this for years to be able to balance all these he's now folded in terrorists and 9-11 into this and like he's outraged that we can have an assault because supposedly the 9-11 attacks on the on the World Trade Center in the Pentagon should have meant we would have had a more security right this is all I'm getting from this.
- He is out jousting with windmills at this point.
That's incredible.
And you know the thing about it, I was doing research on this for the book today, like the immediate aftermath of January 6th.
And I don't know if you remember this, but as Ted Cruz and Howley and those people were contesting the electoral results, Lindsey Graham stood up after the attempted coup and said, "I've had enough." Me and Donald Trump have been on a journey together.
I feel terrible that this is how this ends, but enough is enough.
Look at this little worm.
Oh yeah.
McConnell also was a part of that and laid it out.
It's amazing what a little bit of courage and adrenaline can do for, you know, a moment.
But apparently it takes a year for that to go off.
You know, the AB testing came in and they realized they needed to choose B. Now, the next tweet is, those who defiled the Capitol on January 6th are being prosecuted as they should be.
I have consistently condemned the attack and have urged that those involved be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Okay.
Do you know what this is like?
Remember in Animal House when John Belushi, they're on their way to kill the, well, they're not going to kill the horse, but they're bringing the horse into the dean's office, remember this scene?
And he's bouncing on his toes and he's looking around like he's on a mission.
This is what I picture Lindsey Graham, like he's jumping back and forth, he's looking around, he's ducking around corners, making sure no one sees him.
You know what's amazing about this?
He doesn't have to tweet this.
No one's asking him to do this.
No one is making him do it.
You can just, and this is a great piece of advice, you can just not tweet this.
You can just not do it.
That's a decision you can make.
Yeah, for a lot of things.
For him.
Now, I hold the same views of those who attacked the federal courthouse in Portland, Oregon, and committed other acts of violence throughout our nation.
So, you know, we gotta fold in BLM in here, right?
Oh, we gotta make sure we talk about, you know, what's happening there.
It's a master class, really, in whataboutism, I suppose.
It's more.
I'll get through it quickly.
Those responsible for Capitol security, including our political leaders, must also be held accountable.
We still do not know who planted pipe bombs on Capitol Hill on the night of January 5th.
We still do not know why our Capitol was not adequately defended before President Trump spoke.
We know this.
We know the second part, don't we?
Yeah!
Yeah, yeah, yes, yes, we know that.
It's funny he mentioned the name of the guy who's responsible, Donald Trump.
Yeah, he's the only one.
McConnell wouldn't mention him.
Biden doesn't mention his name.
We know the reporting, and it's not been disputed, is that they didn't want to bring the National Guard in because they were afraid that Trump was going to take it over and then literally stop the certification of the votes, right?
Because they literally wanted to create a crisis in which these right-wing insurrectionists, these Trump supporters, and extremists, by the way, we're talking about accelerationists who are looking to destroy the country as we know it, That they would come into a clash with left-wing protesters that they assumed would show up.
They wanted that altercation.
They set it up in order for that to happen.
There's a reason why there was not a security presence there because they wanted to create a condition in which either that conflict could happen or people could intimidate lawmakers like Mike Pence and everybody there to certify the electoral vote.
Like this isn't, it's not even a Scooby-Doo mystery.
Well, hey, Lindsey wants to get to the bottom of that, Jared.
You know what I mean?
You know, like, when you're little and you watch Scooby-Doo, like, there's a little bit of mystery about what's happening, but, like, when you're an adult, you're like, oh, it's obviously the guy who runs, like, the haunted amusement park.
Like, that's obviously the guy who did it.
This, this is not even something that, like, Like Scrappy-Doo would have a problem with.
It's a pathetic attempt by people like Lindsey Graham to continue pretending like this thing isn't understandable or isn't obvious what happened.
Well, I just want to thank you because the words Scrappy-Doo have not entered my brain in so long.
It's like I haven't even considered.
There's another one of them too, right?
Isn't there another dog?
There's Scooby and Scrappy and there's a young pup.
Anyway, we'll go on to the next one.
We owe a great debt of gratitude and appreciation to the Capitol Police officers who bravely risked their lives to protect the Capitol.
They were placed in a terrible position without adequate reinforcements, but did their best to protect an overwhelmed Capitol.
Now remember, the context of this one is that a family member of one of the police officers who was in a Well, I want to make this very, very clear about Lindsey Graham.
committee hearing about what happened.
Lindsey Graham was not listening.
He seemed bored.
He seemed impatient and not interested in hearing the testimony of these people.
So he had to get it in there, right?
He had to make sure that people knew that he was, you know, owed a gratitude to the Capitol Police.
Well, I want to make this very, very clear about Lindsey Graham.
Lindsey Graham is absolutely divorced from what is happening within the current Republican Party.
He's completely divorced from what is happening within the conservative movement, this anti-democratic movement, this authoritarian movement.
He plays a role occasionally because he's in power, because he pals around with Donald Trump, who also, I don't actually think he understands what's going on right now.
It just so happens that he was at the front of this, he was a very good strongman, you know, a bull in the china shop who could take care of this stuff.
Everything that Lindsey Graham is saying at this point is literally a person who was complicit And is trying to make himself feel better.
Like, what an amount of delusion that you just went through.
He literally, in his addled brain, Nick, is still trying to fight the war on terror, which last time I checked is technically over.
It's still going on, apparently, and around the world with drones and also Lindsay's head.
That is so nonsensical, but also a perfect encapsulation of what like a modern mainstream Republican probably is trying to do within their own mind palace within this whole thing.
You know, we should start a new podcast where I just kind of read Twitter threads and you just respond.
I can't do it.
I can't do it.
I feel like, I feel like my stomach, my stomach would just destroy itself with ulcers.
I couldn't, I could not possibly live in that universe.
By the same token, I want to point out, today was one of those days, and again, we are taping this on January 6th.
All day long, man, I paid attention to this stuff.
I watched The Ceremonies.
I don't know.
Did you turn on cable news?
Did you turn on any of that?
I did not.
Nick, they had special sets.
They had special graphics.
It was a big day.
It's almost, and this is what America does for anybody who thinks about this, they turn it into a Super Bowl type situation.
Yeah.
9-11 is the exact same thing.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, we need a January 6th board game to come out.
Yeah, exactly.
So it's already being commodified.
It's already being turned into this thing.
Meanwhile, and again, we gotta get into the Biden speech here in a second, but before we do, Pelosi's having Lin-Manuel Miranda and the people from Hamilton sing a song.
We're already there.
There's gonna be mattress sales within a year or two.
There's gonna be January 6th sales on Wayfair.
Already, the way that this country has digested this shit, and exported it out and already stripped everything of meaning and reality and everything that we need to learn from it.
The way that this country wrestles with this stuff, I actually think that Lindsey Graham thread is really indicative of how we deal with this stuff.
We turn it into a story, we send it wherever we want, and we go ahead and we make ourselves the heroes of it, we pontificate about it, and the cognitive dissonance that takes place in not just that thread, but the way America deals with this stuff, I mean, it's torturous.
Well, with respects to Lin-Manuel Miranda singing with the Hamilton cast, I mean, our country has a rich history of singing during insurrections, don't we?
Oh, my God!
We've got to have that broadcast.
Interestingly enough, because it was a great segue, you know, Lindsey's next tweet was about, you know, the speech.
He says, finally, President Biden and Vice President Harris' speeches today were an effort to resurrect a failed presidency more than marking the anniversary of a dark day in American history.
So that's a nice kickoff to how you want to talk about what Biden said.
I'm not sure he could win in this situation, right?
Like, other than just simply not have a big pomp and circumstance around this day.
Well, OK, so I think it's... I think what you just said needs to be highlighted for a second.
Win.
Right?
Because so much of our politics has turned into who wins a cycle?
Right.
And you know, we talk about this, so let's get into it for just a second.
If you've been paying attention to the Biden presidency so far, notice what's happened, right?
He comes in, And he's heralded as a new beginning, right?
Right after January 6th, we turn the page.
I know things were bad for a second, but the bad man is gone.
The adults are back.
Everything's gonna be fine.
Everything's gonna be great.
John Legend out on the mall.
You know what I'm talking about?
Like the big show that we're talking about.
So he gets in and like he gets a couple of victories.
There's a couple of things that happen.
Everyone's like, oh my god, we're back to normal.
Everything's great.
Then, of course, we hit a brick wall in the form of neoliberals in the Senate and neoliberals in the Democratic Party.
And all of a sudden, it's like, oh, my God, this presidency has failed.
There's nothing that could possibly happen.
Then all of a sudden, oh, we passed something.
Oh, we didn't pass.
It's the up and down of the media narrative.
It's about winning cycles almost, right?
In this case, the speech that Joe Biden gave today to mark January 6th, It was not a speech about January 6th, although it was, right?
It was a political speech about January 6th.
It was a campaign speech about January 6th.
Why?
Because President Joe Biden is probably going to run against Donald Trump for the presidency in 2024, right?
This is part of a larger narrative to go ahead.
And who caused January 6th?
Well, we're being told today it's Donald Trump.
And though Donald Trump played a major part in this whole thing, that's not the whole story of what happened on January 6th.
That's not how we got there.
That's not everyone who's responsible.
That speech... Can I read you a quick little line here, Nick?
Please.
I don't want to read you, but I want to hear your line.
This is a speech from Biden's speech.
Of course, he refers to the former president, which, by the way, is a social media tick.
You know what I'm talking about?
That's what people do on social media.
They don't want to type Donald Trump, so they say, former guy or former president.
They don't want to type it.
That right there is a signal to people.
It's like, I get you.
We're on the same wavelength.
With his bruised ego.
Yes, that did play into January 6th, but that's not everything that happened.
He then says about the Republican Party.
They, quote unquote, seem to no longer want to be the party of... Are you ready, Nick?
Are you ready?
Yeah, I'm ready.
They seem no longer to want to be the party of Lincoln.
Eisenhower.
Are you holding on to your seat?
Uh-huh.
Because it's about to get bumpy.
Your friend and mine.
Ronald Reagan.
And let's finish it out.
The Bushes.
He says, the Bushes.
So for everyone who wants to keep track, Ronald Reagan, of course, has caused ungodly amounts of human suffering, plus also radicalization within this country.
George H.W.
Bush handed this over to a neoliberal regime that Reagan basically fronted.
And George W. Bush is responsible for the death of probably 500,000 human beings, the War on Terror, which Is one of the main things that led us to here.
Meanwhile, the Democrats are patting Liz Cheney and Dick Cheney's back and saying, welcome to the party.
Let's go.
It is a complete amnesiac story that doesn't even touch on how things got to this point at all.
It's a political campaign story, but it has nothing to do with the actual reality of what is occurring on the ground.
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