Jan 6 was, according to White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, “the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer explained that the riot of Jan 6 was a “violent insurrection.” And in order to preserve democracy, Schumer stated, Fox News should take Tucker Carlson off the air.
What, pray tell, did Carlson do that merited the Senate Majority Leader calling for his silencing? After House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., granted him access to some 41,000 hours of as-yet-unreleased footage from Jan 6, he aired a special in which he disclosed two particularly pertinent pieces of tape: first, tape showing Capitol Police apparently walking alongside the QAnon Shaman, Jacob Chansley, through the hallways; second, tape showing Officer Brian Sicknick gesturing animatedly to fellow officers after he had already been attacked by the crowd outside.
Carlson seemed to downplay the violence of the day based on the tape. He said, “A small percentage of them were hooligans. But the overwhelming majority weren’t. They were peaceful. They were orderly and meek. These were not insurrectionists — they were sightseers.”
Now, to be certain, a riot took place on Jan 6. In that riot, dozens of officers were injured; some 1,000 people were arrested. But Carlson isn’t wrong that tape appears to show some of the people in the Capitol wandering around aimlessly, not violently, or that the media’s original portrayal of Sicknick’s death — it was widely reported that he had been directly murdered by the crowd — was incorrect.
Argue with Carlson’s framing all you want; I have significant disagreements with it. But it is clear that Jan 6, as ugly as it was, was a riot and not a “danger to our democracy”; that many of those in the Capitol were in fact gawking rather than rioting; and that the Jan 6 committee went out of its way to present certain footage but avoid other footage. A decision was made by the Jan 6 committee and the media to avoid the possibility of any nuance whatsoever regarding the riots. Instead, the only acceptable narrative determined that a riot was an insurrection, that insurrection threatened the overthrow of the United States, and that the insurrection continues to percolate throughout conservative circles. Any mitigating evidence to that overblown narrative was discarded.
Supposedly, the best way to ensure that narrative was to ensure silence. But Schumer’s call to silence Carlson is precisely the reason Carlson’s report went viral in the first place. The media-Democratic complex keeps exaggerating narratives, eliding any countervailing information, and then seeking to censor those who present such information; they keep burying evidentiary landmines hoping they won’t be triggered. Then the landmines blow up, and they’re shocked at the explosion.
We couldn’t be given the footage, according to our media and political elites, lest we draw the wrong conclusions. Herein lies the problem: the best way to avoid the American people drawing the wrong conclusions is to present them with the full evidence, and then let them draw their own conclusions. And that’s precisely what the elites in our media and the Democratic Party won’t allow.
Ben Shapiro, 38, is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School, host of “The Ben Shapiro Show,” and co-founder of Daily Wire+. He is a three-time New York Times bestselling author; his latest book is The Authoritarian Moment: How The Left Weaponized America’s Institutions Against Dissent. To find out more about Ben Shapiro and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website.
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We have only seen a small percentage of the video Tucker received… he should release more. I would also like to see it sync’d with footage taken by others at the rally to corroborate their information.
I have seen many tapes from the Jan. 6 staged event by Pelosi, FBI, Antifa and Capitol Police, and the stupid media. Everything that happened that day was well planned in advance. All of the above are guilty of treason and murder. The 4 policemen that later commited suicide is another puzzle to this event, I have heard they were Trump supporters which make you wonder?
Trump & FOX News were two of the biggest critics of Fake News a couple years ago. And now can Tucker Carlson & FOX honestly say that the small amount of tapes pieced together are the Truth & nothing but the Truth. Does anyone follow the Ten Commandments anymore?
I believe we should have had an opportunity to see the tapes in the beginning. Truth never hurt and the communist Jan 6 committee who took millions of dollars to put innocent people in jail should all be held in disgrace. Tucker is doing the right thing to show what happened and anyone who believes differently is another liberal socialist democrat who want to believe schumer and the so called press secretary who is a puppet to soros
Cannot believe that Murdoch & FOX allowed Tucker to take Jan 6 tapes & piece segments together to make it look like the Capitol invaders were sightseers & not doing any harm. Tucker Carlson should be ashamed of himself for taking this stance against all of the Capitol police & Congress members that feared for their safety on Jan 6th. Tucker did not lie , he just slanted the news to support the riot group of that infamous day in USA history. Tueker: Do you support criminals or our law enforcement officials?
Replace Tucker with J6 committee members in your statement and I would totally agree. The bias swings both ways.
Absolutely
Tucker showed us the people the video part that the Jan. 6 Committee would not because it didn’t support the Narrative they pushed. It was called cherry picked by the Leftist, Well that was already done by the Jan. 6 CommitteeChuck Schumer wanted Fox News To remove Tucker Carlson because it was a threat to his form of Democracy!
Really would like to know the timeline of Ashley Babbitt shooting and evidence being presented to pips on the floor of Congress. I absolutely believe they would have been done simultaneously.
Regardless, after this I notice that no one else tried to climb thru that broken window….
I’m so bored with these get Trump schemes. The dems don’t need these schemes to turn the US into a communist nation. China has almost already done it.
If this is the first time in our 247 year history that our capitol was “attacked” we’ve been too quiet.
Any intelligent human being knows that January 6 was a protest. It was not under any definition of the word an “insurrection”. Because the Democrats wanted a lie to manipulate the American people with, it was reframed. I remember clearly the reporting on January 7 which showed a few pieces of trash on the floor and one congressman picking up a cup. The reporter announced $23,000 of damage was done. Since then every possible cost has been added up to make it $1,500,000 – gross exaggeration. Chuck Schumer is a liar. The Democrats are liars. Tucker Carlson is a doing the work of journalism and not sensationalizing anything. But the Left is now desperate because they know the truth is being revealed and their corruption is clear.
Even the author of this article is still brainwashed and slants toward the Leftist narrative. How stupid is that!? It amazes me that people are so easily manipulated. There is evidence that the FBI incited violence through Ray Epes and others. The only fatality was one white woman, a veteran, who was tragically shot by a criminal cop. WAKE UP and stop buying the lies of the Left. They are desperate and now caught in their lies. I want their heads to “roll” and I want to see them do prison time for their attempt to hide the truth and make up egregious lies. The January 6 Committee was kangaroo court. Bernie Thompson should be punished, under the law, for his disgusting leadership of the real January 6 mob, that Committee. May God help reveal the Truth and Damn the Liars. God Bless America.
With 41,000 hours of unedited tapes is it possible the murder of Ashli Babbitt will be included?
FREE THE JANUARY 6TH 1 THOUSAND!!
They are running scared now that we know the truth.
Yet they justify surveying Facebook to find people that were there so they can prosecute them. ASHLI BABBIT’S murderer was hailed as a hero after gunning her down. She was unarmed and not posing a threat to anyone. In short, no one is backing down and many innocent people are being persecuted. We want the truth.
These bastards arw So damn full of crap. I can hardly stand it
I hope the truth finally comes out, how can chucky shumer say that tucker carlson was lying or that it was misinformation. The video doesnt lie, the left and mainstream media are the bigger threat to our democracy because it undermines our first amendment for some but not others! That is a bigger threat to our democracy and censors one group, calling it misinformation because it goes against their narrative!
Censer censer censer say the ones who are caught in the lies they stole the election proof of it is being held for future trials they are scared and should be. Bookem Dan oh.
My first reaction to the Democrats is, now that we have a majority, to treat the Dems the same way. But that’s not the way to do it. Can you remember 20-30 years ago. Democrats and Republicans had differing ideas, ways, but both parties had the best interests of America at heart. It was sometime around the time of Hillary (not even Bill), Billl Clinton wasn’t that bad. Individual Dems are out for themselves, not America. If we keep trying to get the best of each other, America is going down the way of third world countries or worse. I realize people don’t like to hear the bible quoted, but if we don’t turn back to Godly ways, this country is in real trouble.
Free all political prisoners!
They were all patriots that day and I have no issue with the way the footage was framed. The framing came from the government and the Jan 6th committee.
They and the judges denying these individuals their civil rights, should be charged with treason.
Continue to shine the truth light Tucker!
This statement is unnecessary and misleading: “Now, to be certain, a riot took place on Jan 6. In that riot, dozens of officers were injured; some 1,000 people were arrested.” “Dozens of officers were injured?” To call the entirety of what happened in the capital “a riot” is a stretch. Compared to the magnitude of the crowd in general, the rioters seemed to be a couple of hundred people, maybe, out of what, fifty-thousand, one-hundred-thousand? Compare this to the real riots in the cities just experienced that summer, which the media described as “mostly peaceful” protests. Why isn’t January 6 a “mostly peaceful protest” too, rather than a riot? The fact that the FBI arrested a 1000 people is indicative of nothing except the magnitude of the January 6 partisan witch hunt by our compromised politicized Justice Dept. These arrests are ongoing, and Justice is proud to say so. Arresting people and charging them is a tactic used to make the incident seem much more extensive and criminally serious than it was. The FBI arrested hundreds of people who did not enter the capital and were not aggressive in anyway–they were simply nearby, or they were swept up in the movement of people who went in and they couldn’t turn around and go back. Using FBI arrest statistics to justify making continuous hay out of Jan 6 would make Stalin proud. It’s what he used to do too.
You are 100% correct sir. Thank you for sharing the truth.