CT Blue

This morning’s New London Day has an article about local Republicans, many of whom are blaming Antifa for the insurrection on the 6th. John Scott, chair or the Groton Republicans, whose name has frequently appeared on this blog, was among those quoted.

In a Jan. 6 Facebook post, John Scott, the Groton RTC chairman, wrote, “I’m not convinced these people are Trump supporters. My money is on Antifa,” alongside an image of a man authorities have identified as Jacob Anthony Chansley, or Jake Angeli, of Arizona, a well-known member of far-right conspiracy group QAnon, standing in the U.S. Senate Chamber.

Chansley was charged in federal court Saturday with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, according to the United State Justice Department.

Scott said by phone Monday that he now knows it was QAnon, a right-wing group that he does not support, involved in the riots and pictured in the photo he shared: “It was a fringe group that really has nothing to do with us as Republicans,” he said, adding that he thinks it’s unfortunate that Republicans are being painted with a broad brush when it “happened at the fringe level of the political world.”

I was disappointed when I read this. I was aware of the article as I took my morning bike ride, but I hadn’t yet read it. I already knew about John’s Facebook post, but not his evasive retraction. So, as I rode, I had a great idea for a post, consisting of a strident defense of John Scott. For, as anyone with a brain knows, there are but two reasons why anyone would claim that Antifa was involved in this right wing insurrection.

1. The person in question is mentally ill, subject to delusions, or has been thoroughly propagandized.
2. The person in question is aware that what they are saying is untrue, or, as Republicans would say, mis-speaking.

I’ve know John for years, and it was my intent to defend his honor by proving beyond a doubt that he was entitled to more than the benefit of the doubt, and that he is by no means mentally ill or deluded. Option 2 definitely applies. John was not deluded, he was merely honoring the ignoble tradition of the American right: blaming others for its own actions and, of course, feeding lies to the base, a tradition Paul Krugman documents here.

John’s retraction and deflection in the Day has proven my point for me, so my original idea went up in smoke. All the great lines I thought up on my bike ride, down the drain. Realizing he couldn’t stick with one statement which was at odds with reality, John pivoted to another. A truly deluded person would have stuck to his or her guns. They simply reject facts, whereas Republican enablers do an intricate dance when confronted with the truth. I do salute John for masterfully playing the victim card by putting down his own broad brush and hypocritically complaining about Republicans being “painted with too broad a brush”. Good one John, you’ve learned your Republican playbook. As John explains, it is terribly unfair to accuse Republicans, who have now elected QAnon people to Congress and have stoked its conspiracy theories for years, from being at all connected in any way, shape or form to the QAnon crazies. It’s just not fair. After all, he would argue, have you ever heard a Republican claim that the almost non-existent Antifa is a major actor on the left?

Oh, …wait..

Notice: Not that many are likely to care, but comments are not working on this blog at the moment. I’ll be putting this notice on posts until I get the problem cleared up. That will involve attempting to contact someone at my web hosting service, which is both time consuming and aggravating in the extreme, so I’ve been putting it off until I have a few hours I can spend on hold waiting for someone to talk to me. Actually, I must confess to being really remiss about this. It’s sort of funny that in these pandemic times, when we have so much time on our hands, we seem to do less. Or at least I do.