WSJ Memory Holes Trump’s Near-Assassination of His Vice President
In an 800-word story on the rise of political violence, this what WSJ’s Katy Stech Ferek and Tim Hanrahan wrote about Trump’s incitement of thousands of rabid followers, their attack on cops protecting Congress and their open chants calling for the assassination of Mike Pence, Nancy Pelosi, and Mitch McConnell, Trump’s pardon of most of them (and release of the others), and DOJ’s payment of $5 million to Ashli Babbitt’s estate:
WaPo’s Sarah Ellison and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez said little more in its equivalent piece, ascribing to Trump no role in the January 6 attack and making no mention of his pardon for those who did attack cops and the Capitol.
The January 2021 attack on the Capitol saw a mob of Trump supporters threaten lawmakers gathered to certify the 2020 election.
NYT’s Lisa Lerer, at least, did mention the pardon, but not the things Trump had done to get his mob to chant “hang Mike Pence.”
Mr. Trump has had a hand in that. Since his 2016 candidacy, he has signaled at least his tacit approval of violence against his political opponents. He encouraged attendees at his rallies to “knock the hell” out of protesters, praised a lawmaker who body-slammed a reporter and defended the rioters on Jan. 6, 2021, who clamored to “hang Mike Pence.” One of his first acts in his second term as president was to pardon those rioters.
None of these outlets have the simple journalistic courage to say that Trump nearly got his Vice President assassinated, that Trump incited a brutal attack on a co-equal branch of government, and that his reward for the people who did this has fostered violence against Trump’s adversaries.