No, Not Every Day Is January 6

The political-journalism world has decided that this week will be focused upon the one-year anniversary of the January 6 Capitol Hill riot, led by the New York Times editorial board declaring that, “Jan. 6 is not in the past; it is every day.”

Because I’m going to swim against the current here, go back and read what I wrote on January 7 of last year.

I called for Trump’s immediate impeachment and removal from office for his slow response to the violence against the legislative branch. I declared that “Despite their self-identification as patriots and proud Americans, [the rioters] pledged allegiance to nothing beyond chaos. Every single person who climbed those steps and went through those doors made their choice to beat on the chamber doors, to break those windows, to criminally trespass and disrupt the legitimate work of the duly elected legislative branch of the U.S. government.” Everyone who violated the law that day ought to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

But I also think that declaring every day to be January 6, as the New York Times‘ editorial board did, is stirring fear, suspicion, and paranoia in a country that already has more than enough of all three. The Times’ editorial board contends that “The Capitol riot continues in statehouses across the country, in a bloodless, legalized form that no police officer can arrest and that no prosecutor can try in court.” There is no such thing as a bloodless, legalized riot.