The first thing former Trump aide Peter Navarro did during a contentious interview on MSNBC on Tuesday night was try to differentiate his efforts to keep Joe Biden from taking office from those of the putsch that overwhelmed the U.S. Capitol one year ago.
“Great to be with you,” he said to host Ari Melber, then quickly pivoted to his talking points. “The ‘In Trump Time’ book” — he has a book! It is for sale! — “shows unequivocally that both [former Trump adviser] Stephen K. Bannon and President Trump should be exonerated of any violence on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6.”
After all, Navarro continued, their plan — the middle-aged-guys-who-like-action-movies-named “Green Bay Sweep” — was in place, with scores of Republicans ready to object to the results of the 2020 presidential vote in six states. “All this required was peace and calm on Capitol Hill,” he added, pointedly, as though the riot that unfolded on Capitol Hill was an unwelcome detriment to Trump’s otherwise sober effort to steal the presidency.
He played the same card in an interview with the Daily Beast last month, telling the site’s Jose Pagliery that the “sweep” “was a perfect plan. “And it all predicated on peace and calm on Capitol Hill. We didn’t even need any protestors, because we had over 100 congressmen committed to it.”
It’s admittedly hard for me to hide my complete disdain for this line of argument. Just on its face, the distinction being drawn is next to useless, the equivalent of a guy opening fire on...
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