Donald Trump's rally in Arizona was largely in line with expectations. The former president lied about his election defeat; he needlessly seeded racial resentments with false claims about white people lacking access to vaccines; and the Republican even lent his support to a discredited conspiracy theory about the FBI.
But what stood out for me as especially notable was Trump's concerns about the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. From the former president's remarks:
"They never talk about that crowd. They talk about the people that walked down to the Capitol. They don't talk about the size of that crowd. I believe it was the largest crowd I've ever spoken before. And they were there to protest the election.... I think it was the largest crowd I've ever, and the fake news never talks about it. They never talk about it."
One year after the riot, after having time to reflect on the events, Trump has identified what he considers the truly important detail about the events of Jan. 6, 2021. The fatalities? The insurrectionist intent? The alleged crimes? The defilement of our seat of government? The attempts to use violence to reject our system of democracy?
No, what really weighs on the former president is the degree to which "they" fail to acknowledge the size of the crowd that appeared in the nation's capital in advance of the riot.
There's an odd symmetry to the circumstances: On Trump's first full day in office in January 2017, the Republican was preoccupied with the size of his...
Victoria-based small egg producer Doreen Eggs has been fined $39,600 over alleged false or misleading claims that its eggs were free-range. The business has admitted to selling eggs labelled as βf...