Ted Cruz’s glorious about-face on January 6

Despite the best efforts of the media, the Democrats, and Liz Cheney, the Capitol protests of January 6 refuse to lodge themselves in the public consciousness as a nightmarish enormity.

According to The Narrative, it was an “insurrection” that was worse than 9/11, worse than Pearl Harbor, the worst attack on “our democracy” since the Civil War. Yet almost no one believes that. Why? Because at the end of the day, the rambunctious events of January 6 were nine tenths theater, one tenth tragedy. Tucker Carlson was right. It was a protest that “got out of hand.”

That fact is slowly crystalizing as the official narrative begins to crumble. The other day, I wrote a column lamenting Ted Cruz’s comments at the Senate hearings on the January 6 protest at the Capitol. Cruz, I noted, praised the performance of the Capitol Police that day and went on to say that America was approaching the “solemn anniversary” of when “violent terrorists” attacked the Capitol.

Like many others, I was aghast over his praise for the Capitol Police — one of whom shot and killed Ashli Babbitt, who was unarmed, and others of whom surely contributed to the death of Roseanne Boyland. I was even more aghast that Cruz should implicitly participate in the Democratic effort to sanctify January 6 and that he should describe participants as “violent terrorists.”

Tucker Carlson was prominent among those who called Cruz to task for the comments. I continue to think that Cruz erred in his remarks. He seems to think so himself, since he publicly apologized for them. “Yesterday,” he said, “I used a dumb choice of words and unfortunately a lot of people are misunderstanding what I meant.”

However one reads that apology, I believe Cruz has gone a long way towards rehabilitating himself with his magnificent performance earlier this week questioning FBI spokesmen about the presence of undercover FBI agents at the events surrounding January 6. Cruz drew in part on Darren Beattie’s reporting about the event. Beattie marshaled a huge amount of video evidence from the protest, showing beyond cavil that several men were present before and during the protest who were egging on the the demonstrators, clearing a physical path to the Capitol, and instructing them from identical megaphones where to go.

“Okay we’re in!,” shouted one of the instigators, yet to be identified or indicted. “We’re in! Come on! We gotta fill up the Capitol! Come on! Come now! We need help! We gotta fill up the Capitol! They got in.”

Who were these people? As Cruz noted in his questions to Jill Sanborn, the executive assistant director of the FBI’s national security branch, “A lot of Americans are concerned that the federal government deliberately encouraged illegal and violent conduct on January 6. My question to you, did federal agents or those in service of federal agents actively encourage violent and criminal conduct on January 6?”

Answer: Sorry, Senator, can’t discuss “sources and methods.”

“How many FBI agents or confidential informants actively participated in the events of January 6?” Cruz asked.

Sorry, Senator, can’t answer that.

“Who is Ray Epps?” Cruz asked.

Nope, can’t answer that either.

Take a look at the videos linked in Darren Beattie’s column. Ray Epps was the chap who, the day before the protest, was stirring up (inciting?) the crowd, telling them that they had to go “into the Capitol” the next day. He was initially on the FBI’s most wanted list following the protest. Then his name disappeared. Why?

Citing a January 6 committee comment, Democratic poodle Adam Kinzinger dismissed Cruz’s pointed interrogation, calling his suggestion that Epps was an FBI asset a “conspiracy.” Ray Epps, Kinzinger said, “has cooperated and is nothing but a Jan 6 protest attendee. Sorry crazies, it ain’t true.”

“Oh, well, sorry about that then. Let’s move along.”

You can almost hear the damage control party holding its breath. “Did they buy it? Did they take the bait? Can we get back to pretending that January 6 was an attempted coup, ‘worse than 9/11,’ as bad as the Civil War, etc.?”

I don’t think so. For one thing, the public at large isn’t buying into the insurrection porn narrative that the Dems are selling. A year on, no one outside the regime media complex cares that much about January 6.

Then there is the overwhelming video evidence. Really, it all boils down to the question: what are you going to believe, the narrative formulated by the Democrats that the January 6 protest was a Trump-directed insurrection designed to overturn the 2020 election or your lying eyes? Ted Cruz (along with Tom Cotton, who was also magnificent at the Senate hearing) has done the country a great service by ripping the bandage off of the festering clot of partisan lies. The official narrative will not survive.