Representative Cliff Bentz. A Disappointment.

Cliff Bentz has been in office for less than a week and he is already lying to us.  

Can't Bentz be better than this?  Apparently not. He is afraid.

      "Orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable."            

             Former AG William Barr

Disappointment

It isn't inexcusable if you pretend not to see what is right in front of your eyes.

Newly elected and sworn in, Cliff Bentz, the U.S. Representative from Oregon's 2nd Congressional District, was one of the people who voted to object to counting the Electoral College votes from one or more states that voted for Joe Biden. The votes took place in the early morning hours after the Capitol had been invaded by disorderly mob that just left a Trump rally.

At the rally Trump and his sons issued threats to Republicans that the GOP was now Trump's party. Trump said, "We're going to walk down, and I'll be there with you. You'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong." 

Take back our country. That was the language of the rally, voiced by Trump and his entourage. He was speaking to people he had been encouraging in multiple speeches and tweets to come to DC and demand that the government retain him as president. For months he had been congratulating armed militia group protests. He had told the Proud Boys to stand by and be ready for that day. Social media groups had been buzzing about this for weeks, saying they needed to gather and storm the Capitol. Many of the people in Trump's crowd were wearing helmets and body armor. They had a purpose. Their cause was just and the situation was critical; President Trump said so.

The former Attorney General William Barr described Trump's role: he was "orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress."

The Wall Street Journal--the Murdoch owned, reliably Republican and conservative voice--had no illusions about the President they had defended for years. He incited a crowd to do an assault on another branch of government:

In concise summary, on Wednesday the leader of the executive branch incited a crowd to march on the legislative branch. The express goal was to demand that Congress and Vice President Mike Pence reject electors from enough states to deny Mr. Biden an Electoral College victory. When some in the crowd turned violent and occupied the Capitol, the President caviled and declined for far too long to call them off. When he did speak, he hedged his plea with election complaint.

This was an assault on the constitutional process of transferring power after an election. It was also an assault on the legislature from an executive sworn to uphold the laws of the United States. This goes beyond merely refusing to concede defeat. In our view it crosses a constitutional line that Mr. Trump hasn’t previously crossed. It is impeachable.

Bentz defended Trump by closing his eyes and mind. He sees nothing. He knows nothing. He said Trump "wanted a protest. I don't think he ever would have wanted it to turn violent. The protesters are responsible, the people who decided to take it upon themselves to damage things."

Please don't insult us with this. 

Trump made multiple statements and tweets calling on the Proud Boys and others to come to DC to "be wild." The Proud Boys are not a debating society or book club. They are people who bring weapons, explosive devices, and Molotov cocktails to protests--which is exactly what they and others did on January 6. 

Click: I see nothing. I know nothing,

Trump wound up the crowd and encouraged them. It was no secret. He did it in public. It was on TV and recorded. Trump called the mob "patriots" who were right to be upset that he was not elected. Trump said they should be "strong" and "courageous." He issued mild tweets telling protesters to "remain" and "stay" peaceful, while they were in the Capitol actively breaking windows and doors to enter Capitol rooms, opening mail, setting fires, and defecating on office floors. Five people died. Simultaneously with telling them to be peaceful he justified violence by repeating the allegation that "things and events happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away."  He told the rioters "We love you. You're very special."

While watching the rioting on TV, he tweeted: “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!"

Donald Trump was not a by-stander. 

This was a plan, done openly and proudly. Neither he nor the crowd appear to have had a detailed plan of kidnapping, executions, and takeover of the institutions of government--a genuine coup d'état--but he wanted to use physical intimidation through rough guys with a show of force. 

His plan worked!  At least it worked on my congressman, Cliff Bentz, who caved to Trump's intimidation with a vote to void an election, and now he lies to us by pretending that Trump was just an innocent bystander to the ransacking of the Capitol.

Mr. Bentz is not blind and stupid. He is apparently more afraid of a primary challenge from his right than he is of being caught treating his constituents as fools. Better to be blind and stupid than admit that the person whose bidding he does carried out an assault on the Congress and the Constitution.

A very disappointing start.

To Cliff Bentz:  

Mr. Bentz, if you don't believe that elections matter, and you think that the Article One legislature should be bullied into carrying out the will of the executive, why did you bother running in an election for a seat in the Congress?