January 6 was a test the US keeps failing
CNN
Recently revealed text messages make even clearer former President Donald Trump's failure to act on January 6, says Nicole Hemmer. But while Trump's supporters on the right bear responsibility for both the insurrection and efforts to erase it, they are not the only ones who have failed, she writes.
That was made startlingly clear with the revelation of frantic text messages sent during the insurrection from a slew of Fox News hosts, as well as President Donald Trump's own son, Donald Trump Jr., begging the people around the then-President to spur him into action to curb the violence. The best they got was a hastily recorded message from the White House, in which Trump encouraged the rioters at the Capitol to disperse by saying, "Go home. We love you. You're very special." Trump eventually released another video asking for calm and expressing a focus on a "smooth, orderly, seamless transition of power." He almost immediately began undercutting this message, which itself came far, far too late to make any difference.