April 5, 2024

"I am concerned about the possibility that political objectives motivated the vigor of the prosecution of the J6 defendants, their long sentences, and their harsh treatment."

He added that if elected president he will "appoint a special counsel — an individual respected by all sides — to investigate whether prosecutorial discretion was abused for political ends in this case."

ADDED: Here's how the WaPo columnist Philip Bump writes about it: "RFK Jr. clarifies that his view of Jan. 6 is the conspiratorial one."


“I have not examined the evidence in detail,” [RFK Jr.'s statement says]... “but reasonable people, including Trump opponents, tell me there is little evidence of a true insurrection. They observe that the protestors carried no weapons, had no plans or ability to seize the reins of government, and that Trump himself had urged them to protest ‘peacefully.’”

This is an absolute all-timer of a cop-out. The guy is running for president but claims that on the issue that he himself describes as one of the most polarizing in politics, he gives us puppy eyes and insists that he simply doesn’t know much about it. But what he does know is that other people tell him that the mainstream consensus is wrong, and that’s all he needs to hear....

“One can, as I do, oppose Donald Trump and all he stands for,” the statement continues, “and still be disturbed by the weaponization of government against him.”...

Citation needed, as Wikipedia would say. You see, though, how immersed in the Trumpian position Kennedy is.... He, like Trump, rejects conventional wisdom (no matter how wise) and authority (however authorized)... Trump does it opportunistically to accrue confidence in himself by eroding his base’s confidence in everything else. Kennedy does it because it is what he does and it is what has earned him his following....

64 comments:

Rich said...

In many ways Kennedy is worse than Trump. The latter lies and lies and does back off the lies. Kennedy lies and then claims someone else wrote the piece.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Right to a Speedy Trial?
Vote Trump.

traditionalguy said...

The Kennedys are back. They fight.

Joe Smith said...

The prosecutors have acted like typical democrat thugs akin to Soviet Russia or Mao's China.

Par for the course as modern democrats are socialists at best...

The Godfather said...

Can RFKJr be trusted on this? Has Trump committed to pardoning them all? The answers could determine my vote in November.

The Vault Dweller said...

RFK Jr. saying there may have been malfeasance in the January 6th prosecutions and him saying he thinks Joe Biden using the apparatus of government to try and silence people is a worse threat to democracy than anything Donald Trump did makes him less and less likely to be a spoiler candidate for Biden (meaning he would take Biden votes away and help Trump.) Just because a person is normally a Democrat voter and has significant unease about Biden in another term does not mean that person doesn't hate Donald Trump and hate MAGA people.

phantommut said...

I am fed up with being told to ignore the evidence of my senses and that I should trust authority instead.

rehajm said...

No link to the Altpost showing everyone being invited in to capitol building? Haha- just kidding, NFW on that…

Butkus51 said...

Why aren't they going after all the people who lied under oath about election fraud?

Because they didnt.

Gunner said...

I am sure this moron believes the "conventional wisdom" about masks stopping Covid too.

Mary Beth said...

I clicked on Bump's name to see what else he has written. He keeps to a theme, doesn't he?

tim in vermont said...

No leaders ever conspire, and America has magical dirt that prevents politicians from executing false flags in the same way that leaders have always done throughout written history. Just because a similar false flag cemented the Nazis in power doesn’t mean that any American politician, no matter how craven, would be tempted to try the same thing.

And just because more evidence has come out that Trump offered thousands of National Guard troops to secure the Capitol, doesn’t mean that he didn’t have a plan to overpower them. You see, it’s because Republicans will think of devious tricks, and Democrats never would.

Aggie said...

That particular flavor of rhetoric that is normally reserved for the treatment of heretics...

tim in vermont said...

The game the WaPo is playing, though, is to make RFKJr attractive to Trump voters and repellent to Biden voters.

Craig Mc said...

Conventional wisdom ain't what it used to be. Philip Bump is one of the reasons.

Mason G said...

"But what he does know is that other people tell him that the mainstream consensus is wrong, and that’s all he needs to hear...."

"Mainstream consensus"? So... the progressive left, then. Because there's no way that anybody on the right would be considered to be "mainstream", you know. Well, based on their record lately, going with "wrong" is the safe bet.

Joe Smith said...

'In many ways Kennedy is worse than Trump.'

And yet, like a good liberal sycophant, you'd suck his cock given half a chance.

Spare me the faux condemnation...

chickelit said...

Rich said...
“In many ways Kennedy is worse than Trump. The latter lies and lies and does back off the lies. Kennedy lies and then claims someone else wrote the piece.”

Meanwhile, your man Biden lies and your media laps it up like the truth. Utterly shameful.

Big Mike said...

"I am concerned about the possibility that political objectives motivated the vigor of the prosecution of the J6 defendants, their long sentences, and their harsh treatment."

Jeez, yah think?

Leland said...

The prosecution of the J6 protestors is a very political savvy move by Democrats. First of all, you have to understand the type of people that can afford to take off from their day activities, travel to Washington DC, and attend any political rally in support for any politician. These are people with excess time and money, which also means they are the type of people that don't just vote and say the support a candidate. They actually financially back candidates.
Prosecuting these people ruined their livelihoods. It took away their money in defending themselves, gave them federal convictions which can cause loss of voting privileges, and disincentivized other Republican supporters from participation. Why wouldn't Democrats prosecute the J6 protestors when they have this much to gain? The real issue is why hasn't any Republican pushed for the prosecution of Antifa and BLM protestors for all the same reasons, except that those people were actually violent?

Howard said...

He make a compelling case that will please Trump supporters.

Jupiter said...

"But what he does know is that other people tell him that the mainstream consensus is wrong, and that’s all he needs to hear....".

What the man said was "They observe that the protestors carried no weapons, had no plans or ability to seize the reins of government, and that Trump himself had urged them to protest ‘peacefully.’”

He is not saying "That's all he needs to hear". He is saying that those observations have not been credibly challenged, and they are compelling evidence that what you term "the mainstream consensus" is peddling a pack of lies. What exactly is this "mainstream consensus" of yours? The NYT? WaPo? DOJ? FBI? CIA? Gosh, yeah, they wouldn't tell a lie! Heck no! Not unless they could think of one.

Jupiter said...

"Here's how the WaPo columnist Philip Bump writes about it ...".
Too much disinformation.

BUMBLE BEE said...

C'mon man. AOC was scared and she wasn't even that building. Crucify them1
While on the subject of lies, Rich... Your guy is the Tri-Athlete Champ of Life Long Lies.

Drago said...

LLR-democratical Rich: "In many ways Kennedy is worse than Trump. The latter lies and lies and does back off the lies."

Yes, inveterate serial liar and advancer of debunked hoaxes Rich wrote that.

Just now.

LOL

Drago said...

The best part?

Phil Bump is involved!

Drago said...

Godfather: "Has Trump committed to pardoning them all?"

Yes.

Wa St Blogger said...

Bump Fallacy. Appeal to authority and question begging. In this case mainstream consensus and assuming the facts as stated by the partisan left is the truth. Doesn't bother to address the claims as they are assumed to be false.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

NBC is all in for crook Liar Burisma Joe.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

ooops-
NBC RICH - is all in for crook liar Burisma Joe. Open border Joe. Husk-Puppet mob Joe.

Rabel said...

Burn the heretic! Use the eternal flame to kindle the fire.

Josephbleau said...

“One can, as I do, oppose Donald Trump and all he stands for,” the statement continues, “and still be disturbed by the weaponization of government against him.”...

That is the most dangerous statement that Kennedy is making. Trumps polls get more positive as the public sees that the Democrats are using government power to shape evidence and argument. The Cheney J6 investigation was selective in the evidence published and is yet now used as a definitive argument that Trump is officially deemed an insurrectionist.

The Cover up of Trump's request for National guard troops to secure the capitol alone belies the notion that Trump was going to violently overturn the government. Asking for the National Guard to control the ground you are supposedly going to assault with your tourist troops beggars belief. A handful of plastic wire ties, a flag pole, and a buffalo hat vs automatic weapons, my f*ing God.

Wince said...

Everything except a fact-based refutation of RFKjr's concern that a fact-based investigation is warranted.

Josephbleau said...

"The game the WaPo is playing, though, is to make RFKJr attractive to Trump voters and repellent to Biden voters."

That may be the ill guided plan, but the majority who vote for Kennedy Jr will be those who refuse to vote for Trump but are anti Israel, anti illegal immigration, or pro economic growth enough to not vote Beiden.

Abortion single issue women are voting Beiden already, this effect is to be determined by turnout in that demographic.

Kennedy gives the politically homeless anti Trump voter somewhere to go, and that will help Trump by reducing the Blue total without increasing the Red total. Without Kennedy they may impulsively vote Beiden.

traditionalguy said...

RFKjr for Secy of Health and Human Services. He would restore it to service of Americans and not WHO.

Paul said...

JFK Jr is just saying the obvious... Pelosi screamed INSURRECTION and used the J6th sit in as proof Trump was a radical and MAGA was his storm troopers.... yes a lie but she said it long enough and loud enough and had enough Democrats to go along with it to get Trump out of office and generate all his legal problems now.

We all know it was a sit in. The D.C. Police let them in and the FBI egged them on.

TRUMP in Nov!!! And vote all the Democrats out.

Iman said...

Philip Bump needs to resign and allow a POC to assume his duties. He is both dishonest and extremely stale.

Joe Bar said...

Kennedy was on CNN saying Biden was just as bad as Trump. Maybe worse, as a threat to democracy.

He's trying to get Trump voters to come to his side.

MikeD said...

I'm sorry but, any post that doesn't treat Bump as an ignorant ideologue isn't worth perusing!

John said...

I wonder how George Will or Meagan McCardle feel about working with people like Philip Bump, Jenifer Rubin, and Taylor Lorenz. I'm guessing all those years with Ruth Marcus, E. J. Dionne, Dana Milbank, and Kathleen Parker was training, but even that seems like the difference between first semester calculus and a graduate course in topology. Charles Krauthammer's soul is probably thanking his lucky stars his time did not overlap with these people.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

"“One can, as I do, oppose Donald Trump and all he stands for,” the statement continues, “and still be disturbed by the weaponization of government against him.”..."

Indeed.

many Americans with morals and brains see this.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

OT: Democraticals -Corruptocratic Chi Com Democrats going all in with China's desire to take over a sovereign nation of Taiwan.

The corrupt democrats call it "one China" or something. What assholes.

Joe Smith said...

'He make a compelling case that will please Trump supporters.'

I don't give a damn about Trump, but I do care about crushing socialist and communist scum.

Not many choices nowadays in our low-T country...

walter said...

"Analysis by Philip Bump"
Is "analysis" some sort of midway between news and editorial?

Worst insurrection ever.
More shots fired in Lady Gaga's dognapping.
But the one fired by the agent who leaves his gun in the bathroom killed a woman.

Dear Rich,
Joementia has lied from the beginning of his endless political career to current.
And you will vote for the guy who simultaneously claims Hunter is the smartest man he knows but is oblivious to Humper's exploits of access to to Biden.

Do you remember the broad leeway regarding Saint Floyd rioters?
J6 dragnet has scooped up and held so many who posed zero danger, and were suckered into entering "the people's house".

Jupiter said...

I have been trying to remember ...

Something about this post .. once before ..

And it came back to me. I once wrote a term paper, about one of those viruses, like shingles, that infest your nerve cells, which never die or reproduce. So, they hide from the immune system in the nerves, and then, at unpredictable intervals, they burst forth into your more short-lived tissues, and cause painful and destructive infections, until your immune system finally drives them back into the nerve cells.

So I wrote a whole paper on these. For a course on some DNA thing. And I remember, one of those diseases was a lot like Philip Bump. A lot. Except, there was some difference. I'm trying to remember, but it evades me, and I don't have the original document, so I can't check. Anyway, there is a difference between Philip Bump, and one of those agonizing and potentially fatal diseases that hide in your nerve cells and suddenly burst forth to infest huge swaths of your skin and other tissues. Some subtle distinction. Something about thymine vs. uracil, I think. Like with the mRNA vaccines, the reason they don't biodegrade. Whatevs. Philip Bump is not shingles. More like herpes, I think. You haven't thought about him in a long time, and then suddenly, there he is. This red, gaping, weeping, open sore, where you least need it. Philip Bump.

Michael Fitzgerald said...

“One can, as I do, oppose Donald Trump and all he stands for,”
Trump stands for America, asshole. This fucking jerk kennedy...he's shit with corn kernels.

Achilles said...

Joe Bar said...

Kennedy was on CNN saying Biden was just as bad as Trump. Maybe worse, as a threat to democracy.

He's trying to get Trump voters to come to his side.


No. He would have picked Tulsi Gabbard or someone similar for VP. Instead he chose his source of money and a social climber.

People right now are realizing that Biden and this Regime are very unpopular and obviously corrupt. They are noticing that people that stand up to the Globalist Regime are gaining social status.

This is strong horse politics. Not only do you have to be really stupid and a complete piece of shit to support Biden, now you are also going to be on the losing team. The only reason single women are supporting him is because they like bad men beating them and treating them callously. They like being on the losing team. More things to whine about.

When people like Beyonce and The Rock start switching sides you are finished. They will do nothing to jeopardize their bottom line. RFK is just following the crowd.

He doesn't want to go down in history as a good little German that supported the fascists trying to tear our democracy down.

gspencer said...

"to investigate whether prosecutorial discretion was abused for political ends in this case"

Even Heller Keller, Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder could SEE what''s being done to the J6 prisoners.

boatbuilder said...

“I have not examined the evidence in detail,” [RFK Jr.'s statement says]... “but reasonable people, including Trump opponents, tell me there is little evidence of a true insurrection. They observe that the protestors carried no weapons, had no plans or ability to seize the reins of government, and that Trump himself had urged them to protest ‘peacefully.’”

This is an absolute all-timer of a cop-out. The guy is running for president but claims that on the issue that he himself describes as one of the most polarizing in politics, he gives us puppy eyes and insists that he simply doesn’t know much about it. But what he does know is that other people tell him that the mainstream consensus is wrong, and that’s all he needs to hear....


It is sort of a cop out, but it is a cop-out that a politician has to make.
Kennedy's observations are absolutely correct, and he asks his hearers to think about them.

What is Bump's excuse?

Left Bank of the Charles said...

Is a “true insurrection” something like a “true Scotsman”? Donald Trump isn’t a true Scotsman, through his mother he’s only half Scottish. His attempted insurrection was rather half-baked. He couldn’t even garner a ride to the attack on the Capitol. No true insurrectionist would have relied on getting a ride from the Secret Service. I would ask RFK Jr. if, in his view of J6, half-baked insurrectionists can be prosecuted for rioting and obstructing official proceedings, or if such prosecutions must be limited to true insurrections.

Leland said...

Is a “true insurrection” something like a “true Scotsman”? No, and here's your evidence:
prosecuted for rioting and obstructing official proceedings
They are being prosecuted for disrupting proceedings and not rioting, because that didn't happen either, but trespassing.
prosecutions must be limited to true insurrections
The only people prosecuted for insurrection were not even at the Capitol. They were some "Proud Boys" that made comments on the internet and were prosecuted for their speech.

You know who wasn't prosecuted for rioting: Antifa or BLM. You know who showed up to more official proceedings to halt them: Antifa and BLM. You want to be taken seriously? Prosecute Antifa and BLM rioters. Otherwise, this all seems like a political operation.

Jonathan Burack said...

I have to think Tim in Vermont at 6:01 is right. Bidenites were in a panic, I was hearing yesterday, about polling showing RFK drawing more from Biden than from Trump. Hope the polling is accurate.

Drago said...

“One can, as I do, oppose Donald Trump and all he stands for,..."

There are indeed quite a few America Last-ers lurking about.

Saint Croix said...

"RFK Jr. clarifies that his view of Jan. 6 is the conspiratorial one."

Boy, that's a big lie.

Does Bump know what a "conspiracy" is?

The allegation that January 6 was a plot to overthrow the government is an allegation of a conspiracy.

“I have not examined the evidence in detail,” [RFK Jr.'s statement says]... “but reasonable people, including Trump opponents, tell me there is little evidence of a true insurrection. They observe that the protestors carried no weapons, had no plans or ability to seize the reins of government, and that Trump himself had urged them to protest ‘peacefully.’”

He's talking about evidence that there was no conspiracy. It's the prosecution that has a "conspiracy theory." It's a theory that people conspired to overthrow the government.

Kennedy has a "conspiracy theory" about who killed his father. But in this case, it's the opposite of a conspiracy theory. It's not "conspiratorial" to suggest there is no conspiracy.

deepelemblues said...

"He... rejects... authority (however authorized)"

'How dare you reject the very authorized authority' is an extremely strange thing to read, as an American. Our civic ethos is, in large part, about being skeptical of authority, even to be a little unreasonably zealous in our skepticism, to protect ourselves from the consequences of overbearing authority. For Pete's sake, the constitution itself is about putting multiple bonds on authority so it doesn't run wild.

Rusty said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kirk Parker said...

Achilles,

"The only reason single women are supporting him is because they like bad men beating them and treating them callously."

Well, that *and* the unquestioned right kill their babies. You can hardly have civilization without that!

hombre said...

"... the conspiratorial one."

Misdemeanants are arrested by SWAT teams in their homes at the crack of dawn. Government resources are wasted for three years investigating misdemeanors. Videos show government witnesses, police, perjured themselves and there is no recourse. An unarmed woman is executed by a cop and he is promoted. The congressional committee investigating the event withholds exculpatory evidence.

All this and more is documented and it's a conspiracy?

RFK is wrong on many issues, but he and Tulsi appear to be the only Democrats with integrity.

hombre said...

Democrats are so arrogantly lawless that a few in the rank and file who have morals and are not ignoramuses are turning to RFK.

My solution was better. Quit the Party. Become an Independent. Vote "no" on Democrats.

If RFK were miraculously elected, he would have the same problem as Trump. He would be surrounded by backbiting Deep State dirtbags.

Rusty said...

I wonder if we'll ever have the rule of law again.
You can tell how fearful the left is of their opposition by how how far they are willing to suspends the rights of their enemies.

TeaBagHag said...

Embracing ya’ll queda, well shit, he’s got this patriot’s vote. Look out Joe Biden……?

loudogblog said...

phantommut said...
"I am fed up with being told to ignore the evidence of my senses and that I should trust authority instead."

It's even worse than that. The author is also telling you to treat "mainstream consensus" and "conventional wisdom" as fact.

loudogblog said...

Left Bank of the Charles said...
"garner"

Achilles said...

Kirk Parker said...

Achilles,

"The only reason single women are supporting him is because they like bad men beating them and treating them callously."

Well, that *and* the unquestioned right kill their babies. You can hardly have civilization without that!

I find it a sad commentary that a small number of predatory men used feminism to convince stupid harem women that abortion is the most important thing in the world.

The democrat coalition is essentially the 20% of men asshole Chads/Tyrones and the 70% of women stupid 304s they sleep with and occasionally knock up.