January 6 Select Committee member Representative Pete Aguilar (D-CA) said one of the most memorable quotes following the January 6 failed coup, “We were 40 feet away from a dictatorship.” The Lincoln Project released its latest video highlighting the thin silk thread that held our Democracy together.
Former Vice President Mike Pence’s slavish devotion to Donald Trump only hit one road bump during the four years they served together. He obtained opinions from heavy-weight Republicans, all claiming that he had no legal grounds to alter the vote-counting process. On January 6, 2021, he took their advice and went against Trump’s wishes. Instead he formalized the nation’s election of President Joe Biden.
But America was very fortunate. After Trump’s friends the Oath Keepers and an angry mob broke into the Capitol Building, his Secret Service detail whisked Pence out of the room. The former vice president’s and his family’s escape took them within 40 feet of the enraged mob howling “Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!”
Outside, the crowd had erected a hangman’s scaffold and a noose. As it swayed under turbulent clouds, a man with a megaphone called out “Bring out Pence” repeatedly.
Word spread quickly that Pence had not thrown Trump the election. And the crowd’s rage boiled over. The ex-president never checked with his vice president to see if he was okay.
People around the 45th president begged Trump to call off the attack, because the mob wanted to hang Mike Pence. The former president turned to them and said “maybe he deserves it,” House January 6 Select Committee Vice-Chair Representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) said, according to The Washington Post.
Pence’s Secret Service took him to a basement parking lot and urged him to get into the getaway car, but he declined. He had some doubts about where a group loyal to Trump would take him. And he felt it was his duty to stay, stepping into the role the ex-president had vacated.
Pence was the one who authorized the National Guard to take action. But had the mob reached the escaping vice president and legislators, there was little doubt they would have been killed. And Trump would install himself as dictator.
The Lincoln Project’s brief but powerful video showed Aguilar saying during the January 6 Committee hearing:
‘We were 40 feet away from a dictatorship.’
We were 40 feet away from a dictatorship.pic.twitter.com/OdrBvAiuY4 https://t.co/sbLcvm5Cpl
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) June 28, 2022
Next time we might not be so lucky, The Lincoln Project hinted broadly.
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
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