Michael Fanone, who while serving in a role he then held on a local police department in Washington, D.C., joined those defending the Capitol against rioting Trump supporters in early 2021, where he was seriously injured, blasted the prospect of a CNN special featuring Trump in a new opinion article for Rolling Stone.
Fanone’s arguments aren’t even all that complicated, but his observations no doubt function as a fitting reminder for those who might somehow forget or just choose to ignore what Trump has actually done. In the article, Fanone reminded readers of how Trump put people’s actual lives in serious danger, leading to a series of deaths, including officer suicides following the riot that have been connected to what happened there, where the raging mob descended on vastly outnumbered officers and repeatedly proved their willingness to commit outright murder. Fanone has himself described hearing shouts from the crowd pushing to kill him with his firearm.
In the article, Fanone also specifically criticized CNN for platforming Trump. Sure, he’s a leading candidate — well, the leading candidate — for the GOP nomination for president ahead of the 2024 elections. He also committed himself and continues to commit himself to subverting election results and accepting if not outright encouraging violence in pursuit of those ambitions. He consistently supports the rioters.
“Putting him onstage, having him answer questions like a normal candidate who didn’t get people killed in the process of trying to end the democracy he’s attempting to once again run, normalizes what Trump did,” Fanone argued. “It sends a message that attempting a coup is just part of the process; that accepting election results is a choice; and that there are no consequences, in the media or in politics or anywhere else, for rejecting them… To me, allowing Trump an open forum on a major television news network is the moral equivalent of putting an AR-15 in the hands of someone mentally unstable. Whether words or bullets — and I have seen firsthand the effects of both — they are equally dangerous in the mouths or hands of those who have shown us time and time again what their true intentions are.” Read Fanone’s article here.
