Pretending this was a unique event is proving costly.

The press has been in overdrive since the D.C. riot on the Capitol on January 6. Hyperbole has been the course of action as words like ‘’treason’’ and ‘’sedition’’ have been lobbed about so freely as to have lost any impact. The other tactic has been to not limit the culpability to those who broke into the Capitol, but to also indict as many as possible as being complicit. This led to the President becoming digitally muzzled, a major social media outlet deplatformed, and anyone with a connection to Republicans and conservatives looked at as guilty by association.

The New York Times printed an exhaustive list — with photographs — of the 147 lawmakers who opposed certifying the election result. The obvious play here for the press was to also make any politicians on The Hill who voted in opposition to certifying the election results pay a price for what is being presented as an act of sedition. A call has gone out to expel all members of Congress who dared vote in opposition of certifying the electoral count, citing that they instigated the riot with their opposition. 

As the Huffington Post puts it, ‘’Several lawmakers have called for Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to resign for their role in last week’s riot.’’ They are deemed guilty, and their participation in the attack on the Capitol is assured — for casting a vote. This displays the bias and the patent ignorance the media have displayed on the matter. Look at the hysterical charges accused of these members of Congress; they are said to have acted seditious, threatening our democracy and violating the Constitution — by casting a vote in the chambers that is designed by those very institutions. The emotional illogic is sad and pathetic.

As a result of this melodramatic reading of events a number of businesses are reacting. Josh Hawwley had a planned book deal get yanked by the publisher. Elise Stefanik has her post on a political advisory committee denied at Harvard University. There is a growing number of companies who are pledging to suspend political donations to any candidates who voted against certifying the election. The press is gleefully updating this list daily of corporations who are being duped by the same press. 

The drive behind all of this is that the congress members who voted in this fashion ahead of the riot were inspiring the rioters, and in selling this fiction they need to over dramatize the action of voting against decertification. As the New York Times states in their expose, these votes were ‘’highly unusual objections’’. Well, in order to find the last time members of congress questioned the result of a presidential election and cast votes objecting to certifying the electoral college count, the Times would have had to comb deep into the governmental archives all look back all the way to…2016.

This effort to pretend that the GOP is acting out in a ghastly fashion and their wholly unprecedented voting is delivering a critical injury to our democracy relies on you not checking in on the behavior of the Democrats after Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump. Funny how in 2016 there was no threat to our Constitution, no claims that members of Congress were acting treasonously. 

As NBC News noted, in rather subdued fashion, ‘’Some Democratic House members attempted to object to some states’ Electoral College votes to protest the election results’’. That’s it?! No talk of sedition, or overthrowing the government? Where was the lingering outrage when Representative Barbara Lee of California said, “I object because people are horrified by the overwhelming evidence of Russian interference in our election”. 

Where were the weeks of detailed outrage in the press when no fewer than 7 states had results challenged during the vote, when members of the House of Representatives objected to the electoral tally in Alabama, Florida, Michigan, Texas, Mississippi, and the Carolinas?! As Reuters detailed in it’s report, 

‘House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said concerns about Russian interference cast a pall over the 2016 vote. “That’s why people have some level of dismay today on the vote … about the Electoral College,” Pelosi said at a news conference.

It is remarkable how brazenly manipulative the media can be in this fashion, in such a short period. Between two successive elections we see the polarity in coverage, where the talk of sedition and mortally threatening our democracy is used to describe the same activity that 4 years ago was deemed little more than a formality. 

And now numerous corporations are falling for the gambit. It is embarrassing to watch unfold. Welcome to the new media, in The Age of Biden.