Thomas Jefferson said, “An informed citizenry is the only true repository of the public will.” I am not a particularly political person, but I do want to be informed, to understand what is happening, to be clear that my ideas are based in fact and reality and to make sure that democracy prevails.
When the 9/11 Commission released their report, I felt it was my duty to read what had happened and to find out what had lead to the attacks on our country that day. After January 6th, I had the same feeling- that it was important for me to understand what had and was happening to our country and what had lead to the attacks on the United States Capitol. I watched the hearings whenever I could, but when the report came out I knew I had to read it.
The report is written in a compelling way. Although it is over 800 pages long, the report is filled with footnotes, links and other supporting background materials which comprises at least a third of of the total report. Rather than structure their report in a strictly chronological manner the committee chose to examine the attack based on various issues. Although this format does cause some redundancy, I found it helpful to have these different “layers’ explored separately, because you are able to clearly see where they overlap and how each aspect of this endeavor became a part of the total enterprise to overturn the election. I have quickly summarized these chapters below so you have some idea of that is included in the report.
Chapter 1: THE BIG LIE, describes the way election denialism was baked into the election long before the election was even held and then shows how that once those seeds was planted it was used to galvanize the crowds that showed up on January 6.
Chapter 2 :”I JUST WANT TO FIND 11,780 VOTES,” describes Trump and his teams efforts to manipulate the election by pressuring election officials in specific states to find votes, or to cast doubt on the integrity of the election process by filing lawsuits and the legal machinations.
Chapter 3: FAKE ELECTORS AND “THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE STRATEGY,” describes the origination of these two strategies to overturn the election during the January 6th meeting of the Electoral College.
Chapter 4: “JUST CALL IT CORRUPT AND LEAVE THE REST TO ME,” describes the internal efforts within the Trump administration to subvert the DOJ by pressuring AG Barr, Acting AG Rosen and Acting Deputy AG Donoghue to state that the election was fraudulent and Trumps efforts to name Jeffrey Clark as AG.
Chapter 5: “A COUP IN SEARCH OF A LEGAL THEROY,” describes the extraordinary efforts Trump and his advisors went to in order to convince VP Pence to use his role in the Electoral College process to overturn the election and how Trumps actions on the day of January 6th endangered Pence, his family and Secret Service members lives.
Chapter 6: “BE THERE, WILL BE WILD,” describes the planning the went into the January 6th rally and who within the Trump administration was coordinating and planning the event and how they were in contact with the various groups like the Proud Boys, the III%, and white nationalist groups.
Chapter 7: 187 MINUTES OF DERELICTION, describes what was happening in the White House during and after the assault on the US Capitol.
Chapter 8: ANALYSIS OF THE ATTACK, describes in chronological detail how the attack went down and how order was restored.
Of these various chapters I found Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 regarding the pressure exerted on the DOJ and Pence as well as Chapter 7 regarding Trumps dereliction of duty extremely insightful and compelling. But for a few good people who stood up to Trump, this story could have turned out very differently and our reality today would be completely different. Trump’s dereliction of duty is described in particular detail and is chilling.
The committee also includes their recommendations to prevent this kind of thing happening in the future. I found them to be helpful and believe that many of these are necessary, however, I realized that nothing is more important than informed citizens and government officials who take their oath of office seriously and who are courageous and fearless enough to stand against lies, manipulation and extreme pressure.
The Kindle version costs $7.99, the print version was more, but I encourage you to buy this report, even if you just want to read a few chapters here and there. It is well written, and backed up by an enormous amount of documents, video, depositions, transcripts and legal documents that were not necessarily shown during the hearings. The Kindle version contains links in the footnotes so you can go directly to the various records and see them for yourself, including video depositions taken by the committee.
As Thomas Jefferson said: “Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights.”
Brenda’s Rating: (5 out of 5 Stars)
Recommend this book to Everyone!
Books Study Worthy! Yes!
Read in ebook format!
Brenda's Bookshelf 
Interesting review. Now I must get a copy!
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