Hearing on the Capitol Hill attack: The betrayal known in advance

At the second hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives on the January 2021 Assault on Capitol Hill, the testimony of former Attorney General William Barr, one of Trump's associates in office - and today the hero who dared to condemn the lies and call the former president "out of reality" stood out

Tali Goldstein

14/06/2022

Tuesday, 14 June 2022, 18:18 Updated: 18:37

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On March 15, 44 BC, a group of Roman senators assassinated Julius Caesar while sitting on the stage at a Senate meeting.

The dictator fell, bleeding from 23 stab wounds, in front of the shocked eyes of those present in the hall.

Readers of the play "Julius Caesar" by Shakespeare are well acquainted with the scene: as he was dying, Julius Caesar turned to one of the assassins and in his last breath murmured, "Are you Brutus too?"

- A fictitious sentence that to this day expresses astonishment and a deep sense of betrayal of one who feels betrayed by a close person.

The possibility of betrayal by someone in the immediate circle has been a nightmare of every dictator throughout history.

Therefore, many tyrants have often preferred to surround themselves not necessarily with talented, capable and interested people, but with weaker and more average servants who are usually also found to be extremely loyal.

Moreover, in the case of a personalist dictatorship (such as Stalinism that strayed from the principles of the revolution to establish a personalist regime), the dictator's biggest problem is not inability, but the infidelity of his associates.

According to Stephen Haber, a professor of political science at Stanford University, everyone around the dictator - "at least those who value their lives" swear allegiance to him, "even if they conspire against him."

Since dictators cannot be completely alone, and every dictator must rely on a team of deputies and doers to help him complete missions whose primary purpose is to ensure his survival in power, they are always in danger of betrayal.

More on Walla!

The second hearing on the attack on Capitol Hill: "Trump disconnected from reality"

To the full article

President Donald Trump at a rally that preceded the onslaught on Capitol Hill (Photo: Reuters)

Former United States President Donald Trump was a dictator who surrounded himself with a circle of close and loyal associates who apparently considered their lives more than anything else - including democracy, truth, justice and sometimes even sanity.

But those loyalists who during Trump's tenure were willing to promote any desire, delusional and harmful as it may have come to the former president's haunted mind, are not ashamed to distance themselves now, and in fact commit the same classic betrayal that every paranoid dictator fears.

From the two public hearings held so far by the Special Committee of the House of Representatives investigating the attack on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021, one fact stands out: history never fails to correctly predict the future to happen, that is, to accurately predict human behavior.

As trustees of other tyrannical regimes have often done in the past, Trump's former spokesmen are now in a hurry to defend themselves and indict the former boss - whether out of professional interest or because they "saw the light" and realized how wrong their conduct was - and one of the main ones is Former United States Attorney General William Barr.

Special Committee Chairman Benny Thompson and his Deputy Liz Cheney (Photo: Reuters)

While in office, Barr was sharply criticized by Democrats, who accused him of using the Justice Department's powers to carry out Trump's instructions and desires, for example, undermining Russia's involvement in the election or promoting right-wing conspiracy theories.

But in the past two weeks, and especially after his testimony at both hearings, he has become the new hero of the liberal camp that refutes and condemns Trump's lies about his defeat in the 2020 election.

The hearings so far have featured more videos of wild testimony than any other witness (to the ear's ear, the commission interviewed more than a thousand people during the year-long investigation of the events).

These videos have established Bar's status as the most senior official in the Trump administration confirming the legitimacy of the November 2020 election results and trying to motivate Trump's relentless attempts to claim that widespread electoral fraud occurred and that the victory is actually his - the famous "big lie" theory.

Cops testify to Capitol Hill attack (Photo: Reuters)

At a hearing yesterday, Barr dismantled officials with Trump's allegations of election fraud, and also said that the theories that Trump supported were "idiotic" and "childish" and overall these were "nonsense."

Barr even went so far as to make an associate of the dictator only after that tyrant was no longer in power, ruling that Trump "was detached from reality" and "plagued by illusions."

Barr recalled in his testimony that he felt "frustrated" by the fact that Trump sincerely believed that Dominion's voting machines for polling stations in the US presidential election were accusations of fraud and theft from the election.

"I thought to myself, 'God, if he really is for this, he, you know, has lost touch with - disconnected from reality.'"

He said the election loss was not at all related to fraud, but to Trump's weakness as a leader.

Trump "was usually the weak link. That's the reason for the loss, not the scam," he added.

In fact, in his testimony, Barr not only reinforces the commission's argument that Trump knew his fraud allegations were false and promoted them anyway - but also establishes that the president sincerely believed these lies.

The attack on Capitol Hill (Photo: Reuters)

At the first hearing, the testimonies of Trump's daughter, Ivanka, and her husband, Jared Kushner, both from the circle closest to the former president, were presented.

Kushner told the committee that he urged Trump at the time not to listen to the advice of his lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who promoted conspiracy theories about the election.

He said Trump was not interested in what he had to say.

Ivanka, who was also a White House adviser during Trump's tenure, testified that she did not think her father was in a position to declare victory on Election Day.

"I do not know if I had a firm opinion as to what he should say at that moment. The votes were still counted then," she said, but added that her opinion changed when Barr said there was no evidence of fraud and that Trump should accept the fact that he lost.

"It affected my view. I respect Attorney General Bar, so I got his opinion and words," she said in her testimony - and to hell with dear Dad.

In "The Divine Comedy - Inferno," Dante Alighieri describes his journey through hell.

In his imagination, hell consists of nine combined circles, each one a different punishment based on the sin that man has committed.

The closer the person gets to the center, the more severe the punishments.

The people who come to the inner circles are the perpetrators of the worst sins.

The ninth circle is the last and innermost and is reserved for the greatest sinners of all.

The people sent to him are the ones who have betrayed the trust of someone close to them.

The ninth circle is divided into four rings - each punishing for betrayal at a different level.

The last ring is the punishment for people who betrayed their benefactors, patrons, philanthropists, those who supported them, the big boss - Broden.

This ring is called "Judah", after Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus and betrayed him to the Romans.

History, unfortunately, is not a fictitious invention in which the sinner is punished.

Those deputies, advisers and associates of the dictator are not always punished for helping to carry out his dangerous instructions.

On the contrary, many times they even benefit from betraying him - thus being perceived as acting for the good of the public.

The real benefit to the American public from the unsurprising betrayal of Trump's associates will be revealed if the same dictator does not run for public office again in 2024.

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