It is hard to remember a similar time when political intimidation was at this kind of frenzy.

Probably the most similar period was right after the assassination of President Kennedy. Those old enough to remember recall that immediately after the shooting, the media called Dallas a city of “hate.”

Kennedy was killed in the city, but the connection was less than thin. A retired general (Edwin Walker) lived in the area had criticized our young President extensively, but ironically the same man that shot Kennedy attempted earlier to kill the general.

Conservatives had created a “climate of hate”, the media told us, that somehow was responsible for the murder of our President. We were all complicit in his killing.

It was a difficult time to have been a critic of Kennedy. Collective guilt is technique used by many historical bad actors.

Kennedy had been in for some criticism after the bungled Bay of Pigs invasion, especially after he had his CIA trained Cuban exile army land on the beaches and then he inexplicably withdrew their promised air cover.

They were all killed or captured. It was a mess.

Anyone who disagreed with Kennedy (who in retrospect looks more like a Conservative today) was pinned with creating an “atmosphere of hate” and thus connected to the assassination.

The Democrats and media leveraged the tragedy with the argument that you should accept our agenda to make amends for your complicity in his murder. It worked wonderfully for them.

James Pierson wrote an interesting book on the period a few years ago called Camelot and the Cultural Revolution that goes into this period with detail and novel analysis. It is highly recommended.

It was one of the great executions of verbal jujitsu ever pulled off. The reason was Kennedy was killed by Communist Lee Harvey Oswald, but blame was placed on Conservatives because of their thought.

A little context for the younger folks. America had fought a war in Korea with Communists and was fighting again in Viet Nam. The country had been heavily penetrated by Communists in cabinet offices, the White House and Hollywood. Domestic American Communists had stolen the atom bomb technology and given it to the Soviets, the enemy. Given these facts, you would have thought the public would be enraged with all things Communist but instead they turned against their Conservative neighbors who had nothing to do with the killing. That was largely because the media and the Kennedy family directed them to do so.

Yes, there are a host of other theories that question whether Oswald was the killer and we will not get into them here.

The very liberal and anti-Trump author Vincent Bugliosi, who is best known for Helter Skelter, his book on the Manson murders, did an exhaustive study of all the Kennedy assassination theories in his massive Reclaiming History. It took twenty years to write and runs over 1,500 pages. After reading the book, it is undeniable that Oswald was the shooter, although he may have been involved with others.

After you read the book, then you are qualified to argue about it, not before.

That aside, the point is at the height of the Cold War with Communism, the anti-communists got smeared by Jaqueline Kennedy, Chief Justice Earl Warren and a host of powerful Democrat liberals of the day even though it was a Communist who killed the President.

Instead of looking into Communist activities in the nation, the press and the Democrats led the attack against innocent Conservatives and yes, gun owners.

Oswald had purchased his Italian military rifle by mail order.

Let’s fast-forward to January 6, 2021. At this point in history, we don’t know who was behind all of the difficulties at the U.S. Capitol building. Almost always, early press reports are wrong.

As far as the Capitol “riot” is concerned, all guilty parties should be punished regardless of motive or political affiliation. But rhetoric does not “cause” law breaking.

It appears at this time to be a combination of some Trump supporters and some Leftist agitators, and frankly, some people who appear just plain nuts. But what were leftists doing at a Trump rally? Will we ever find out?

Hundreds of thousands of people attended the rally and went back to their hotels peacefully only to find out on TV what had happened. And millions of other Republicans sat at home with their heads in their hands having absolutely nothing to do with this travesty.

It also appears the attack on the Capitol started a full half-hour before the end of the President’s speech and his invitation to peacefully demonstrate at that location. Strange videos show the Capitol police inviting people in and taking down barricades. It is odd, to say the least.

The fact that we don’t know what actually occurred allows a lot of things to be made up and unfounded accusations to be made.

The two events are not the same, I quite agree. But, like after the Kennedy assassination, the Democrats and media are using the trauma of this event to discredit and impugn all of the ideas of a large swath of Conservatives and conservative thinking.

Instead of arguing the merits of policy they want to mobilize public hysteria to shame and accuse anyone who disagrees as an “insurrectionist.” This includes Congressional members acting under Constitutional procedure to question election results.

This, mind you, after the left has murdered the President in Broadway Plays, “comedians” have severed his head, and more importantly, they endorsed the Marxist Black Lives Matter and (very fascist) Antifa organizations that sacked American cities all summer. Even President Biden said he personally wanted to beat up Trump. Gee, does that not create an “atmosphere of hate”?

Speaker of the House Pelosi actually stated publicly that she wondered why there had not been an insurrection against the Trump Administration.

Here are the two jujitsu moves:  1. Trump is illegitimate and it is patriotic to say so (the ‘”resistance”) but to question Biden’s election is insurrection.  2. Questioning election results are “insurrectionist” while actually committing voter fraud is OK.

Excuse me, didn’t the hallowed Stacy Abrams spend the last couple of years questioning election results? Her affiliation with Black Lives Matter may make her an insurrectionist but questioning the election results does not.

Democrats have been more than questioning the legitimacy of Donald Trump. They used foreign agents, enemy intelligence and the security apparatus of the Federal Government to impeach a President. All while lying to the FISA courts.

Talk about attacking the citadel of democracy!

The investigation into election results is independent of the capitol invasion. After the strange flipping of California House seats in 2018 using ballot harvesting the whole process has cried out for an investigation for some time.

If the Arizona Senate wants to look into election irregularities, that IS the patriotic thing to do because Fair Elections Matter. Ignoring the problems only spreads further the corrosive disbelief among about half the population that the election was stolen.

Democrats are desperate to have the issue of election fraud go away and if they can use this tragedy to force it they will.

Well, the flak is heaviest when you are over the target. Republicans need to investigate.

Let law enforcement and the courts apprehend and try those guilty of bad actions and criminal actions but not because of different political thoughts.

And, make election integrity a chief priority for the sake of the democratic process and the confidence the people need to have in it.

Finally, stay home and don’t get anywhere near any demonstrations surrounding the inaugural. All of us should do our part to cool down the current tempest.